Lead Software Engineer — R&D Productivity Tools

About the role

SEL has ambitious goals for developing products that make electric power safer, more reliable, and more economical. When open-source or off-the-shelf development tools don't meet the unique needs of our engineering domains, we'll call on you to rapidly create and scale high-quality, custom solutions. As a Lead Software Engineer joining a new productivity tools team, you'll improve existing tools, shape the roadmap for new ones, train users, and set the team's software development culture. Within 6–12 months, you'll be exceeding the expectations of internal customers and measurably improving their productivity.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the specification, design, and delivery of custom software tools that raise Research and Development (R&D) quality and productivity. Define, collect, and report measures that tie tool adoption to productivity outcomes. Lead the full application lifecycle of assigned tools and maintain their documentation artifacts. Lead the strategy for automated testing, release readiness, and post-release support. Define, adopt, and continuously improve development processes across the team. Train internal customers on new tools and workflows, and gather feedback that informs the roadmap. Mentor Engineers, Associate Engineers, and Interns. Model, teach, and apply SEL Values, Principles of Operations, and World Class Manufacturing Principles. Understand. Create. Simplify. Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

B.S. in Computer Science, or equivalent

Six years of full-stack software development experience

Designing, building, and supporting applications through the full lifecycle

Working directly with users to define requirements and validate solutions

Leading technical decisions across a team or project

Code review

Preferred Qualifications

User experience (UX) design, including user research, interaction design, and usability testing

Design systems, accessibility standards, and rapid prototyping tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, such as GitHub Copilot

AI-powered tool and workflow integration

Enterprise systems and data pipelines

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) automation tools, such as GitHub Actions

Application programming interface (API) development

Python or other scripting languages

Database design and administration

Open-source software development

Ontologies and knowledge graphs

Location: Pullman, WA

Competitive pay. Superior benefits. Inspiring work.

People are at the core of our company and we hire employee-owners. We welcome you to learn more about how we support employees.

We’re 100% employee owned. Retirement benefits include an employer funded stock ownership plan (ESOP) and personal 401(k) options.

We offer top tier medical, prescription, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.

We recognize the importance of a healthy life balance and offer: 10 paid holidays, annual vacation accrual starting at 12 days, 9 paid sick days, and paid family and medical leave that covers 90% of your pay.

We foster growth and development of our employees through avenues such as STEM courses, apprenticeships, tuition assistance, and engineering development programs.

Ask our team about other benefits including wellness, fertility, adoption, and flexible spending benefits.

Pay Range Data:

Lead Software Engineer - $107,600 - $161,500

We are open to reviewing additional candidates with more or less experience and the pay range may differ if filled at a different level. Our pay ranges are determined by job and responsibility. We base our starting pay offer and title on job-related factors such as candidate experience, training, knowledge, and skills.

Communication with Applicants

We communicate with all applicants. If you do not receive a response about your application, please check your SPAM filter or reach out to us at careers@selinc.com.

SEL is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Vets/Disabled.