The Role
Lead architecture and development of a scalable, AI-driven retail SaaS platform. Mentor engineers, design distributed microservices, build and integrate AI agent frameworks, lead POCs, enforce testing and security best practices, and coordinate cross-functional delivery from specification through release.
Summary Generated by Built In
The Opportunity
As a Technical Lead, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of our SaaS platform, a highly scalable, data-driven product built for the evolving needs of the retail technology industry. This is an opportunity to lead a talented engineering team that’s passionate about delivering innovative, reliable, and high-performance software.
You’ll guide the technical direction of our platform architecture, mentor developers, and ensure that best practices in coding, design, and system reliability are consistently applied. Beyond building great software, you’ll be part of a company that is actively embracing AI-assisted development and emerging frameworks like Agent OS and Cursor to accelerate productivity, improve quality, and redefine how engineering teams collaborate.
The Company
We are a small team with a big vision: to be the premier provider of cloud technology solutions for retailers. KWI offers a complete, unified commerce solution from a single database, specifically designed to help specialty retailers grow their business. Our portfolio of customers includes Pandora, Bluemercury, Tom Ford and many other globally recognizable brands.
We combine Point of Sale, Merchandising, Order Management, eCommerce, CRM, and Loss Prevention into one cloud-based platform. We are a Values and Mission driven organization, and we believe that if we develop and demonstrate leadership in our strategy, operations, and people, we will continue to drive product innovation and service excellence.
As a Technical Lead, you excel at the following core competencies
- Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Operating effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear.
- Takes full ownership over the decisions, actions, and failures.
The impact you'll make
- Lead the development and implementation of software projects from inception to deployment.
- Deep experience in distributed systems, AI development, and software architecture to help us build and scale intelligent, autonomous systems using Spec Driven Development or Agentic Development.
- You’ll lead the design and development of next-generation AI-driven applications powered by agent frameworks, ensuring performance, safety, and interoperability across our platforms.
- Lead proof-of-concept development to validate new AI agent workflows, APIs, and interfaces.
- Evaluate emerging AI agent technologies and contribute to long-term architectural roadmaps.
- Be a creative problem solver who can draw on an array of expertise and technology to design and implement reliable, scalable, and maintainable solutions to challenging problems.
- Work closely with multiple teams to deliver transformational changes to our processes and technologies.
- Lead the technical specification, development, integration, testing and release of software components
- Identify and address technical challenges, optimize code for performance, and participate in ongoing code refactoring.
- Design and implement scalable software systems aligned with organizational architecture and security best practices.
What you will bring
- BS Degree in Computer Science/Engineering related degree or equivalent work experience
- Expertise in Service-oriented architecture, microservices, advanced database schemes, relational and nonrelational databases, highly scalable and available web services.
- 6+ Years of production coding experience, preferably C# or in server-side Java and/or other object-oriented languages.
- Hands-on experience in building RESTful Web Services
- Prior experience using SQL, Hibernate, and one or more DB (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, etc)
- Prior experience using NoSQL. (Redis, MongoDB, DynamoDB, etc)
- Hands-on experience with Agent OS, Cursor or similar frameworks is a plus
- Experience with automated testing frameworks (TDD, Mocking, Unit/Functional/Integration)
- Extensive experience with Agile methodologies such as Kanban, Scrum or SAFE
As a member of the KWI team you will receive
- Full Medical, Dental and Vision
- Annual bonus eligible
- Free gym in the building
- Generous PTO policy
- Summer Fridays....all year round
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Discount from building café
- 401(K) with a 50% company match (up to 6% of employee contribution)
- Employee Referral Program
- (1) Volunteer day each year
Our work space
We understand that our teams need flexibility, which is why we follow a hybrid schedule. Our in-office days of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and employees are allowed to work remotely on Wednesdays and Friday.
We are also a collaborative group and believe that getting together in person allows our team to do their best work. Together we enjoy monthly events, bagels every Thursday, a state-of-the-art coffee machine, a full snack pantry and many more surprise and delight moments throughout the year.
Our commitment to you
At KWI, we know that cultivating diversity and fostering an inclusive work environment is critical to our impact and success. We create an environment where no individual is advantaged or disadvantaged because of their background. We offer equal opportunity employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability status, age, marital status, or protected veteran status.
With a commitment to maintaining a bias-free environment in which harassment is prohibited, we respect cultural diversity and comply with the laws of the places in which we operate. We expect our business partners, suppliers, clients, and all our team members to uphold these commitments.
About
KWI helps retailers maximize sales by uniting their online and in-store capabilities to deliver delightful shopper experiences. With KWI Merchandising and mobile POS, retailers can execute omnichannel flawlessly, and right at their fingertips — clienteling, endless aisle, mobile checkout with the latest payment options, inventory management, and ecommerce.
Skills Required
- BS Degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent work experience
- 6+ years of production coding experience (preferably C# or server-side Java or other object-oriented languages)
- Expertise in service-oriented architecture, microservices, and highly scalable web services
- Deep experience in distributed systems, AI development, and software architecture
- Hands-on experience building RESTful Web Services
- Prior experience using SQL, Hibernate, and one or more relational DB (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres)
- Prior experience using NoSQL databases (Redis, MongoDB, DynamoDB)
- Experience with automated testing frameworks and practices (TDD, mocking, unit/functional/integration testing)
- Extensive experience with Agile methodologies (Kanban, Scrum, or SAFE)
- Hands-on experience with Agent OS, Cursor or similar agent frameworks
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The Company
What We Do
Since 1985, we have delivered ongoing innovation – from SaaS to advancements in Unified Commerce that keep us in the forefront of cloud retail solutions. We offer a complete commerce solution for specialty retailers of all sizes. Our cloud-based technology powers all the solutions you need to create unified customer experiences.
