About the role

Department:

Technology

Our Company Promise

We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.

Job Description:

As a Sr Software Engineer Global supporting the AI Platforms Pod with a Cloud focus, you’ll help design, build, and evolve the core cloud‑based services that power Southwest’s AI and machine learning capabilities. This role blends hands‑on software engineering with technical leadership, focusing on developing secure, reliable, and scalable cloud services that Teams across the Company rely on to build, deploy, and operate AI solutions. You’ll drive system design and feature delivery for large‑scale cloud platforms, using AWS services, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD practices to reduce deployment risk and improve developer velocity. With a strong focus on observability, performance, and cost optimization, you’ll help ensure AI platforms deliver predictable unit economics and production‑ready reliability. You’ll also mentor Software Engineers, promote “shift‑left” quality through better testing and automation, and collaborate closely with Product, Security, and Architecture Partners to continuously improve the cloud foundation that enables innovation across Southwest’s AI ecosystem.

Responsibilities

Drive the technical direction and feature roadmap of large-scale cloud systems
Serve as a technical lead contributing to and directing the efforts of development teams, including internal and external team members
Determines operational feasibility by evaluating analysis, problem definition, requirements, solution development, and proposed solutions
Drives detailed definition of feature requirements through discussions with product managers and customers
Supports continuous improvement by investigating alternatives and new technologies
Prepares and installs solutions by determining and designing system specifications, standards, and programming
Evaluates code to ensure that it is valid, is properly structured, meets industry standards, and is compatible with browsers, devices, or operating systems
Mentor Software Engineers to allow for skill/knowledge development through advice, coaching, and training opportunities
Update job knowledge by studying state-of-the-art development tools, programming techniques and computing equipment; participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations
May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Advanced knowledge of software development methodologies, practices, concepts, and technologies obtained through formal training and / or work experience
Proactively shares knowledge and skills of software development and testing to solve a range of problems
Advanced knowledge of at least one required programming language
Excellent partnering, communication, negotiation skills, and execution in working with various Technology or partner Teams
Ability to articulate (verbally / visually) ideas, approach, concepts, options, risk, impact, and provides guidance to technical, non-technical, and Leadership audiences
Ability to lead multiple assignments, whether administrative or project related, while maintaining a successful level of completion in all responsible work
Ability to mentor others
Ability to lead ideating, presentations, mentoring and group-thinking sessions
Ability to influence without authority

Education

Required: Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or related field and/or equivalent formal training

Experience

Required: Advanced-level experience, seasoned and specialized knowledge in: Software development and methodologies
- 5-7 years of relevant work-related experience
- Backend/service development (Java/Python/Go) and distributed systems
- AWS cloud development (IAM, VPC, S3, compute, managed services)
- IaC (CDK/Terraform/CloudFormation) + CI/CD pipelines
- Observability (CloudWatch, logging, tracing) and operational excellence
- Event-driven integrations (Kafka/Kinesis) and data storage patterns
- Secure coding + threat modeling basics

Preferred: Experience in:
- SageMaker/Bedrock integration experience
- EKS/Kubernetes/ECS
- Performance engineering (load testing, profiling)
- FinOps awareness (tagging, budgets, cost attribution)
- API gateway/auth patterns (OAuth/JWT)

Other Qualifications

Must meet confidentiality expectations as to confidential, proprietary and sensitive Company information
Ability to work extended hours as needed

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Aplyr's read

Southwest Airlines thrives on a low-cost, customer-centric model, attracting employees who value efficiency and a dynamic work environment.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Southwest Airlines offers competitive salaries and benefits, attracting talent in a competitive industry.
•The airline's strong focus on customer service creates a positive work culture.
•Southwest's extensive domestic network provides diverse career opportunities in various locations.

What to watch

•The airline industry faces volatility due to fluctuating fuel prices and economic downturns.
•Southwest's low-cost model may limit resources for employee development.
•Intense competition from other low-cost carriers can impact job security.

Why Southwest Airlines

•Southwest Airlines is known for its no-frills service, simplifying operations.
•The company maintains a unique open seating policy, enhancing boarding efficiency.
•Southwest's employee-first culture is reflected in its consistently high workplace satisfaction ratings.

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About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines

southwest.com

View company

Southwest Airlines is a major American airline known for its low-cost fares and no-frills service. It operates more than 4,000 flights daily to over 100 destinations across the United States and near-international locations.