Senior Innovation Engineer
Cornerstone
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: United States
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Job Level
Tech Stack
About the role
- Serve as a senior technical leader within the R&D function, owning architecture decisions for approved innovation initiatives.
- Evaluate new ideas using defined decision criteria, including strategic alignment, feasibility, scalability, cost, and ROI.
- Design and implement appropriately scoped proofs of concept to validate technical feasibility, performance, and operational viability.
- Lead architectural design for R&D initiatives, identifying and documenting trade-offs, risks, and constraints to support informed decision-making.
- Assess build-versus-buy options, including third-party platforms, integrations, and external partnerships.
- Partner with Product and Engineering to guide ideas from concept through R&D validation, productization, and transition into delivery pipelines.
- Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate research, prototyping, and code quality while maintaining engineering and security standards.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of R&D processes, evaluation criteria, and governance.
Requirements
- Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience) required; Masters’ preferred.
- Minimum of 7 years’ professional software development/infrastructure experience, with senior-level architectural responsibility; 10 years’ professional experience strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated expertise in designing, building, and evolving complex, scalable software systems in production environments.
- Deep hands-on development experience with sustained ownership of system architecture and technical direction.
- Proven ability to lead advanced research, experimentation, and proof-of-concept efforts that inform long-term product strategy.
- Strong command of software architecture patterns, system design principles, and integration strategies across distributed systems.
- Extensive experience designing and delivering cloud-native solutions on AWS, including scalability, reliability, and security considerations.
- Experience applying AI-assisted development and research tools to accelerate exploration, prototyping, and architectural decision-making.
- Demonstrated judgment in evaluating technical feasibility, scalability constraints, cost-to-benefit trade-offs, and operational impact.
- Track record of transitioning validated concepts into production-ready platforms or product capabilities at scale.
- Experience influencing product and engineering direction through close collaboration with senior Product and Engineering leaders.
- Ability to clearly articulate complex technical decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations to both technical and executive audiences.
Benefits
- Equal Opportunity Employer statement
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
software developmentsystem architecturecloud-native solutionsAWSsoftware architecture patternssystem design principlesintegration strategiesAI-assisted developmentproof-of-conceptscalable software systems
Soft skills
leadershipdecision-makingcollaborationcommunicationjudgmentstrategic alignmentrisk assessmentproblem-solvinginfluencearticulation
Certifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer ScienceBachelor's degree in EngineeringMaster's degree (preferred)