AI First Software Engineer

Who We Are:
At OPENLANE we make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful.
We’re a technology company building the world’s most advanced—and uncomplicated—digital marketplace for used vehicles.
We’re a data company helping customers buy and sell smarter with clear, actionable insights they can understand and use.
And we’re an innovation company accelerating the future of wholesale remarketing through curiosity, collaboration, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Our Values:
Driven Waybuilders. We pursue challenges that inspire us to build, create, and innovate.
Relentless Curiosity. We seek to understand and improve our customers’ experience.
Smart Risk-Taking. We transform risk into progress through data, experience, and intuition.
Fearless Ownership. We deliver what we promise and learn along the way.
We’re Looking For:
We’re hiring AI-first Software Engineers to build, evolve, and scale OPENLANE’s internal tooling ecosystem.
These roles are for engineers who already treat AI as a first-class development tool, not a novelty. You’ll use AI to move faster, ship higher-quality software, and reduce operational and development toil, while still applying strong engineering judgment, ownership, and systems thinking.
You’ll work on internal platforms and operational tooling including self-service portals, asset management systems, provisioning workflows, and core platform services. You’ll partner closely with Product, Infrastructure, Data, Security, and SRE teams to deliver resilient, scalable systems that improve developer and employee productivity across the organization.
Why OPENLANE:
Work on real-time, internal platforms systems at scale
Be part of a major platform modernization and AI transformation
Use AI as a first-class development tool—not an experiment
Collaborate with experienced engineers, product leaders, and platform teams
Grow in an environment that values learning, ownership, and impact
You Are:
AI-forward. You already use AI tools to enhance development speed, quality, and efficiency, and you continuously adapt as tooling evolves.
Product-minded. You think beyond code and understand how technical decisions impact customers and business outcomes.
Ownership-driven. You take responsibility for systems end-to-end, including reliability and operational health.
Technically curious. You enjoy learning new technologies and thoughtfully evaluating emerging approaches.
Quality-focused. You value clean, maintainable code, strong testing practices, and production-ready engineering standards.
You Bring:Core Engineering Skills
Experience building and supporting production software systems
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture
Comfort working in modern CI/CD environments
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end
AI-First Mindset
Actively uses AI development tools (code copilots, AI debuggers, test generators)
Curious about applying AI to real customer and business problems
Able to critically evaluate AI outputs instead of blindly accepting them
Comfortable learning and adapting in a fast-changing tool landscape
Technical Experience
Backend & API Engineering: Designing scalable, secure services that power complex workflows and integrate across distributed systems.
Frontend & User Experience: Building responsive, maintainable frontend applications that prioritize user needs and business outcomes.
AWS or similar cloud platforms
Microservices and event-driven architectures
SQL and data-driven applications
You Will:
Design, build, and operate scalable internal services/applications
Develop APIs and backend services on the modern, cloud-native, AI-enabled platform
Use AI tools to accelerate coding, testing, debugging, and documentation while applying strong engineering judgment
Partner with Product and SMEs to translate business needs into durable, scalable technical solutions
Participate in on-call rotations and support live production systems
Improve system reliability, performance, security, and observability
Contribute to technical direction, engineering standards, and long-term platform evolution
How You’ll Use AI in These Roles:
AI-assisted coding and refactoring
AI-generated test coverage and validation
AI-supported debugging and root-cause analysis
AI-assisted documentation and knowledge sharing
Applying AI tools to reduce repetitive work and increase engineering leverage
Who You Will Work With:
This role is part of OPENLANE IT, a support organization for all internal customers and applications. Reporting to the OPENLANE IT Sr. Manager, this role collaborates closely with Product Managers, Data Engineers, Infrastructure, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams on a daily basis
Must Have’s:
3+ years of experience building and supporting production software systems
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
Experience building and supporting production software systems
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture
Comfort working in modern CI/CD environments
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end
Actively uses AI development tools (code copilots, AI debuggers, test generators)
Curious about applying AI to real customer and business problems
Able to critically evaluate AI outputs instead of blindly accepting them
Comfortable learning and adapting in a fast-changing tool landscape
Nice to Have’s:
AWS or similar cloud platforms
Microservices and event-driven architectures
SQL and data-driven applications
Reliability engineering or SRE experience
Experience modernizing or migrating legacy systems
What We Offer:
Competitive pay
Medical, dental, and vision benefits with employer HSA contributions (US) and FSA options (US)
Immediately vested 401K (US) or RRSP (Canada) with company match
Paid Vacation, Personal, and Sick Time
Paid maternity and paternity leave (US)
Employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, life insurance, and AD&D (US)
Robust Employee Assistance Program
Employer paid Leap into Service Day to volunteer
Tuition Reimbursement for eligible programs
Opportunities to expand your skill set and share your knowledge across a publicly traded, global organization
Company culture of internal promotions, diverse career paths, and meaningful advancement
Sound like a match? Apply Now - We can't wait to hear from you!