Software Engineer IV

Trellis Company is a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation focused on helping people leverage the power of post-secondary education and learning to improve their quality of life and the communities where they live. For more than 40 years, Trellis has served as a student loan guarantor, providing trusted guidance and services that help student borrowers successfully repay their federal loans. Today, we have expanded our services beyond higher education to include working with employers and community organizations to align the dreams, goals, and skills needs of employees and employers. This combination of stability and vision creates a unique intersection: a startup environment at a company with a stable foundation.

The position is hybrid, requiring two days weekly in the Round Rock, Texas office.

About the role

As a senior technical member of the Distributed Applications team, the Software Engineer IV designs, develops, implements, and maintains Web, Mobile, AI/ML, and Legacy applications. This role builds and delivers enterprise applications and AI-enabled solutions using modern development technologies, including Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents, and AI-driven workflow automation. The position collaborates with Solutions Architects, developers, data engineers, security teams, and business stakeholders to analyze requirements, participate in design sessions, and develop application features. Additionally, the Software Engineer IV provides technical leadership, mentors less experienced engineers, and ensures business applications are available 24/7 in production.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain software features for web, mobile, AI, and legacy applications using best coding practices and application standards.
• Lead the technical implementation of assigned projects and features from requirements analysis and design through development, testing, and production release.
• Provide technical status updates, risks, and recommendations to project stakeholders and IT leadership.
• Coordinate project activities, assign work, and guide project teams to achieve objectives.
• Develop and maintain REST APIs, microservices, and backend services using Java, Spring Boot, Spring Framework, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, and Hibernate.
• Build AI-enabled application features using Generative AI, LLMs, prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques.
• Implement AI agents and agentic AI workflows using AI agent frameworks and orchestration tools to automate business processes, document analysis, knowledge retrieval, and decision support.
• Integrate AI services and models into enterprise applications and third-party modules using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot technologies, and vector databases with semantic search.
• Implement DevOps practices including CI/CD, containerization with Docker/Kubernetes, and deployment automation.
• Participate in and lead peer code reviews, pair programming, application standards reviews, and application performance reviews using agile methodologies.
• Research emerging technologies, including AI tools and frameworks, and propose solutions to improve processes and development productivity.
• Provide ongoing support for business applications in production through on-call rotation.
• Support IT’s vision, strategic direction, and future growth, including special projects and departmental initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Five years of experience delivering technology solutions across application development, cloud services, data platforms, automation, and AI-enabled technologies.
• Demonstrated experience developing, debugging, testing, deploying, and maintaining Java applications and RESTful web services.
• Proficiency with version control systems, agile methodologies, software design, build and deployment tools, issue/bug tracking, and SQL across relational and non-relational databases.
• Hands-on experience with DevOps tooling such as Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Maven, Git, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience building and delivering AI-enabled application features, including LLM integration, prompt engineering, RAG, or AI agent/workflow automation.

Skills

• Modern programming languages and frameworks: Java, Python, SQL, JavaScript/TypeScript, Spring Boot, Angular, React.
• Spring ecosystem: Spring Boot, Spring Framework, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, Hibernate, Spring Integration, Maven.
• Frontend technologies: HTML5, CSS, SCSS, JSP, Angular, Node.js, JavaScript, Bootstrap, Oracle ADF.
• Mobile development: Microsoft Apps, Android, Swift (native).
• AI/ML: Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, AI agents, RAG architectures, NLP, embeddings, and basic model evaluation.
• AI tools and platforms: Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot, LangChain, vector databases, AI search, and semantic search.
• Cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, or GCP; containerization with Docker/Kubernetes; CI/CD pipelines.
• Application deployment: Oracle WebLogic, Tomcat; database integration with SQL Server, DB2, MySQL.
• Collaboration and leadership: Ability to coordinate across business areas, mentor less experienced engineers, and work in dynamic, cross-functional teams.
• Organizational skills: Handling multiple concurrent activities, resolving conflicting priorities, and meeting development and production demands.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Data Analytics and ETL tools.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Fabric, Dynamics 365, or Dataverse.
• Experience migrating legacy systems (e.g., COBOL on z/OS) to modern technologies.
• Experience in higher education or nonprofit technology environments.

Physical and Mental Demands

• Occasional movement within the office.
• Repetitive motion (e.g., typing, using a computer).
• Regular operation of office equipment (computer, phone).
• Regular communication with employees and clients via phone, virtual meetings, or in person.
• Visual acuity for viewing and entering information into computer systems, analyzing data, and developing reports.
• Mental focus to exchange detailed and accurate information through oral and written communication.

Work Environment

• Hybrid work: remote or in an office with a small cubicle environment.
• Climate-controlled office with no substantial exposure to adverse conditions.
• Rotating on-call support for web, mobile, and AI business applications.

Pay

Base salary: $85,913 – $132,174 per year (commensurate with experience).

Benefits

• Corporate annual incentive (discretionary, not guaranteed).
• 11 paid holidays + 1 floating holiday per year.
• Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, and retirement plans.