Software Development Engineer - AI & Agentic Syst

at WEX Inc. in Portland, Maine, United States

About the Role

At WEX, a Software Development Engineer (SDE) Level 3 is a senior technical leader who designs complete services, solves complex integration problems, and drives the lifecycle of major initiatives from end to end.
In this role, you will directly participate in WEX's fast-paced AI-driven opportunities, acting as a key builder and strategist for next-generation technology. You will champion internal AI adoption by helping build AI-powered sofrware (using tools such as Google Gemini, AWS Agent Core, Claude, and other third-party agentic integrations) while sharing education and coaching within the organization.

AI & Agentic Engineering

Design and deploy multi-agent workflows within AWS Agent Core, effectively handling state management, memory persistence, and complex tool interactions.

Help drive internal education and coaching initiatives for tools with as Google Gemini Enterprise; collaborate with external AI partners on new agentic opportunities.

Design, build, and own the lifecycle of entire services and cross-platform integrations. Solve complex system gaps and drive overarching audit strategies.

Make critical trade-off decisions on data orchestration (e.g., MCP/API, Agents/Skills) based on robust data and requirements.

Build systems that handle failure gracefully by implementing retries, circuit breakers, and fallbacks. Ensure all designs are testable and maintainable long-term.

Review code for security flaws and ensure all services adhere strictly to WEX's authentication standards (e.g., OAuth scopes).

Cost-Aware Cloud Architecture:
Design reliable cloud infrastructure (e.g., auto-scaling groups, failover strategies) while proactively avoiding resource over-provisioning.

Own the automated deployment package and metadata framework. Write scripts or automation manifests to deploy configurations cleanly across sandbox tiers, preventing environment drift.

Build and optimize CI/CD pipelines, focusing heavily on reducing build times and tightening feedback loops.

Capable of solving complex bugs (intermittent issues, race conditions, memory leaks), ensuring the root cause is fixed permanently.

Own Incidents for your services during outages. Create step-by-step triage runbooks and playbooks that empower Tier 1/2 helpdesk teams or junior analysts to resolve common platform errors without escalation.

Requirement Definition:
Partner with Product Managers who define Functional requirements by owning the Non-Functional requirements (Performance, Security, Scalability) needed to meet business KPIs.

Work with PMs to prioritize the backlog, explicitly negotiating the inclusion of "Tech Debt" and "Refactoring" by explaining long-term business risks. Negotiate "Must Haves" vs. "Nice to Haves" to ensure sprint achievability.

You don't say "No"; you say "Not like that." You offer alternative solutions that respect time and budget constraints.

Enforce strict quality standards during code reviews with empathy ("Check tone"). Reject sloppy or brittle "quick fixes" while setting the organizational standard for clean design patterns. Proactively mentor SDE 1s and 2s, delegating work specifically to help them grow.

Facilitate data-driven discussions to resolve engineering disagreements, effectively de-escalating "religious wars" about technology and ensuring "quiet" voices are heard in design meetings.

Rapidly learn and apply new languages or frameworks, lead knowledge-sharing sessions, seek out critical feedback, and context-switch effectively across work streams when project parameters change.

The base pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position. Actual pay rates will vary and will be based on various factors, such as your qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. Base pay is one component of WEX's total compensation package. Most sales positions are eligible for commission under the terms of an applicable plan.

Non-sales roles are typically eligible for a quarterly or annual…