AI Agent & Infrastructure - Lead Engineer

Working independently, the Lead Engineer owns development of software products and works on improving the overall quality of the product throughout the software development life cycle and mentors other Software Engineers. Reports directly to a Director or Senior Director. Architecture and builds the infrastructure and tooling that powers AI agent development across the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). Develops production-grade agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, and observability solutions that enable teams to build, deploy, and monitor reliable AI agents at scale. Plays a key role in defining and implementing the next generation of SDLC through AI-first innovation and comprehensive instrumentation.

What We're Looking For

You demonstrate sharp product sense for high-impact automation opportunities, technical taste in implementation decisions, and the ability to clearly articulate trade-offs. You know when to apply AI agent solutions versus simpler approaches and can explain the "why" behind architectural choices. You excel at 0-to-1 (and 1-to-100) product development, comfortable operating in ambiguous environments where requirements emerge through experimentation and iteration rather than upfront specification.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop production-grade AI agents that eliminate manual handoffs across the SDLC
• Create custom integrations and CLI tools that give agents deep understanding of internal systems and codebases
• Design comprehensive testing strategies to ensure agent reliability and output quality
• Implement "Golden Path" scaffolding that embeds organizational standards into new projects
• Build AI solutions that improve codebase navigation, documentation, and developer workflows
• Identify workflow bottlenecks and deliver measurable impact through intelligent automation
• Shape SDLC evolution by identifying AI-first opportunities and proving outcomes through experimentation
• Architect and maintain production infrastructure supporting agent deployment, lifecycle management, and scaling
• Develop agent frameworks, templates, and SDKs that accelerate agent development
• Create governed Model Context Protocol (MCP) catalog enabling compliant agent-to-agent and agent-to-MCP communication
• Implement governance controls for agent behavior, permissions, and system access
• Design and implement metrics, monitoring, and logging infrastructure for AI agents and development workflows
• Build dashboards that provide actionable insights into developer productivity, tool adoption, and agent performance
• Establish KPIs and measurement frameworks to quantify the impact of AI-powered automation
• Create alerting and anomaly detection systems to ensure reliability of agents and tooling
• Analyze telemetry data to identify optimization opportunities and guide strategic investment decisions
• Partner across teams to drive adoption of AI-powered tooling and process transformation
• Stay current with LLM technologies and coach colleagues on AI-assisted development and automation best practices
• Rapidly prototype solutions to validate use cases and prove value quickly
• Communicate data-driven insights to stakeholders through clear visualizations and reports

Full-stack technical proficiency

Languages: Java, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript

Frameworks: Angular, Spring Boot

CI/CD platforms and cloud infrastructure: AWS

Monitoring/observability tools: Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch

Education / Experience Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related discipline with at least 7 years of related experience, or equivalent training and/or work experience.

• Strong system design experience
• Strong experience in object-oriented development
• Strong experience with cloud technologies
• Strong experience in data storage technologies
• Strong experience in performance tuning and optimization
• Strong experience in DevOps and CI/CD technologies
• Strong experience in test automation and unit testing
• Strong experience in software security

Working Conditions

Hybrid work environment, with defined in-person presence requirements. Occasional travel and extended hours may be required.

Salary

For work that is performed in CO, FL, TX, IL, PA, MA, MD, VA, Washington, DC, NY and NJ, please refer to the chart below for the salary range for the corresponding location. FINRA complies with all state and local pay transparency laws and regulations requiring the disclosure of salary ranges for the position. In addition to location, actual compensation is based on various factors, including but not limited to, the candidate’s skill set, level of experience, education, and market considerations.

• CO/FL/TX: Minimum Salary $114,200, Maximum Salary $207,200
• IL/PA: Minimum Salary $125,900, Maximum Salary $228,000
• MA/MD/VA/Washington, DC: Minimum Salary $131,200, Maximum Salary $238,300
• NY/NJ: Minimum Salary $131,200, Maximum Salary $248,700

Benefits

• Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.
• Non-exempt employees are also eligible for overtime pay in accordance with federal, state, or local law.
• As part of its dedication to employee wellness, FINRA provides comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance.
• Additional insurance includes basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic partner and dependent life, short- and long-term disability, long-term care, business travel accident, disability and legal.
• FINRA offers immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match and eligibility for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution, tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, and other benefits that support employee wellness, such as adoption assistance, backup family care, surrogacy benefits, employee assistance, and wellness programs.
• Time Off and Paid Leave: FINRA encourages its employees to focus on their health and wellness in many ways, including through a generous time‑off program starting at 15 days of paid time off (increasing with years of service, up to 25 days), 5 personal days, and 9 sick days, unless otherwise required by law (all pro-rated in the first year). Additionally, we are proud to support our communities by providing two volunteer service days (based on full‑time schedule). Other paid leave includes military leave, jury duty leave, bereavement leave, voting and election official leave for federal, state or local primary and general elections, care of a family member leave (available after 90 days of employment); and childbirth and parental leave (available after 90 days of employment). Full‑time employees receive nine paid holidays.

EEO & Diversity

FINRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to any legally protected category, including race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, sex, or any other status or classification protected by state or local law.

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Code of Conduct

FINRA’s Code of Conduct imposes restrictions on employees’ investments and requires financial disclosures that are uniquely related to our role as a securities regulator. FINRA employees are required to disclose to FINRA all brokerage accounts that they maintain, and those in which they control trading or have a financial interest (including any trust account of which they are a trustee or beneficiary and all accounts of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child who lives with the employee) and to authorize their broker‑dealers to provide FINRA with duplicate statements for all of those accounts. All of those accounts are subject to the Code’s investment and securities account restrictions, and new employees must comply with those investment restrictions—including disposing of any security issued by a company on FINRA’s Prohibited Company List or obtaining a written waiver from their Executive Vice President—by the date they begin employment with FINRA. Employees may only maintain securities accounts that must be disclosed to FINRA at one or more securities firms that provide an electronic feed (e‑feed) of data to FINRA, and must move securities accounts from other securities firms to a firm that provides an e‑feed within three months of beginning employment. You can read more about these restrictions here.

Search Firm Representatives

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Additional Disclosures

Washington state applicants: click here for required notice(s).

Legal & Legal Disclaimers

©2026 FINRA. All rights reserved. FINRA is a registered trademark of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. Our Growth is Creating Great Opportunities! Our team is expanding, and we want to hire the most talented people we can. Continued success depends on it! Once you've had a chance to explore our current open positions, apply to the ones you feel suit you best and keep track of both your progress in the selection process, and new postings that might interest you! Thanks for your interest in working on our team! Visit FINRA's Technology Page About FINRA FINRA is an independent, non‑governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA works to protect investors and maintain market integrity in a public‑private partnership with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while also benefiting from the SEC’s oversight. In its role as investor guardian, FINRA is informed, but not influenced, by the industry that it regulates. FINRA’s independent regulation plays a critical role in America’s financial system–all at no cost to taxpayers. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business—from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. FINRA uses technology powerful enough to look across markets and detect potential abuses. Using a variety of data gathering techniques, we work to detect insider trading and any strategies firms or individuals use to gain an unfair advantage. In today's fast‑paced and complex global economy, FINRA is a trusted advocate for investors, dedicated to keeping the markets fair and proactively addressing emerging regulatory issues before they harm investors or the markets. FINRA operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with other offices around the country. Find out more about us and how we work—and view our current openings—at