Software Engineer, Governance

About Retool

Nearly every company in the world runs on custom software for critical operations like tracking performance metrics, handling customer support workflows, building admin dashboards, and countless other processes you might not have even thought of. But most companies don't have adequate resources to properly invest in these tools, leading to a lot of old and clunky internal software or, even worse, users still stuck in manual and spreadsheet flows. At Retool, we’re building the first enterprise AppGen platform: software that transforms natural language into production-ready code, integrates directly with business data, and meets the highest standards of security and governance. AI is redefining what it means to build software—and who gets to build it. The definition of “developer” now includes analysts, operators, and domain experts creating solutions directly.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the system that enforces table-level, column-level, and row-level access controls across Retool's database connectors.
  • Policy modeling, query rewriting to inject security constraints at the data engine, and building the admin UX that makes complex rules intuitive to configure.
• Redesign how administrators onboard and manage Retool.
  • Surface security insights, flag under-authenticated resources, and create the admin dashboard that makes platform health visible at a glance.
  • Build the features that change Retool from something that admins manage to a system that is self managing and self healing, with proper admin oversight and controls.
• Build the new organizational primitive for Retool.
  • Data model, permissions layer, and UI that gives teams a clear home base.
• Build the intelligent layer that proactively keeps Retool secure and well-governed.
  • Surface under-authenticated resources, flag potentially dangerous access patterns, monitor usage analytics and spend, and integrate with compliance and DLP tools.
• Build the controls that let enterprises govern multiple Retool Spaces and instances from a single pane of glass.
  • Enforce organization-wide policies, like requiring all Spaces to use a specific SSO provider or AI configuration, and proactively identify misconfigurations or deviations from compliance requirements.

Requirements

2–8 years of professional software engineering experience, ideally some of which you've spent at startups.

Strong fundamentals across the entire stack, with a strong grasp of backend systems design, data modeling, and building reliable, scalable software.

You communicate clearly in design docs, code reviews, and cross-functional discussions.

You care about code quality, testing, and leaving the codebase better than you found it.

You're motivated by solving real customer problems, not just writing clever code.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with Terraform or infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Exposure to dbt, Databricks, or data pipeline tooling.
• Experience building authorization, access control, or security systems.
• Experience with policy engines, query rewriting, or data governance platforms.
• Familiarity with RBAC, ABAC, or relationship-based access control models (Zanzibar, OPA, Cedar).
• Familiarity with authentication and authorization protocols (OAuth, SAML, SCIM, or similar).
• Experience designing taming complexity in admin-facing UIs or platform management tools.

Qualifications

• Full-stack web development experience.
• Experience with data pipelines and product infrastructure.

Skills

• Backend systems design.
• Data modeling.
• Building reliable, scalable software.

Benefits

• Retool provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).
• Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

Pay and Benefits

The base pay range for this role is $163,800 – $306,000 per year.

Retool offers generous benefits to all employees and hybrid work location.

For more information, please visit the benefits and perks section of our careers page!

Company Information

Retool is currently set up to employ all roles in the US and specific roles in the UK. To find roles that can be employed in the UK, please refer to our careers page and review the indicated locations.