Software Developer Lead

Location: West Des Moines, Iowa

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

We are driven to do more. More for our customers and the financial professionals who offer our products. If you are driven to do more and love the challenge of pursuing more, Athene is your kind of company. You will find we offer more than the basics to create an inclusive and dynamic work environment at our various locations.

Purpose:

Athene is seeking a Software Developer Lead to help shape the next generation of AI-native platforms that power critical insurance workflows. In this hands-on technical leadership role, you will design and deliver scalable, event-driven systems while advancing engineering practices that improve reliability, speed, and quality across the software development lifecycle. You'll serve as a trusted technical leader, influencing architecture, mentoring engineers, and driving adoption of modern AI-augmented development approaches.

This role offers the opportunity to solve complex technical challenges at enterprise scale while partnering across engineering and business teams to deliver innovative capabilities that directly support Athene's continued growth. Backed by Apollo's global investment platform, Athene is transforming retirement services through technology, innovation, and a culture built on our BEAM values—Believe in your co-workers, Engage actively, Act like owners, and Make it happen.

Accountabilities:

• Lead the architecture, design, and delivery of scalable, event-driven distributed systems supporting business-critical insurance platforms.

• Establish and champion AI-enabled, specification-driven software development practices that improve engineering quality, productivity, and delivery speed.

• Drive platform reliability through strong observability, operational excellence, automation, and production readiness.

• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance across engineering teams while promoting engineering standards and continuous improvement.

• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to simplify complex technical challenges and deliver innovative, customer-focused solutions.

Qualifications and Experience:

• 6+ years of experience designing and delivering enterprise software, distributed systems, or AI-enabled technology solutions, including recent experience applying AI to software development or business solutions, or relevant experience.

• Demonstrated expertise designing secure, scalable, highly available distributed systems, with strong knowledge of cloud-native architectures, observability, automation, and modern engineering practices.

• Proven ability to provide technical leadership by influencing architecture, mentoring engineers, driving innovation, and balancing speed, quality, and operational excellence in a fast-paced environment.

• Strong critical thinking, adaptability, creativity, and a bias for action, with experience leveraging AI and automation to improve engineering effectiveness and accelerate delivery.

• Experience working within enterprise or regulated environments is preferred.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Drive. Discipline. Confidence. Focus. Commitment. Learn more about working at Athene.

Athene is a Military Friendly Employer! Learn more about how we support our Veterans.

Athene is committed to inclusion and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.