Senior Software Engineer - Data Fabric at Appian – McLean | Jobyssey

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together.

Senior Software Engineer

Overview

At Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. As a Senior Software Engineer working on the Appian platform, your mission will be to ensure Appian is always fast, scalable, and up to whatever tasks our customers configure it to do. You will solve problems of scale and flexibility that most engineers never see, building a product capable of serving our customers in ways you never imagined. In this role, your scope extends from the high-performance data layer to the cross-platform user interface and design tools.

Team Description

The Platform Engineering team is at the center of building Appian’s high-throughput, enterprise-grade architecture. This is a squad of builders operating at the intersection of full-stack engineering, distributed systems, and real-time data processing. We don't just write code; we architect the foundational engine that powers mission-critical applications worldwide. We build, optimize, and maintain high-performance software, empowering enterprise organizations to execute complex, high-volume workloads with speed, resilience, and quality.

In this role, you will:

Engine for Reliability & Scale: Manage the availability, latency, scalability, and overall efficiency of the product by designing high reliability and fault tolerance directly into software and systems.
Resolve & Prevent Emergent Issues: Respond directly to high-impact technical challenges, writing robust software and building automation to prevent recurrence.
Architect Full-Stack Features: Leverage deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and design patterns to build end-to-end features using Java and modern web technologies.
Optimize High-Volume Data Systems: Design, tune, and refactor features handling complex, high-volume data structures, low-latency queries, and enterprise-grade relational databases.
Lead Feature Design & Sizing: Act as a core contributor to technical breakdowns, story sizing, architectural discussions, and feature implementations across the squad.
Champion Engineering Standards: Radiate software best practices, advocate for continuous code refactoring, and drive team-wide engineering velocity without sacrificing quality.

The Ideal Candidate:

You are a Tinkerer at Heart: You have an innate curiosity and proven ability to unpack, troubleshoot, and solve labyrinthine problems within large, high-performance, real-time distributed data systems.
Agile Mindset & Quality Focused: Agile is your mantra and quality is your goal. You take deep personal ownership over team velocity, system stability, and overall technical execution.
Strong Technical Communicator: You easily articulate complex architectural decisions, designs, and trade-offs in writing or verbally to technical audiences.

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field
6+ years of experience building, scaling, and delivering enterprise-grade software applications.
Proven fluency in Java, Hibernate, RDBMS, and JDBC within a full-stack environment.
Demonstrable experience working on systems involving large data values and high-volume data processing.

Preferred Qualifications:

3+ years of experience with CI/CD deployment pipelines in cloud environments (AWS) and continuous integration tools (e.g., Jenkins).
Strong practical mastery of both object-oriented (OO) and functional programming paradigms.
Deep knowledge of algorithms, web API design, and enterprise software design patterns.
Proven track record leading technical breakdowns, sizing estimates, and continuous code optimization efforts within an Agile framework.

The base salary range represents a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant work experience, qualifications, internal peer equity, and market and business conditions that exist when extending an offer. A discretionary bonus may be awarded in recognition of individual and company performance.

In addition, Appian provides generous benefits offerings that include a 401(k) plan with company match, flexible time off, paid parental leave, medical, dental, and vision plans, life insurance, disability insurance, wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, health savings account contributions, an employee referral bonus program, and learning and development resources. Certain positions may be eligible for equity awards.

Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation, commission, bonus, or benefit plans.

Base Salary Range

$125,000—$250,000 USD

Tools and Resources

Training and Development: During onboarding, we focus on equipping new hires with the skills and knowledge for success through department-specific training. Continuous learning is a central focus at Appian, with dedicated mentorship and the First-Friend program being widely utilized resources for new hires.
Growth Opportunities: Appian provides a diverse array of growth and development opportunities, including our leadership program tailored for new and aspiring managers, a comprehensive library of specialized department training through Appian University, skills based training, and tuition reimbursement for those aiming to advance their education. This commitment ensures that employees have access to a holistic range of development opportunities.
Community: We’ll immerse you into our community rooted in respect starting on day one. Appian fosters inclusivity through our 8 employee-led affinity groups. These groups help employees build stronger internal and external networks by planning social, educational, and outreach activities to connect with Appianites and larger initiatives throughout the company.

Benefits

Appian offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, wellbeing, and financial future. Benefits may include health coverage, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with free mental health support, life and disability insurance, an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), a retirement/pension plan, wellness dollars, tuition reimbursement, family-forming benefits and more. Benefits vary by country—please ask your Talent Acquisition contact for details specific to the location you are applying to.

About Appian

Appian provides AI automation for the most important business processes at the world’s largest organizations. Our platform is known for its unique power, reliability, and scale. We’ve been automating processes for more than 25 years and have proven expertise in enterprise operations. For more information, visit .

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Appian is an equal opportunity employer that strives to attract and retain the best talent. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Appian provides reasonable accommodations to applicants in accordance with all applicable laws. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

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