Fast Facts

OCLC is looking for a Lead Software Engineer to guide the Data Access Team in developing core data storage APIs and enhancing the WorldCat ecosystem, while providing technical leadership and mentoring to engineers.

Responsibilities: Lead the design and development of data storage APIs, provide technical mentorship, and drive modernization efforts while ensuring system reliability and performance across the WorldCat ecosystem.

Skills: Expert in Java and object-oriented design, with experience in distributed service patterns, RESTful API implementation, and CI/CD pipelines; strong analytical and problem-solving skills are essential.

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field, with a minimum of 7 years of backend development experience; proficiency in Java and familiarity with AI tools and big-data concepts is preferred.

Location: Corporate Office in Dublin, United States; hybrid work environment.

Compensation: Not provided by employer. Typical compensation ranges for this position are between $120,000 - $180,000.

Together we make breakthroughs possible.

At OCLC, we build technology with a purpose: to connect libraries and make knowledge accessible worldwide, because we believe that what is known must be shared. Our teams work with complex global datasets, AI and machine learning, hybrid cloud solutions, and other technologies that connect people and organizations to the information they need. We value the power of unique perspectives and experiences to unlock innovation. At OCLC, your ideas matter, whether you have two years of experience or 20. You’ll learn, create, and problem-solve with technologists, product developers, librarians, researchers, marketing pros, and support teams around the world.

Why join OCLC?

OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs Werecognize and rewardpeople and resultswith a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.

• We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio.We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
• Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
• Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
• Health and wellness events
• Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
• Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
• Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
• Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships

Join us in transforming how people everywhere access informationand be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact.

The Job Details are as follows:

OCLC is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join the WorldCat Engineering Data Access Team (DAT). This role provides hands-on technical leadership across the core platform and delivery pipelines that powers WorldCat data retrieval, record updates, authority lookups, and downstream integrations used globally by libraries and OCLC products.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and support of core data storage APIs and pipelines for supporting real-time updates and retrieval of bibliographic content
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to a team of engineers by guiding architecture decisions, conducting regular code reviews to ensure adherence to industry best practices and standards, and fostering a collaborative, cross-functional culture.
• Translate product and technical requirements into scalable, fault-tolerant service implementations focusing on throughput, latency, and 24×7 reliability.
• Own and evolve core services, including WorldCat Access APIs, delivery workflows, partner/customer endpoints, and orchestration logic.
• Drive modernization efforts including containerization, observability improvements, service decomposition, and cloud-ready architecture patterns.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to ensure end-to-end performance, alignment, and consistency across the WorldCat ecosystem.
• Improve delivery reliability and automation, reducing manual intervention through enhanced tooling, monitoring, and proactive issue detection.
• Lead cross-team engineering initiatives for new features, performance enhancements, platform integrations, and capacity planning.
• Evaluate emerging technologies that strengthen long-term architecture, maintainability, and operational health in support of OCLC’s mission

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related discipline, or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 7 years of backend or distributed systems development experience.
• Proficiency in Java, with experience in Scala or Python preferred.
• Expert-level proficiency in:
• Java, object-oriented design, distributed service patterns
• Spring Boot, Spring Framework
• Build tools, such as Maven or Gradle
• RESTful API design and implementation
• High-throughput, resilient service architecture
• Strong experience with Linux/Unix environments.
• Hands-on experience working with data access layers and service-oriented architectures.
• Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and Git.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with proven ability to lead and mentor engineers.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Experience integrating AI tools, frameworks, and concepts into the software development process.

Highly Desired Skills:

• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (Copilot, Cursor AI, etc…)
• Hands-on experience with both relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., HBase, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, MongoDB).
• Experience with big-data concepts and frameworks such as Hadoop, HBase, Spark, and Snowflake
• Knowledge around ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines and architectures
• Strong familiarity with observability and monitoring platforms (New Relic, Grafana, Prometheus, etc…)
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), orchestration, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Experience maintaining applications according to documented open standards, including both industry-wide best practices (e.g., REST, microservices architecture) and specific internal compliance guidelines, ensuring consistency and interoperability.
• Practical experience with TDD (Test Driven Development) and Agile methodologies

Working Conditions: Normal office environment. HYBRID position

ADA/EAA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be the principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.