Lead Software Engineer - Delivery Platform & Developer Experience at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Des Moines, IA, United States

Job description

• Leads the design, development, and evolution of complex software engineering solutions and software delivery platform capabilities that support Wellmark’s business and technology initiatives. Serves as a technical leader for CI/CD engineering, software delivery automation, reusable pipelines and workflows, self-service, and engineering enablement. Ensures engineering solutions align with business expectations, Wellmark standards, architecture principles, and security requirements.
• Utilizes established relationships with Wellmark leaders and acts as a consultant on software delivery capabilities, engineering delivery challenges, process improvements, and technology enhancements. Provides technical leadership and contributes to the direction and evolution of enterprise CI/CD, including reusable pipelines and workflows, delivery automation, platform integrations, governance controls, and continuous improvement of software delivery workflows.

Responsibilities

• a. Lead the design, development, and implementation of highly complex programs. Coordinate the preparation, coding, testing, and debugging of complex programs including the analysis and development of workflows that utilize emerging technology and meet and exceed Wellmark’s evolving business needs.
• b. Serve as a subject matter expert for CI/CD, reusable pipelines and workflows, software delivery automation, delivery platform integrations, self-service capabilities, and related engineering practices. Lead the implementation of innovative, secure, scalable, and cost-effective capabilities used across multiple applications, systems, and engineering teams.
• c. Provide technical leadership, training, and guidance to team members in gathering information, conducting root cause analysis, defining problems and formulating solutions, verifying outcomes, and continuously optimizing solutions.
• d. Mentor, guide, and problem-solve with other technology areas in the design, development, and implementation of solutions, including how to use new or enhanced software/applications.
• e. Partner with application engineering, cloud, security, architecture, operations, quality engineering, and other technology teams to integrate platform capabilities, products, and processes.
• f. Utilize established relationships with Wellmark leaders and act as a primary consultant on enterprise pipeline capabilities, engineering delivery challenges, process improvements, and technology enhancements.
• g. Lead and participate in enterprise pipeline capability development, capability assessments, project proposals, estimates, and proof-of-concept activities as needed.
• h. Maintain awareness of industry best practices and standards and proactively participate in relevant industry and knowledge-sharing groups. Provide direction for enterprise standards, conduct code reviews, and monitor adherence to standards.
• i. Lead the design, development, integration, adoption, and ongoing maturity of enterprise CI/CD capabilities, including reusable pipelines, workflows, automation templates, and build and deployment automation. Integrate source control, cloud platforms, security tooling, testing frameworks, observability solutions, developer tools, and internal developer platform capabilities to provide a consistent and reliable software delivery experience.
• j. Develop reusable pipelines, workflows, automation templates, reference implementations, documentation, governance controls, and self-service delivery capabilities that reduce developer friction and enable engineering teams to adopt Wellmark standards and preferred engineering practices.
• k. Apply a product mindset to enterprise CI/CD capabilities by gathering developer feedback, understanding software delivery journeys, prioritizing capabilities, contributing to software delivery capability development, and defining measures for adoption, reliability, effectiveness, performance, and developer experience outcomes.
• l. Operate, support, monitor, and continuously improve enterprise CI/CD capabilities. Partner with application engineering, architecture, security, cloud, internal developer platform, and other technology teams to evaluate technical tradeoffs, improve software delivery reliability, and promote reliable service and shared team ownership.
• m. Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Experience working within Agile product delivery or software engineering environments.
• Experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise CI/CD capabilities using GitHub Actions or similar technologies.
• Experience designing and implementing CI/CD capabilities for AWS-based applications and infrastructure, including build, deployment, configuration, environment, and release automation.
• Experience developing and driving adoption of reusable pipelines, workflows, automation templates, and self-service capabilities, including integrations with cloud platforms, security tooling, testing frameworks, observability solutions, and developer tools.
• Experience defining software delivery roadmaps, prioritizing engineering capabilities, and balancing developer, security, operational, and business needs.
• Experience identifying developer friction and gaps across software delivery workflows and driving measurable improvements across tools, processes, and teams.
• Experience in integrating CI/CD capabilities with internal developer platforms, developer portals, and other self-service engineering experiences.
• Experience implementing software supply chain security, automated governance, and compliance controls within delivery workflows.
• Experience using software delivery, reliability, adoption, usage or developer productivity measures to identify opportunities and evaluate outcomes.
• Experience with infrastructure as code, configuration as code, or policy as code practices.
• Experience applying product management principles to software delivery capabilities, including gathering developer feedback, prioritizing capabilities, measuring adoption, and creating alignment with engineering standards.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, MIS, or related field of study and at least five years of development experience or nine years of related and applicable experience.
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Demonstrated experience in software development lifecycle methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and coach/mentor team members.
• Big picture thinker with the ability to translate WaaS strategy to company strategy.
• Strong ability to perform root cause analysis and recommend solutions using data.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and communicate with stakeholders.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
• Continuous learning mindset and awareness of industry trends.
• Ability to collaborate and work within a diverse development team model.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross team technical initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing reusable pipeline capabilities, defining CI/CD engineering standards, and driving adoption across engineering teams.

Skills

Required

• Strong analytical problem-solving skills
• Attention to detail
• Communication and coaching/mentoring
• Big picture thinking
• Root cause analysis using data
• Continuous learning mindset
• Leading cross team technical initiatives
• Defining CI/CD engineering standards

Preferred

• Agile product delivery
• Software delivery roadmaps
• Software supply chain security