Staff Software Engineer

Position Location: Austin, TX Role Overview The Staff Software Engineer will lead the design and delivery of scalable, cloud‑native microservices powering Western Union’s digital platform. This role serves as a hands‑on technical expert and service owner, partnering with distributed engineering teams to ensure reliability, performance, and architectural excellence. Role Responsibilities Develop and implement new software, maintain and improve existing software. Ensure that software functionality is implemented with a focus on code optimization and organization. Build applications, workflow automation, internal tools, and basic agents using AI coding agents within Western Union’s product and platform areas. Recommend improvements to existing software programs. Troubleshoot application issues and coordinate issue resolution with operations, functional, and technical teams. Work as service lead with development team across a geographically distributed structure. Review design and code from different scrum teams and ensure service‑level standards are enforced. Maintain quality and engineering metrics of specific microservices as a services owner. Provide coaching to junior engineers on the team. Work independently on complex projects. Role Requirements Hands‑on technical lead with demonstrated experience in designing and implementing large‑scale microservices. BS in Computer Science or related fields with 7+ years of professional experience or MS with 5+ years of experience. Demonstrated experience in modern programming languages and frameworks (Java Spring Boot, DynamoDB/Postgres, Kafka, Redis, Apache Camel) and standard design patterns for implementing microservices. Hands‑on experience using AI coding agents to build or accelerate end‑to‑end software delivery. Proven ability to understand business and contribute to technology direction that drives measurable business improvements. Excellent decision‑making, communication, and collaboration skills. Excellent understanding of computer science fundamentals, data structures, algorithms, OOP, and OOA/D. Demonstrated capabilities in assessing business needs while providing creative and effective solutions in conformance with emerging technology standards. Experience with architecture design concepts and techniques and the ability to communicate and evangelize those concepts to a broad‑based team. Hands‑on experience building microservices‑based architecture and platform developed and deployed at scale. Hands‑on experience building enterprise‑scale APIs used by web and mobile applications. Experience with agile development methodologies with Test‑Driven Development (TDD) and CI/CD. Experience in AWS‑based cloud architecture designs and implementations. Preferred Qualifications Experience in the FinTech industry. Experience building external customer‑facing applications with open‑source technologies and understanding of front‑end tech stack. Work Shift HYBRID – Western Union values in‑person collaboration, problem solving, and ideation whenever possible. The expectation is to work from the office a minimum of three days a week. Benefits Short‑term incentives Multiple health insurance options Accident and life insurance Access to best‑in‑class development platforms Paid Time Off Medical, Dental, and Life Insurance Tuition Assistance Program Student Loan Repayment (below manager level only) Parental Leave One day volunteer time off $0 Money Transfer Fee Discount Code Quarterly Recognition Program “Game Changers” Employee Discount Program Global Adoption Assistance Global Scholarship Awards Program 401K plan Salary Annual base salary range: $125,000 – $150,000 USD per year. Total on‑target compensation includes a base salary and short‑term incentives that align with individual and company performance. Equal Employment Opportunity Western Union does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, political affiliation, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status. The company will provide accommodation to applicants, including those with disabilities, during the recruitment process, following applicable laws. #J-18808-Ljbffr Western Union