Senior Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer – Backend (.NET) Cast & Crew is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to take technical ownership of critical backend systems at the heart of our entertainment payroll platform. This is a hands‑on individual contributor role – you will not manage headcount, but you will lead: setting technical direction, driving architectural decisions, and raising the engineering bar across the team through influence, example, and deep expertise. Responsibilities Drive architecture and technical design for backend microservices – leading design reviews, authoring technical specs, and making defensible trade‑off decisions that balance modernization goals with operational stability (~25%). Lead modernization initiatives: decompose legacy monoliths into well‑scoped microservices, migrate aging components to modern .NET, and incrementally improve system quality without disrupting what is working in production (~25%). Own complex feature development and critical bug resolution end‑to‑end – from requirements clarity through implementation, testing, and deployment (~20%). Set and uphold engineering standards: code quality, testing discipline (unit, integration, contract), and documentation practices across the team (~15%). Provide technical mentorship and informal leadership – conducting thorough code reviews, unblocking teammates, and helping junior and mid‑level engineers grow without creating dependencies on yourself (~10%). Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, QA, DevOps, and architecture to ensure technical decisions are well‑understood, well‑scoped, and delivered on time (~5%). Qualifications 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong foundation in .NET / C# – deep knowledge of the runtime, async patterns, dependency injection, and production‑grade service design. Proven ability to modernize legacy systems – you have navigated real migrations or refactors of complex, long‑lived codebases and know how to do so incrementally and safely. Deep microservices expertise: service decomposition, REST API design, inter‑service communication patterns, distributed data consistency, fault tolerance, and the judgment to know when simpler is right. Solid relational database expertise – schema design, query optimization, transaction management, and performance tuning at scale (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or DB2). Informal technical leadership: demonstrated ability to influence technical direction, align a team around an approach, and elevate others without the leverage of a management title. Delivery ownership mindset – you define scope clearly, identify risks early, communicate blockers proactively, and ship. Java proficiency is acceptable in lieu of deep .NET background for candidates who can demonstrate rapid platform adaptation and strong fundamentals. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience. Nice to Have Familiarity with DevOps practices: CI/CD pipeline design, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), infrastructure‑as‑code, or observability tooling. Exposure to event‑driven architecture (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or Azure Service Bus) or gRPC for inter‑service communication. Some working knowledge of C – comfort reading and reasoning about C codebases is a plus in our mixed‑technology environment. Hands‑on experience using Generative AI tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, etc.) as a genuine accelerant in daily development work. Familiarity with Python or test automation frameworks (Robot Framework, Playwright, etc.). Experience in payroll, financial systems, or other high‑compliance domains. Benefits Medical, Dental, Vision. PTO and health and wellness programs. Employee discounts and more. EEO Statement Cast & Crew is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all individuals based on job‑related qualifications and ability to perform a job, without regard to age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, creed, national origin, disability, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship or marital status, and to maintain a non‑discriminatory environment free from intimidation, harassment or bias based upon these grounds. #J-18808-Ljbffr 401 Cast & Crew LLC