Head of Software Engineering

Founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, IL, privately held Braviant Holdings, LLC is a leading provider of tech-enabled consumer credit products that combine breakthrough technology and cutting-edge machine learning to transform how people access credit online. Our next-generation approach to lending reduces credit barriers and creates a Path to Prime® — helping millions of underbanked consumers build credit history, reduce their cost of borrowing, and take control of their personal finances. Braviant has been named multiple times to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies and has been recognized as a Best Place to Work. 

We are a lean team of approximately 40 people who move fast and hold ourselves accountable for real outcomes. Everyone here rolls up their sleeves — including this role.

POSITION SUMMARY

Braviant is looking for a hands-on engineering leader to own our full-stack application development function. You will serve as both the primary software architect and the engineering manager for a team of 6–8 full-stack developers and QA engineers, responsible for our consumer lending platform across its full lifecycle — from front-end Angular interfaces to back-end Java/Spring Boot services to cloud infrastructure on AWS.

This is not a purely managerial role. We expect you to stay deeply technical: conducting architecture and code reviews, prototyping solutions, and being the person the team turns to when the hardest problems surface. You will bring the judgment to assess our current architecture — a complex, 30+ microservice environment — and develop and execute a pragmatic plan to simplify it and reduce release friction over time.

This role is Addison, TX-based with a 4-day in-office requirement. The team is currently based primarily in Chicago and it might require up to 20% of travel initially. You will be the on-the-ground engineering leader helping establish the engineering culture.

WHAT YOU’LL OWN

Architecture & Technical Leadership

Serve as Braviant’s primary software architect — owning system design, technology choices, and engineering standards across all application layers.

Assess the current architecture (30+ microservices, Java/Spring Boot back end, Angular front end, AWS) and develop a pragmatic rationalization roadmap to reduce complexity and improve deployability.

Stay close to the codebase: lead architecture reviews, conduct meaningful code reviews, and prototype solutions to de-risk key technical decisions.

Own high-availability design for loan origination, payment processing, and transaction workflows, targeting 99.9%+ uptime SLAs.

Define and evolve CI/CD pipeline strategy, release practices, and engineering quality standards.

AI-Native Development Transformation

Lead the transition to an AI-native development model — embedding AI-assisted development tools (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Cursor, agentic coding frameworks) into how the team designs, builds, tests, and ships software every day.

Partner with the Head of AI & Automation to identify where AI-generated code, automated testing, and LLM-powered tooling can meaningfully accelerate delivery and reduce QA burden.

Champion engineering practices that make AI tooling safe and auditable in a regulated consumer lending environment.

Engineering Delivery

Own end-to-end software development for consumer-facing and internal applications — from requirements through deployment and support.

Manage the full stack: Angular front end, Java/Spring Boot microservices, AWS infrastructure (EC2, S3, SQS, CloudWatch, CodeBuild), and database layers.

Own the QA function within the engineering team; define the right balance of automated testing, manual QA, and release gates.

Champion security-by-design and compliance standards appropriate to a consumer lending environment (PCI, state lending regulations, CFPB-related requirements).

Team Leadership & Culture

Lead, develop, and retain a team of 6–8 full-stack engineers and QA professionals; set performance standards, provide mentorship, and build a culture of craftsmanship and accountability.

Hire and grow the Addison-based engineering team — you will be the anchor for that office’s technical culture.

Manage the engineering budget, including capex/opex planning, vendor relationships, and tooling decisions.

Partner with business stakeholders and executive leadership to translate product and operational priorities into engineering plans; represent engineering at the leadership level.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Required

10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 5 years in a senior engineering leadership role (Director, Head of Engineering, or equivalent).

Deep full-stack background: strong Java/Spring Boot on the back end, experience with Angular or equivalent modern front-end frameworks, and solid command of relational databases and API design (REST, microservices, MVC).

Proven software architect — you have designed production systems, made technology bets that paid off, and course-corrected ones that didn’t.

Experience rationalizing or simplifying over-engineered architectures: you can diagnose why a system became complex, build stakeholder alignment around a simplification plan, and execute it without breaking production.

AWS cloud infrastructure ownership: EC2, S3, SQS, CloudWatch, CodeBuild, and related services — configuration, architecture, and operations.

CI/CD pipeline ownership at production scale; strong branching, review, and release practices using GitHub, Bitbucket, or equivalent.

Experience with high-availability, distributed systems in a real-time transaction processing environment.

Engineering budget ownership: capex/opex planning, vendor management, and resource allocation.

Demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and retain engineering talent in a competitive market.

Comfortable in a lean, startup-style environment with heavy workloads, competing priorities, and ambiguity — this is not a role for someone who needs a large support structure.

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field; Master’s a plus.

Preferred

Hands-on experience building with AI-native development tools or frameworks (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, agentic coding pipelines, LLM-assisted test generation).

Experience in consumer lending, fintech, payments, or another regulated financial services technology environment.

Familiarity with MCP integrations, agentic AI architectures, or building internal developer productivity platforms.

Formal software architecture or cloud certification (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect).

BENEFITS & PERKS

Compensation at Braviant is competitive and commensurate with experience. Details will be discussed with qualified candidates during the interview process. In addition, we provide:

Comprehensive healthcare including medical, dental, and vision coverage

Generous paid time off, including PTO, sick time, and 13 company holidays

401(k) with company contribution

Participation in annual discretionary bonus plan

Regular team and company gatherings