Staff Software Engineer

BHN is looking for an accomplished Staff Software Engineer to join our engineering organization and help shape the next generation of digital gifting and stored-value experiences. This is a frontend-leaning role for a hands-on technical leader who can build intuitive, scalable web applications while also contributing deeply to the Python/Django and MySQL backend that powers them.

You will serve as a technical anchor across the product stack, partnering with product managers, designers, business analysts, QA, operations, and infrastructure teams. You will drive frontend architecture and engineering excellence, influence backend and API design, and help deliver secure, reliable, and highly performant solutions for BHN customers, partners, and internal users.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience with React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript development, along with solid Python/Django, REST API, and relational database expertise. You are comfortable moving between user interface design decisions, service integration, performance optimization, and architectural leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Frontend Architecture and Development

• Lead the design and implementation of scalable, maintainable web applications using React, JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML5, CSS, and modern frontend engineering practices.
• Define reusable component patterns, frontend architecture standards, state-management approaches, and coding practices across applications.
• Build accessible, responsive, and high-performing user experiences for complex workflows and enterprise use cases.
• Drive frontend modularization, code reusability, testability, and incremental modernization of existing applications.
• Partner with product and design teams to translate business requirements and user journeys into intuitive technical solutions.

Full-Stack and Backend Engineering

• Design and implement backend services and APIs using Python, Django, and Django REST Framework.
• Define secure, reliable RESTful interfaces and service-oriented integrations between frontend applications, internal platforms, and external partners.
• Collaborate on schema design, query optimization, indexing strategies, and data integrity for MySQL databases.
• Diagnose and resolve performance, scalability, reliability, and production issues across the frontend, API, and database layers.
• Contribute to asynchronous processing, concurrency, caching, and fault-tolerant system design where appropriate.

Technical Leadership and Architecture

• Provide technical direction for complex initiatives and act as a trusted advisor to engineers across the team.
• Lead architectural decisions, design reviews, code reviews, and technical documentation for cross-functional projects.
• Establish engineering standards for automated testing, code coverage, observability, security, accessibility, and maintainability.
• Ensure solutions align with Blackhawk Network enterprise architecture principles and platform standards.
• Identify technical risks, reduce ambiguity, and guide teams toward pragmatic, scalable solutions.

Collaboration and Delivery

• Coordinate technical deliverables across engineering, QA, operations, infrastructure, product, and business analysis teams.
• Work closely with Business Analysts and Product Managers to clarify requirements, identify dependencies, and improve delivery predictability.
• Champion Agile/Scrum practices, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and iterative delivery of customer value.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pairing, design discussions, code reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Participate in production support, incident analysis, and continuous improvement of engineering processes.

Innovation and AI-Enabled Engineering

• Evaluate and responsibly adopt AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity, code quality, test creation, documentation, and operational workflows.
• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive development and support activities while maintaining appropriate security, privacy, and quality controls.
• Share effective engineering practices and measurable productivity improvements with the broader team.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• 7–9 years of professional software development experience, including experience leading significant technical initiatives or operating in a Staff-level capacity.
• Strong hands-on experience building production web applications with React and modern JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Solid understanding of frontend architecture, component design, state management, responsive design, browser behavior, web performance, and accessibility.
• Strong backend development experience with Python and Django, including Django REST Framework.
• Experience designing and consuming secure, scalable RESTful APIs and integrating frontend applications with backend services.
• Advanced working knowledge of MySQL, including schema design, indexing, query optimization, transaction management, and performance tuning.
• Strong Object-Oriented Design skills and a deep understanding of software architecture and design patterns.
• Understanding of asynchronous programming, concurrency, multithreading, caching, and distributed-system fundamentals.
• Experience with automated testing across frontend and backend layers, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Proficiency with Git and automated CI/CD pipelines.
• Extensive experience working in Agile/Scrum development environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence technical decisions across a matrixed organization.
• A self-starter mindset with the ability to manage multiple complex priorities and deliver high-quality results under tight timelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in fintech, payments, stored-value products, gift cards, digital gifting, or card services.
• Experience with TypeScript, modern frontend build tools, frontend testing frameworks, and design systems.
• Familiarity with legacy UI technologies such as ExtJS or jQuery for migration and integration efforts.
• Experience with frontend observability, web application security, accessibility standards, and performance monitoring.
• Experience working with cloud platforms, containers, message queues, or event-driven architectures.
• Demonstrated use of AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot or LLM-based tools for refactoring, test generation, documentation, and developer productivity.