Lead Software Engineer (Conference Navigator)

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to serve as the technical leader for the US-based Support & Operations team within Conference Technology. This role is critical to ensuring the stability, reliability, and continuous improvement of the platform that supports Gartner’s global conferences.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
  • Serve as the technical lead for Support & Operations, owning technical design decisions to ensure reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
  • Define and enforce technical standards, best practices, and coding guidelines across supported applications.
  • Lead technical design discussions for operational improvements, complex defect resolution, and risk mitigation initiatives.
  • Evaluate system tradeoffs and assist on architecture decisions with a strong understanding of business impact and conference readiness.
  • Review technical approaches and solutions before implementation.
• Operational Excellence & Incident Reduction
  • Lead analysis of production incidents, identify systemic causes, and drive permanent, scalable solutions.
  • Own recurring incident themes and ensure they are prioritized, tracked, and resolved through architectural or process improvements.
  • Ensure operational readiness for live conferences by validating system health, deployment quality, and support playbooks.
  • Act as a technical escalation point during high-severity incidents, providing calm, structured problem solving and clear communication.
• Delivery, Execution & Collaboration
  • Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Engineering Managers to translate operational needs into actionable technical work.
  • Collaborate with global engineering teams (US, Spain, India, and others) to ensure consistent quality, smooth handoffs, and shared understanding of system behavior.
  • Lead technical planning and estimation for operational enhancements, refactors, and other enabling initiatives.
  • Ensure solutions are delivered with a strong focus on quality, security, observability, and long-term sustainability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• 7-10+ years of professional software development experience, with significant experience in supporting and operating production systems.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead or complex systems.
• Strong expertise in: Backend development using C#, .NET Core, or similar technologies; Modern web technologies (Angular, React, TypeScript); SQL and data modeling for production systems; Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS or Azure), including services used for reliability, monitoring, and scalability; Experience with asynchronous processing, event-driven systems, and microservices architectures; Knowledge of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment practices; Proven ability to analyze and permanently resolve production issues in high-availability systems; Strong knowledge of incident management, root cause analysis, and operational best practices; Experience improving observability, logging, alerting, and system diagnostics; Ability to balance short-term operational needs with long-term architectural improvements; Exceptional problem-solving skills, with a creative and analytical approach to complex technical challenges; Strong communication skills, capable of conveying technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders; Confidence to set direction, make decisions, and influence without direct authority; Comfortable working in a global, distributed team environment.