Freelance Application Software Engineer Jobs in Appleton, WI

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Build modern software. Solve meaningful problems. Grow with us.

The West Bend Commercial Enterprise IT team is looking for a Software Engineer who is passionate about building high-quality, well-tested software and enjoys working across the full software development lifecycle. In this role, you'll collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, build, deploy, and support modern applications that power growth and transformation for agents and underwriters in the Commercial Enterprise.

This position is ideal for an engineer with solid fundamentals, a modern engineering mindset, and a desire to continuously learn and improve-both independently and with the support of a strong team.

This position offers a hybrid schedule (3 days in the office) for collaboration days, team meetings or other in-person events. The position can be based in West Bend, Madison, or Appleton.

External applications will be accepted on a rolling basis while the position remains open.

What You'll Do:

Design, develop, test, and maintain software solutions using modern engineering practices
• Build and support backend services using .NET and C#, and contribute to frontend development using React (or similar frameworks)
• Develop and consume RESTful APIs, with exposure to enterprise integration patterns and tools
• Write clean, maintainable, and test-covered code, emphasizing quality, readability, and long-term sustainability
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and requirements analysis, contributing thoughtful technical input
• Create and maintain automated unit and integration tests, supporting test-driven development where appropriate
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines that build, test, deploy, and release software reliably
• Support and maintain internal, cloud-based, and third-party solutions, helping ensure system stability and performance
• Apply secure-by-design principles, identifying and mitigating potential risks early in the development process
• Use AI-assisted development tools responsibly to improve productivity-while applying sound judgment to validate outputs

What You Need to Bring:

Core Engineering Skills

• Intermediate proficiency with object-oriented programming concepts (encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism)
• Strong working knowledge of .NET and C# for backend development
• Intermediate experience with modern frontend frameworks (React preferred)
• Proven experience with Git-based workflows, including branching strategies and pull requests

Modern Development Practices

• Hands-on experience with modern SDLC practices, including:
  • Source control and Git flow
  • Code reviews
  • Unit testing, TDD, and mocking frameworks
  • Debugging and release practices
• Familiarity with build and release pipelines (Azure DevOps, NuGet, Gradle, or similar tools)
• Ability to contribute to and maintain CI/CD pipelines

Cloud & Integration Awareness

• Working knowledge of cloud-native solutions, especially Azure
• Exposure to event-based and integration patterns, including tools such as NServiceBus, API Management, and application hosting services
• Experience with observability and telemetry, such as OpenTelemetry, Application Insights, Splunk, Dynatrace, or similar tools

Design & Problem-Solving Skills

• Intermediate understanding of solution design patterns and how to apply them to business problems
• Ability to translate requirements into technical designs and contribute to design documentation
• Comfort analyzing and querying data in structured and unstructured formats

Mindset & Collaboration

• Strong sense of ownership and accountability for delivered solutions
• Support-oriented mindset with a willingness to help maintain and improve existing systems
• Ability to critically evaluate AI-generated output, ensuring correctness, security, and maintainability
• Understanding of responsible AI usage, especially around data sensitivity and enterprise constraints
• Clear communication skills and ability to collaborate well across technical and non-technical teams

It's Great if You Have:

• Full-stack experience delivering integrated frontend and backend solutions
• Experience with enterprise-scale systems or regulated environments
• Exposure to event-driven architectures and distributed systems

Why You'll Love Working at West Bend

• Opportunity to work on meaningful, business-critical systems where success is measured by clearly defined business outcomes
• Emphasis on engineering craftsmanship, quality, and continuous improvement
• Supportive team culture with room to grow your skills and influence technical direction
• Modern tooling, cloud platforms, and openness to innovation including AI-augmented engineering

The salary range for this position is $96,842 - $121,053.
The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate will be based on multiple factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, geographical location, and internal equity. Compensation decisions are made by West Bend and are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

West Bend offers a comprehensive benefit plan including but not limited to:

• Medical & Prescription Insurance

• Health Savings Account

• Dental Insurance

• Vision Insurance

• Short and Long Term Disability

• Flexible Spending Accounts

• Life and Accidental Death & Disability

• Accident and Critical Illness Insurance

• Employee Assistance Program

• 401(k) Plan with Company Match

• Pet Insurance

• Paid Time Off. Standard first year PTO is 17 days, pro-rated based on month of hire. Enhanced PTO may be available for experienced candidates

• Bonus eligible based on performance

• West Bend will comply with any applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act for Colorado employees, in accordance with its plans and policies.

West Bend provides equal employment opportunities to all associates and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, and promotion.

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