Software Developer / Generative AI (Emerging Careers)- Hybrid, Cary, North Carolina

About the job

The Visualization team is looking for a Software Developer (Emerging Careers) to join a group of talented engineers delivering Generative AI capabilities that support data exploration, visualization, and reporting within the SAS Viya platform. In this role, you will design and develop innovative solutions that help SAS customers analyze data, discover insights, and solve complex business problems, while making a meaningful impact on how customers experience our software. As a member of the team, you will contribute to building highquality, scalable, and maintainable systems, and collaborate closely with product, design, and engineering peers. You will also play a part in supporting the reliability and operational health of customerfacing services by assisting with production issue triage and resolution, applying strong debugging and systems thinking skills, and helping drive continuous improvement to enhance stability, resilience, and overall product quality.

As a Software Developer (Emerging Careers), you will:

• Design, develop, and maintain high-quality software solutions using modern programming techniques and best practices.
• Actively involve other project stakeholders (e.g. managers, developers, user interface and visual designers, product managers) to ensure implementation satisfies functional requirements and is consistent with established R&D standards.
• Participate in project scoping and scheduling; track progress of individual tasks and alert stakeholders of issues blocking or preventing completion of task.
• Ensure quality through functional, unit, integration, and performance testing; work closely with testing by providing thorough reviews of the test plan and communicate when updates to the plan should be made to cover code changes related to enhancements, redesigns and/or bug fixes.
• Maintain accountability for the entire life cycle of the code including support for both internal and external customers.
• Ensure all applicable security policies and processes are followed to support the organization's secure software development goals.
• Be encouraged to participate in open-source projects on behalf of SAS.
• Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.

Required qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science or related quantitative field.
• 2+ years of software development experience
• Experience in developing applications using one or more programming languages, with a focus on best practices, design patterns and performance optimization. Python is highly preferred.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud, and ideally their AI services e.g. Azure Open AI.
• Knowledge of current software trends and emerging technologies; to evaluate their impact on development practices and apply relevant innovations to enhance our software development practices with an ability to self-learn.
• Containerization and orchestration experience, including creating, deploying, and managing containerized applications using tools such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Proficiency in conducting code reviews, providing clear feedback to improve code quality, maintainability and adherence to best practices
• Extensive experience using git and git-based repositories such as GitHub for version control, including managing repositories, branching strategies, pull requests, and collaboration workflows to enhance team productivity and code quality.
• Ability to foster a collaborative environment that encourages growth, knowledge sharing, and confidence-building, mentoring junior developers. Proven track record in designing, executing, and analyzing performance tests to ensure system scalability, reliability, and responsiveness under varying loads. Familiarity with performance testing tools and methodologies to identify bottlenecks and optimize application performance.
• Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.

Additional competencies, knowledge and skills

• Adaptability: Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work responsibilities or environment (e.g., people, processes, structure, or culture); adjusting effectively to change by exploring the benefits, trying new approaches, and collaborating with others to make the change successful.
• Collaborating: Working cooperatively with others to help a team or work group achieve its goals.
• Communication: Conveying information and ideas clearly and concisely to individuals or groups in an engaging manner that helps them understand and retain the message; listening actively to others.
• Experience developing in Python
• Hands-on experience with CI systems such as GitHub Actions
• Knowledge and/or experience of Generative AI technologies and tooling e.g. OpenAI or other LLMs, PromptFlow, LangGraph
• Understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of GenAI implementation

World-class benefits

Highlights include...

• Comprehensive medical, prescription, dental and vision plans.
• Medical plan options include:
  • PPO with low annual deductible and copays.
  • HDHP combined with a health savings account with a contribution from SAS (no access to on-site health care center).
• Onsite Health Care Center (HQ) thats free to employees and family members enrolled in the PPO plan. Theres a pharmacy too! Not local to HQ? The pharmacy will ship prescriptions for no additional charge!
• An industry-leading 401k plan.
• Tuition Assistance Program and programs and resources to support your development
• Generous time away including vacation time, a variety of paid holidays, and our much-loved U.S. Winter Wellness Break between December 25 and January 1.
• Volunteer Time Off, parental leave and unlimited paid sick days.
• Generous childcare benefits for all full-time employees.