Staff Software Engineer - AI & Retail Transformation (Phoenix)

Intellibus is building a strategic transformation partnership with a $7B+ U.S. grocery retailer, starting with a focused engagement and with the potential to grow into a $20–30M+ annual relationship over the next several years.

Hybrid role based in or near Phoenix, AZ (client HQ proximity required)

We are seeking a senior leader who can help us incubate, lead, and grow this relationship — combining deep retail/grocery context with executive-level client leadership and technology transformation experience.

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to drive technology-led transformation across complex retail and omnichannel environments. 

This individual will combine strong software engineering and architectural expertise with a deep understanding of retail business processes, digital commerce, and AI-driven innovation.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who can work closely with business stakeholders, product teams, and engineering organizations to identify opportunities, define scalable solutions, and translate business challenges into measurable technology outcomes.

This role requires engineering excellence, consulting capabilities, retail domain knowledge, and the ability to influence technical and business decisions across multiple teams.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture:

• Lead the architecture, design, and development of scalable, resilient, and high-performance enterprise applications.
• Define architectural patterns, engineering standards, and best practices across distributed systems and microservices.
• Design and implement robust APIs and integrations across enterprise platforms using REST and GraphQL.
• Drive technical roadmaps, architecture reviews, technology evaluations, and build-versus-buy decisions.
• Identify opportunities to modernize legacy applications, simplify complex systems, and improve platform scalability.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical direction across multiple engineering teams.

Retail & Omnichannel Transformation

• Partner with retail business and technology stakeholders to understand challenges across digital commerce, store operations, merchandising, inventory, and customer experience.
• Design technology solutions that enable seamless omnichannel experiences across digital and physical retail channels.
• Evaluate existing systems and workflows to identify opportunities for modernization, automation, and operational improvement.
• Integrate enterprise applications, APIs, data platforms, and digital customer-facing systems to support connected retail experiences.
• Translate retail business requirements into scalable technical architectures and implementation roadmaps.

AI & Digital Transformation

• Identify opportunities to apply generative AI, machine learning, intelligent automation, and AI agents to retail business processes.
• Collaborate with AI and data teams to integrate intelligent capabilities into enterprise applications and workflows.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and assess their feasibility, scalability, security, and business value.
• Help define AI-enabled solutions for workflow automation, decision support, personalization, forecasting, and operational efficiency.
• Establish appropriate engineering practices for AI integration, governance, monitoring, and production readiness.

Consulting & Stakeholder Engagement

• Work directly with business leaders, product managers, architects, and engineering teams to understand business objectives and technical constraints.
• Facilitate discovery sessions, assess existing workflows, and identify opportunities for technology-led transformation.
• Present architectural recommendations, technical trade-offs, and implementation strategies to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Connect business priorities with engineering execution, ensuring solutions deliver measurable outcomes.
• Lead cross-functional problem-solving initiatives and influence decisions beyond individual project teams.

Engineering Excellence & Delivery

• Develop and maintain high-quality software using modern programming languages, frameworks, and engineering practices.
• Improve system reliability, performance, observability, security, and maintainability.
• Drive automated testing, CI/CD practices, production monitoring, and incident management improvements.
• Ensure enterprise integrations follow appropriate security, authentication, authorization, and data protection standards.
• Take ownership of complex technical problems from discovery and design through implementation and production support.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, application architecture, or enterprise technology, with demonstrated Staff-level technical leadership.
• Strong experience in retail technology, grocery, digital commerce, omnichannel platforms, or retail transformation initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering complex enterprise applications, integrations, and distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of AI transformation, generative AI, intelligent automation, or AI-enabled enterprise solutions.
• Experience working in consulting environments or partnering directly with senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead architecture decisions, influence multiple engineering teams, and mentor senior engineers.
• Experience modernizing legacy systems and delivering scalable, secure, and reliable production applications.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and executive stakeholder engagement skills.

Technical Skills

Backend & Application Engineering

• Java, Spring Boot, Python, C#/.NET, or comparable enterprise development technologies.
• Microservices and distributed systems.
• RESTful APIs, GraphQL, API design, and enterprise integrations.

Cloud & Architecture

• Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Enterprise application architecture and cloud-native solutions.
• Docker, Kubernetes, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.

Data & Integration

• SQL and relational databases, including PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and Oracle.
• NoSQL databases and enterprise data integration.
• Event-driven architecture, Kafka, and message-based integration patterns.
• ETL/ELT concepts and enterprise data pipelines.

AI & Intelligent Automation

• Generative AI, LLM integration, and AI-enabled applications.
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, and workflow automation.
• Experience evaluating and integrating AI capabilities into enterprise systems.

Engineering Practices & Tools

• CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and Agile delivery.
• Git, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps.
• Application monitoring and observability tools such as New Relic, Dynatrace, or Azure Monitor.
• Secure API design, OAuth 2.0, SSO, and enterprise application security.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering technology transformation within large retail or grocery organizations.
• Exposure to omnichannel commerce, POS systems, order management, inventory, merchandising, or supply chain platforms.
• Experience integrating AI solutions into enterprise retail workflows.
• Experience working with executive stakeholders on technology strategy, architecture, and transformation roadmaps.
• A track record of quantifiable improvements in system performance, operational efficiency, customer experience, or business outcomes.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives in a consulting or enterprise transformation environment.

What Success Looks Like

• Designing scalable technology solutions aligned with retail business priorities.
• Enabling seamless integration across omnichannel platforms and enterprise systems.
• Identifying practical AI opportunities and helping move them from concept to production.
• Improving engineering efficiency, system reliability, and application performance.
• Influencing architecture and technology decisions across multiple teams.
• Delivering measurable business value through engineering, consulting, and transformation leadership.

Location Requirement

• Candidates must be based in or able to work from the Phoenix, AZ area. The role is expected to support a hybrid working environment. (Travel expenses covered).

Compensation: $180K–$240K/Year

Our Interview Process

• Quick Introduction - A 15-minute video call to get to know each other.
• Skills & Problem-Solving - A short proctored assessment (under 1 hour) and a brief Google Docs presentation.
• Technical & Leadership Conversations - Two to three focused 30-minute video interviews, with a final client conversation if needed.
• Welcome Aboard! - Successful candidates receive an offer and next steps.

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