[Hiring] Lead Software Engineer @UL Research Institutes

Role Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Lead Software Engineer at UL Research Institutes, within our Digital Safety Research Institute (DSRI). This is a REMOTE opportunity.

The Lead Software Engineer is a major contributor to the development and maintenance of complex software systems of Digital Safety. The Lead Software Engineer provides technical guidance, mentorship, and leadership to the team while collaborating with stakeholders to deliver high-quality software solutions.

As the Lead Software Engineer, you will play a key role in the rapid growth of UL as you:

• Lead, define, and develop full-stack software systems and platforms that enable large-scale research, evaluation, and dissemination of safety insights.
• Implement service boundaries, data model evolution, integration patterns between our platforms, and the pipelines and evaluation frameworks they feed.
• Set technical direction across projects, aligning architecture and data frameworks with DSRI’s evolving research priorities and the broader AI evaluation ecosystem.
• Iterative design of complex, ambiguous, cross-cutting systems where the problem isn’t fully understood.
• Ensure consistency in engineering practices and set the standard for AI-assisted engineering on the team.
• Provide feedback to teams using AI coding tools in a dangerous, inappropriate, or inefficient way.
• Provide guidance and informal mentorship to junior engineers to support skill development and knowledge sharing.
• Foster a collaborative and positive work environment, promote knowledge sharing and professional growth within the team.
• Assist in hiring, onboarding, and training new software engineers, ensuring a smooth integration into the team.
• Represent technical work across the organization and in select external settings.
• Contribute to and/or lead other department specific and cross-functional initiatives.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in software engineering, applied across the systems that support research and data-driven analysis.
• Architectural judgment built on real experience.
• Sophisticated use of AI coding tools, including integrating Claude Code or similar tools into substantial, non-trivial work.
• Track record of technical leadership without formal authority.
• Clear, direct written communication and the ability to translate complex technical work for varied audiences.
• Genuine interest in AI safety, test & evaluation, or one of specific harm domains (e.g., synthetic media, chatbot safety).

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in software development, with a focus on platform security and proficiency in multiple programming languages and frameworks.
• Experience deploying several complex software products and understands the nuances of the software development life cycle.

Benefits

• Salary Range: $131,186.31-$180,381.17
• Pay Type: Salary