The Role
Provide architectural leadership for customer engagement and contact-center technologies (CCaaS, IVR/IVA, conversational AI, omnichannel routing, CRM integrations). Design scalable, secure solutions; lead architecture efforts, mentor engineers, define standards and governance, prototype AI/agent capabilities, and support production troubleshooting and delivery using .NET, telephony, databases, and DevOps practices.
Summary Generated by Built In
Ascensus is the leading independent technology and service platform powering savings plans across America, providing products and expertise that help nearly 16 million people save for a better today and tomorrow.
Section 1: Position Summary
Provides architectural leadership for customer engagement and contact center technologies, including Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), IVR, IVA, conversational AI, agent desktop, workforce optimization, digital channels, and CRM integrations. Partners with business and technology stakeholders to design scalable customer experience solutions that balance customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, security, reliability, and regulatory requirements.
Section 2: Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Defines architecture and technical standards for customer engagement platforms, including CCaaS, IVR, IVA, omnichannel routing, workforce engagement, and conversational AI solutions.
Leads architecture and solution design efforts for contact center modernization initiatives, including integration with CRM platforms, identity and authentication services, telephony providers, knowledge systems, and enterprise applications.
Evaluates and implements AI-powered customer engagement capabilities such as virtual agents, voicebots, chatbots, intelligent call routing, authentication solutions, call summarization, and agent-assist technologies.
Establishes integration patterns and governance standards for CCaaS and customer experience platforms to ensure scalability, resiliency, observability, security, and maintainability.
Relies on extensive experience and sound judgment to prioritize workload and engagement with teams.
Establishes strong alignment with Product Owners to understand, influence, and deliver on roadmaps.
Sets technical direction and provides proactive oversight to scrum teams so solutions are secure, scalable, efficient, and stable.
Leads, coaches, and mentors technical staff.
Establishes standards, proofs of concept, and templates that enable teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently.
Designs, prototypes, and guides implementation of agent-based solutions (e.g., tool-using workflows, orchestration, retrieval, and guardrails) within approved platforms and enterprise standards, partnering with security, compliance, and enterprise architecture as needed.
Defines and promotes standards for responsible use of AI and automation across the software lifecycle—including approved tools, data-handling expectations, human review for high-risk decisions, and patterns for integrating AI, model-based, or agent-based capabilities—in partnership with security, compliance, and enterprise architecture as applicable.
Evaluates AI-enabled tools and practices (e.g., code generation, review support, refactoring, testing, documentation, operations, and agent-based workflows where appropriate) for fit, risk, cost, and maintainability; drives adoption through reference implementations, guardrails, and templates
Participates in project discussions to remove technical impediments and assists in establishing estimates.
Performs design and development for complex work as an active contributor to the project pipeline.
Collaborates with other Application Architects and Platform Architects to identify, socialize, and confirm the best possible solutions.
Holds a high degree of responsibility for application architecture and technical execution within a program.
Takes ownership and provides technical leadership when production issues require software engineering expertise.
Assists with other tasks and projects as assigned.
Responsible for protecting, securing, and proper handling of all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
At Ascensus we are guided by our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always®. They inspire us every day to prioritize an environment of respect for those we serve and one another and should be visible in your actions on a day-to-day.
Supervision
Leadership, mentoring, and coaching
No HR responsibilities
Section 3: Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements
Minimum 8 years of Software Engineering experience with a minimum of 2 years in a lead role
Passion for leadership, mentoring, and coaching to help others succeed
Experience architecting and delivering solutions using Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) platforms such as NICE CXone, Genesys Cloud, Five9, Amazon Connect, or equivalent customer engagement platforms.
Experience designing and implementing IVR, IVA, conversational AI, chatbot, voicebot, and omnichannel customer engagement solutions.
Experience integrating CCaaS and customer engagement platforms with CRM solutions, identity providers, enterprise APIs, workflow engines, knowledge management systems, and backend business applications.
Experience with NICE CXone, Genesys Cloud, Five9, Amazon Connect, Cisco Webex Contact Center, or similar CCaaS platforms.
Experience with IVA and conversational AI platforms such as ASAPP, Cognigy, Kore.ai, Google CCAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Amazon Lex, or similar technologies
Knowledge of customer experience architecture patterns including intelligent routing, skills-based routing, workforce engagement, call recording, quality management, customer authentication, fraud prevention, and analytics.
Experience evaluating and implementing AI-powered customer service technologies, including agent-assist, conversational AI, speech analytics, knowledge retrieval, call summarization, and automation capabilities.
Understanding of telephony, SIP, call flows, routing strategies, IVR design patterns, and cloud-based contact center architectures.
Excellent communication and teamwork skills with ability to explain and influence architectural direction
Excellent technical skills with deep knowledge of development technologies and tools
Excels in a results focused organization
Experience with IVA and conversational AI platforms such as ASAPP, Cognigy, Kore.ai, Google CCAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Amazon Lex, or similar technologies.
Experience with Agile/Scrum, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and related DevOps tooling and practices.
Experience with multiple database platforms (e.g., MS SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, or similar).
Expert-level proficiency in the .NET ecosystem.
Demonstrated proficiency with AI-assisted engineering tools for implementation, code review support, refactoring, and technical research, including clear human review habits and compliance with data/security policies.
Practical experience designing, prototyping, or delivering agent-based or model-assisted application capabilities (e.g., orchestration, tool/API integration, guardrails, observability, and production support considerations).
Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in complex production and delivery environments.
Nice to Have Skills
Experience with customer authentication and fraud prevention solutions such as Pindrop or equivalent technologies.
Experience designing omnichannel customer journeys across voice, chat, SMS, email, and digital channels.
Experience with Salesforce Service Cloud, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, or other CRM platforms supporting contact center operations.
For all virtual remote positions, in order to ensure associates can effectively perform their job duties with no distractions, we require an uninterrupted virtual workspace and there is also an expectation of family care being in place during business hours. Additionally, there is an internet work speed requirement of 25 Mbps or better for individual use. If more than one person is utilizing the same internet connection in the same household or building, then a stronger connection is required. If you are unsure of your internet speed, please check with your service provider. Note: For call center roles specifically, it is a requirement to either hardwire your equipment directly to the internet router or ensure your workstation is in close proximity to the router. Please ensure that you are able to meet these expectations before applying.
We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer
Be aware of employment fraud. All email communications from Ascensus or its hiring managers originate from @ascensus.com or @futureplan.com email addresses. We will never ask you for payment or require you to purchase any equipment. If you are suspicious or unsure about validity of a job posting, we strongly encourage you to apply directly through our website.
Skills Required
- Minimum 8 years of Software Engineering experience with at least 2 years in a lead role
- Expert-level proficiency in the .NET ecosystem
- Experience architecting and delivering solutions using CCaaS platforms (NICE CXone, Genesys Cloud, Five9, Amazon Connect, Cisco Webex Contact Center or equivalent)
- Experience designing and implementing IVR, IVA, conversational AI, chatbots, and voicebots
- Experience with conversational AI/IVA platforms (ASAPP, Cognigy, Kore.ai, Google CCAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Amazon Lex or similar)
- Experience integrating CCaaS and engagement platforms with CRM, identity providers, enterprise APIs, workflow engines, knowledge management and backend business applications
- Understanding of telephony, SIP, call flows, routing strategies, and cloud-based contact center architectures
- Experience with Agile/Scrum, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and DevOps tooling/practices
- Experience with multiple database platforms (MS SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle or similar)
- Demonstrated proficiency with AI-assisted engineering tools and responsible AI/data handling practices
- Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in complex production and delivery environments
- Passion for leadership, mentoring, and coaching technical staff
- Experience with customer authentication and fraud prevention solutions (e.g., Pindrop)
- Experience designing omnichannel customer journeys across voice, chat, SMS, email, and digital channels
- Experience with Salesforce Service Cloud or Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Ascensus Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Ascensus and has not been reviewed or approved by Ascensus.
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Flexible Benefits — Flexible and remote options are positioned as a meaningful part of the overall rewards experience and can help offset base-pay concerns for some roles.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is presented as broad and modern, including medical, dental, vision, mental-health resources, and navigation support programs.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-oriented benefits stand out through paid parental leave and practical supports like breast-milk shipping for traveling, breastfeeding employees.
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The Company
What We Do
Ascensus helps millions of people save for what matters—retirement, education, and healthcare. We’re also one of the savings plan industry’s leading providers of outsourced services. Our technology, market insights, and business knowledge enhance the growth and success of our partners, their clients, and savers. Ascensus is the largest independent recordkeeping services provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator in the United States. For more information, visit ascensus.com.
