Full Time Senior Software Developer Jobs in Madison, WI

Sophisticated Work. In a Great City. Making a Difference.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) manages more than $178 billion in assets, including those of the fully-funded Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS). SWIB operates at a level more often seen in top-tier global asset managers than in typical public pension funds. SWIB is a home for top talent. Approximately 61 percent of SWIB's investment professionals are Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders.
The City of Madison, the state capitol and home of Wisconsin's flagship university, makes regular appearances on lists of best places to live, eat, and play. SWIB offers a modern workspace, hybrid work options, and competitive compensation and benefits.

Serving over 703,000 WRS beneficiaries, SWIB is driven by a clear mission: securing the financial future of those who serve Wisconsin. When you work at SWIB, you know your work matters.

Job Description:

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain production-grade APIs and system integrations that support critical workflows
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of services and applications, from design and implementation through deployment, monitoring, and iteration
• Build automated, cloud-native workflows, including thoughtful use of AI capabilities where they provide clear business value
• Contribute to user-facing interfaces that make complex workflows understandable and efficient for end users
• Design and manage data models and persistence layers, including schema design, performance tuning, and troubleshooting
• Deploy and operate applications in cloud environments using best practices for security, reliability, observability, and cost awareness
• Apply AI pragmatically - both as a development accelerator and, where appropriate, as part of production systems (e.g., LLMs, vector search, NLP APIs)
• Participate actively in code reviews, design discussions, and technical decision-making, raising the quality bar for the team
• Mentor and support less-experienced engineers through pairing, reviews, and knowledge sharing
• Collaborate closely with technical and non-technical partners to translate business needs into clear, maintainable technical solutions
• Contribute to the evolution of engineering standards, patterns, and tooling within the team and broader organization

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of professional software development experience (or equivalent demonstrated impact)
• Strong proficiency in Python, with experience building and maintaining production-grade systems
• Solid experience working with databases (SQL and/or NoSQL), including data modeling and performance considerations
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Proven experience designing, building, and delivering end-to-end software systems in real world production environments
• Familiarity in finance and in financial systems (e.g., financial data, instruments, reporting, or workflows), and interest in applying technology in this domain
• Experience with or strong interest in AI technologies, such as LLMs, vector databases, or NLP APIs
• Sound technical judgment and the ability to balance delivery speed, quality, and long-term maintainability
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset

What You'll Gain

• Ownership of meaningful, high-impact systems used across the organization
• Opportunities to influence architecture, technical standards, and engineering practices
• Hands-on work with modern cloud and AI technologies in real-world production use cases
• Close partnership with stakeholders across engineering, data, and business teams

• Competitive total cash compensation, based on AON (formerly McLagan) industry benchmarks
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Educational and training opportunities
• Tuition reimbursement
• Challenging work in a professional environment
• Hybrid work environment

The position requires U.S. work authorization.

Pursuant to our Hybrid Remote Work Policy, all staff have the flexibility to work remotely but are required to have a weekly presence in our offices, the frequency of which is dependent on their distance from office or the job position. Staff are not required to reside locally; however, we offer relocation reimbursement to the Dane County area per our policy.

All SWIB employees are subject to SWIB's Ethics Policy and Personal Trade Approvals Policy. These policies include restrictions on outside business activities and employment and have limits on personal trading. You may request copies of these policies from SWIB's talent acquisition team and any questions can be answered by SWIB's compliance team.