Software Engineer 4

BLOC Resources is seeking a senior-level Software Engineer 4 – Cloud Data & AI Platform Engineer for a high-impact opportunity supporting enterprise AI orchestration, cloud platform engineering, and advanced analytics enablement in Birmingham.

This role supports advanced technology initiatives within a highly regulated enterprise environment and is ideal for a software engineering professional with 10+ years of experience building production-grade applications, distributed systems, cloud-native data platforms, and AI-enabled orchestration frameworks.

The selected candidate will play a critical role in designing, building, and operating advanced data and AI capabilities within an Microsoft Azure / Databricks Lakehouse environment, helping deliver governed, scalable, secure, and auditable solutions that support operational reliability and enterprise analytics.

## Position Summary

The Software Engineer 4 – Cloud Data & AI Platform Engineer is a hands-on senior technical role responsible for designing, developing, and operating advanced data orchestration and AI-enabled application capabilities within an enterprise cloud platform.

This position focuses heavily on:

• AI application development
• cloud data orchestration
• enterprise application support
• distributed systems engineering
• advanced platform integrations
• production-ready analytics automation

The role extends beyond traditional software engineering by combining application development, cloud platform engineering, data engineering, AI workflow orchestration, and enterprise architecture alignment.

The selected candidate will partner closely with data engineering, analytics, platform, and application teams to ensure solutions are maintainable, scalable, compliant, and aligned with long-term enterprise platform strategy.

## Key Responsibilities

### AI Application Development & Orchestration Engineering

• Design and implement advanced AI-enabled orchestration frameworks using Python.
• Build reusable orchestration capabilities supporting:
• multi-step analytics workflows
• data quality validation
• AI-assisted automation
• metadata enrichment
• operational diagnostics
• code generation assistance
• Develop controlled task-based and agent-based orchestration components for production-ready AI-enabled workflows.
• Ensure orchestration logic is:
• deterministic
• testable
• maintainable
• appropriate for regulated enterprise environments

### Cloud Data Platform Engineering

• Design, develop, and operate advanced workflows within the Databricks Lakehouse environment.
• Build scalable cloud-native processing frameworks using:
• Apache Spark / PySpark
• Delta Lake
• Medallion Architecture (Bronze / Silver / Gold)
• Develop orchestration and analytics pipelines aligned with enterprise Lakehouse architecture standards.
• Support scalable processing of large and complex operational datasets.

### Azure Platform Integration

• Develop solutions using Microsoft Azure technologies including:
• Azure Databricks
• Azure Functions
• Azure Logic Apps
• Azure container-based services where appropriate
• Partner with Lakehouse platform leads to ensure solution alignment with enterprise architecture and governance standards.

### System Integration & API Engineering

• Design and implement secure integration patterns across internal enterprise applications and approved external vendor systems.
• Develop integration services, APIs, and supporting backend logic to enable reliable data movement and application interoperability.
• Ensure integrations align with:
• enterprise identity requirements
• least-privilege access principles
• auditability standards
• data handling controls

### Performance, Scalability & Reliability

• Monitor and optimize:
• Spark workloads
• orchestration processes
• AI service interactions
• distributed processing performance
• Build highly resilient solutions capable of supporting intermittent high-volume workloads without manual intervention.
• Apply cloud cost-management principles to support efficient resource utilization and sustainable operations.

### Enterprise Application Support

• Provide high-level application support across production environments.
• Troubleshoot complex software issues in large-scale distributed systems.
• Perform:
• problem determination
• root cause analysis
• debugging
• issue remediation
• software updates and enhancements
• Participate in technical support and production issue resolution activities as required.

### Software Engineering & Solution Delivery

• Design, develop, test, implement, and modify sophisticated software solutions using modern engineering practices.
• Create technical specifications, solution documentation, and architectural artifacts.
• Support new application development as well as enhancement of existing enterprise systems.
• Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, technical evaluations, and product recommendations.

### Technical Leadership & Standards

• Contribute to:
• architectural guidance
• engineering design reviews
• platform standards
• long-term technical strategy
• Ensure solutions are:
• modular
• maintainable
• scalable
• production-ready
• Provide clear handoff materials and technical documentation to support long-term operational support teams.

## Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong background in web-based and object-oriented application development
• Experience with .NET and Java
• Advanced proficiency in Python, including:
• object-oriented design
• modular development
• asynchronous or event-driven patterns
• Strong experience with:
• PySpark
• Databricks
• Delta Lake
• enterprise data lake architectures
• Strong experience building production-grade software solutions in cloud environments
• Experience with large-scale distributed systems
• Strong troubleshooting, debugging, and root-cause analysis capabilities
• Experience supporting enterprise production applications

## Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing AI-assisted applications or LLM-enabled orchestration workflows
• Experience with:
• task-based agent frameworks
• supervisor/worker orchestration patterns
• Practical experience with Microsoft Azure services
• Experience with:
• GitHub Actions
• Azure DevOps
• CI/CD automation pipelines
• Familiarity with:
• infrastructure-as-code
• environment configuration management
• Experience in:
• utilities
• energy
• nuclear
• highly regulated enterprise environments
• Experience working with sensitive operational, telemetry, or regulatory datasets

## Technical Skills & Expertise

• Advanced cloud application engineering
• Distributed systems development
• Enterprise data platform engineering
• AI workflow orchestration
• API and integration architecture
• Production support in regulated environments
• Performance optimization and cloud cost awareness
• Secure software development practices

## Documentation & Standards

The selected candidate will be expected to maintain strong engineering discipline, including:

• adherence to PEP 8 standards
• alignment with Southern Company development standards
• comprehensive:
• docstrings
• technical READMEs
• architecture documentation
• operational handoff materials

Solutions must be designed for:

• accuracy
• auditability
• traceability
• resilience

## Core Competencies

• Technical Leadership – Provides strong engineering judgment and platform guidance
• Analytical Problem Solving – Diagnoses and resolves complex technical challenges
• Ownership & Accountability – Delivers reliable, maintainable production solutions
• Collaboration – Works effectively across engineering, analytics, and platform teams
• Quality Focus – Maintains rigorous standards in highly controlled environments

Software Engineer 4 – Cloud Data & AI Platform Engineer

Location: 3535 Colonnade Parkway, Birmingham, AL 35243
Compensation: $65.00 – $68.00 per hour
Job Type: Full-Time | Contract

BLOC Resources is seeking a senior-level Software Engineer 4 – Cloud Data & AI Platform Engineer for a high-impact opportunity supporting enterprise AI orchestration, cloud platform engineering, and advanced analytics enablement in Birmingham.

This role supports advanced technology initiatives within a highly regulated enterprise environment and is ideal for a software engineering professional with 10+ years of experience building production-grade applications, distributed systems, cloud-native data platforms, and AI-enabled orchestration frameworks.

The selected candidate will play a critical role in designing, building, and operating advanced data and AI capabilities within an Microsoft Azure / Databricks Lakehouse environment, helping deliver governed, scalable, secure, and auditable solutions that support operational reliability and enterprise analytics.

About BLOC Resources

BLOC Resources is a workforce solutions firm committed to connecting top technical, engineering, analytics, and professional talent with leading organizations across utilities, infrastructure, operations, and technology.

Our mission is to provide strategic workforce solutions that support critical business outcomes while creating meaningful career opportunities for highly skilled professionals. We value integrity, service excellence, responsiveness, and long-term partnership.

Position Summary

The Software Engineer 4 – Cloud Data & AI Platform Engineer is a hands-on senior technical role responsible for designing, developing, and operating advanced data orchestration and AI-enabled application capabilities within an enterprise cloud platform.

This position focuses heavily on:

• AI application development

• cloud data orchestration

• enterprise application support

• distributed systems engineering

• advanced platform integrations

• production-ready analytics automation

The role extends beyond traditional software engineering by combining application development, cloud platform engineering, data engineering, AI workflow orchestration, and enterprise architecture alignment.

The selected candidate will partner closely with data engineering, analytics, platform, and application teams to ensure solutions are maintainable, scalable, compliant, and aligned with long-term enterprise platform strategy.

Compensation

Hourly Pay Rate: $65.00 – $68.00 per hour

Compensation will be based on:

• depth of software engineering experience

• cloud platform engineering expertise

• AI application development background

• distributed systems experience

• enterprise production support experience

• overall technical alignment with the role

This is an outstanding opportunity to contribute to enterprise-scale AI and cloud modernization initiatives in a highly visible technical environment.

Key Responsibilities

AI Application Development & Orchestration Engineering

• Design and implement advanced AI-enabled orchestration frameworks using Python.

• Build reusable orchestration capabilities supporting:

• multi-step analytics workflows

• data quality validation

• AI-assisted automation

• metadata enrichment

• operational diagnostics

• code generation assistance

• Develop controlled task-based and agent-based orchestration components for production-ready AI-enabled workflows.

• Ensure orchestration logic is:

• deterministic

• testable

• maintainable

• appropriate for regulated enterprise environments

Cloud Data Platform Engineering

• Design, develop, and operate advanced workflows within the Databricks Lakehouse environment.

• Build scalable cloud-native processing frameworks using:

• Apache Spark / PySpark

• Delta Lake

• Medallion Architecture (Bronze / Silver / Gold)

• Develop orchestration and analytics pipelines aligned with enterprise Lakehouse architecture standards.

• Support scalable processing of large and complex operational datasets.

Azure Platform Integration

• Develop solutions using Microsoft Azure technologies including:

• Azure Databricks

• Azure Functions

• Azure Logic Apps

• Azure container-based services where appropriate

• Partner with Lakehouse platform leads to ensure solution alignment with enterprise architecture and governance standards.

System Integration & API Engineering

• Design and implement secure integration patterns across internal enterprise applications and approved external vendor systems.

• Develop integration services, APIs, and supporting backend logic to enable reliable data movement and application interoperability.

• Ensure integrations align with:

• enterprise identity requirements

• least-privilege access principles

• auditability standards

• data handling controls

Performance, Scalability & Reliability

• Monitor and optimize:

• Spark workloads

• orchestration processes

• AI service interactions

• distributed processing performance

• Build highly resilient solutions capable of supporting intermittent high-volume workloads without manual intervention.

• Apply cloud cost-management principles to support efficient resource utilization and sustainable operations.

Enterprise Application Support

• Provide high-level application support across production environments.

• Troubleshoot complex software issues in large-scale distributed systems.

• Perform:

• problem determination

• root cause analysis

• debugging

• issue remediation

• software updates and enhancements

• Participate in technical support and production issue resolution activities as required.

Software Engineering & Solution Delivery

• Design, develop, test, implement, and modify sophisticated software solutions using modern engineering practices.

• Create technical specifications, solution documentation, and architectural artifacts.

• Support new application development as well as enhancement of existing enterprise systems.

• Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, technical evaluations, and product recommendations.

Technical Leadership & Standards

• Contribute to:

• architectural guidance

• engineering design reviews

• platform standards

• long-term technical strategy

• Ensure solutions are:

• modular

• maintainable

• scalable

• production-ready

• Provide clear handoff materials and technical documentation to support long-term operational support teams.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience

• Strong background in web-based and object-oriented application development

• Experience with .NET and Java

• Advanced proficiency in Python, including:

• object-oriented design

• modular development

• asynchronous or event-driven patterns

• Strong experience with:

• PySpark

• Databricks

• Delta Lake

• enterprise data lake architectures

• Strong experience building production-grade software solutions in cloud environments

• Experience with large-scale distributed systems

• Strong troubleshooting, debugging, and root-cause analysis capabilities

• Experience supporting enterprise production applications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing AI-assisted applications or LLM-enabled orchestration workflows

• Experience with:

• task-based agent frameworks

• supervisor/worker orchestration patterns

• Practical experience with Microsoft Azure services

• Experience with:

• GitHub Actions

• Azure DevOps

• CI/CD automation pipelines

• Familiarity with:

• infrastructure-as-code

• environment configuration management

• Experience in:

• utilities

• energy

• nuclear

• highly regulated enterprise environments

• Experience working with sensitive operational, telemetry, or regulatory datasets

Technical Skills & Expertise

• Advanced cloud application engineering

• Distributed systems development

• Enterprise data platform engineering

• AI workflow orchestration

• API and integration architecture

• Production support in regulated environments

• Performance optimization and cloud cost awareness

• Secure software development practices

Documentation & Standards

The selected candidate will be expected to maintain strong engineering discipline, including:

• adherence to PEP 8 standards

• alignment with Southern Company development standards

• comprehensive:

• docstrings

• technical READMEs

• architecture documentation

• operational handoff materials

Solutions must be designed for:

• accuracy

• auditability

• traceability

• resilience

Core Competencies

• Technical Leadership – Provides strong engineering judgment and platform guidance

• Analytical Problem Solving – Diagnoses and resolves complex technical challenges

• Ownership & Accountability – Delivers reliable, maintainable production solutions

• Collaboration – Works effectively across engineering, analytics, and platform teams

• Quality Focus – Maintains rigorous standards in highly controlled environments

Why Join BLOC Resources?

This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge enterprise initiatives involving:

• AI application development

• advanced data orchestration

• cloud-native analytics platforms

• large-scale distributed systems

• enterprise platform modernization

• regulated operational technology environments

Your work will directly support scalable, secure, and future-ready enterprise analytics and AI capabilities.

Apply Today

If you are a senior software engineer with strong cloud platform experience, distributed systems expertise, and a passion for building enterprise AI-enabled solutions, BLOC Resources invites you to apply for this Software Engineer 4 opportunity in Birmingham.

BLOC Resources is an Equal Opportunity Employer.