Staff Software Engineer, Growth

ISU Research Park; Ames, Northern (IA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ISU Research Park in Ames, IA seeks a Staff Software Engineer to lead design, development, and scaling of AI-powered applications and agent-driven experiences built on the Workiva platform.

This role combines hands-on building with technical leadership, requiring navigating ambiguity, guiding architectural decisions, and influencing across teams to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience delivering complex systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Drive 0→1 product development and iteration.
• Build and iterate on AI-powered product concepts from prototype to production.
• Partner with Product and Design to shape problems and test hypotheses.
• Balance speed and scalability with a bias toward learning.
• Own and scale architectures for emerging products.
• Lead technical discovery and implementation for high-impact initiatives.
• Set patterns and guardrails for fast, quality delivery.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance across teams.
• Collaborate with Product, UX, and stakeholders on priorities.

Skills

6+ years software engineering

AI/ML features experience

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

TypeScript

Java

Kotlin

Go

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

AWS

Job description

The Growth Engineering team is focused on bringing new AI-driven product ideas to life, from early experimentation through to scalable, customer-facing solutions. Engineers on this team work across the full product lifecycle, balancing rapid iteration with thoughtful system design. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll help define architecture, guide technical strategy, and make high-impact contributions to products that are still taking shape.

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and scaling of AI-powered applications and agent-driven experiences built on the Workiva platform. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives at the intersection of hands‑on building and technical leadership. Someone who can navigate ambiguity, drive architectural decisions, and influence across teams to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

What You’ll Do

• Drive 0→1 product development and iteration


• Build and iterate on new AI-powered product concepts from prototype to production, using rapid feedback loops to validate and refine ideas. You will be building a lot.


• Partner closely with Product and Design to shape problem definition, test hypotheses, and evolve solutions based on user and business impact.


• Make pragmatic trade-offs between speed and scalability, knowing when to optimize for learning versus long-term durability.


• Own architecture, and scale what works


• Define and evolve architecture for emerging products, enabling a path from early experiments to reliable, scalable systems.


• Lead technical discovery and implementation for ambiguous, high-impact initiatives that span multiple systems.


• Establish patterns, frameworks, and guardrails that allow teams to move quickly without sacrificing quality.


• Act as a technical force multiplier


• Set a high bar for code quality, system design, and operational excellence while maintaining a bias toward action and delivery.


• Unblock teams, navigate cross-team dependencies, and drive alignment in fast-moving, evolving problem spaces.


• Identify technical risks early and shape the roadmap to support both near-term delivery and long-term sustainability, again with heavy influence from AI.


• Lead and influence across teams


• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance across projects and teams.


• Collaborate with Product, UX, and stakeholders to align on priorities, trade-offs, and outcomes.


• Contribute to a culture of experimentation, learning, and continuous improvement.

What You’ll Need

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, with a track record of delivering complex systems or products from concept to production.


• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong experience with one or more of: TypeScript, Java/Kotlin, Go, or similar modern languages, along with relational databases such as Postgres and noSQL solutions like MongoDB.


• Strong foundation in Account concepts and how they can be applied in software solutions


• Experience building and shipping AI-powered features, such as LLM integrations, copilots, or agent-based workflows, in customer-facing applications.


• Familiarity with AI development platforms and tools such as OpenAI, Claude, Cursor, or similar.


• Proven ability to operate in ambiguous environments and drive solutions from early-stage ideas to production systems.


• Strong systems design skills, with the ability to balance rapid iteration and long-term scalability.


• Experience influencing technical direction beyond your immediate team.


• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to navigate trade-offs and align stakeholders.


• A proactive, product-minded approach with a passion for building and learning.


• Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms and modern SaaS architectures.

Travel Requirements & Working Conditions

• Up to 10% travel for team jams and internal developer conference


• Reliable internet access for any period of time working remotely, not in a Workiva office