Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Massachusetts
Staff Software Engineer jobs in Massachusetts are among the most active in the country, concentrated in software and cloud infrastructure, fintech, biotech platforms, and defense systems, with demand at every level from senior engineer through principal and distinguished. Most hiring is centered in Boston, Cambridge, and the Route 128 corridor, where employers like Wayfair, MathWorks, and Raytheon Technologies maintain large engineering organizations. Platform and distributed systems engineering, machine learning infrastructure, and backend scalability are the most consistently sought specializations across Massachusetts listings. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Company and benefits
Why UKG:
At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That’s what we do.
We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you’ll get flexibility that’s real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters—and so do you.
***UKG is unable to offer sponsorship for this position.***
Sr. Staff Software Engineer - Agentic Acceleration Group
We are seeking an exceptional Principal Software Engineer to define and drive our enterprise-wide agentic AI strategy on Google's Agent Development Kit (ADK) and other agentic platforms. You will shape the future of intelligent automation across UKG's product portfolio, influence technical direction across multiple engineering organizations, and establish UKG as a thought leader in enterprise agentic AI. As a Sr. Staff Engineer, you will set technical vision, architect organization-wide systems, drive transformational change, and elevate engineering excellence company-wide.
- Strategic Technical Leadership: Define enterprise-wide technical strategy for agentic AI across UKG. Set long-term vision for how agents transform UKG's HCM platform. Influence product roadmaps and business strategy through technical insight. Drive division-level or company-level objectives.
- Enterprise Architecture: Architect organization-wide agentic AI capabilities on Google ADK and other platforms. Design foundational frameworks, orchestration patterns, and platform capabilities that serve multiple product teams. Set architectural standards and best practices for agent development across the organization.
- Cross-Organizational Influence: Drive technical decisions across multiple teams and divisions. Set standards for agent development, tool design, safety frameworks, and operational excellence. Shape engineering culture and technical direction at scale.
- Advanced Agent Systems: Pioneer sophisticated multi-agent architectures including hierarchical systems, swarm intelligence, adversarial networks, and hybrid human-agent workflows. Push boundaries of what's possible with agent orchestration. Demonstrate engineering excellence through industry-leading implementations.
- Innovation & Research: Stay at the forefront of agentic AI research. Evaluate emerging platforms and techniques. Prototype breakthrough capabilities. Drive adoption of transformative technologies. Contribute to industry knowledge through publications, open source, or conference presentations.
- Agent Safety & Governance: Establish organization-wide frameworks for agent safety, governance, and responsible AI. Design policy engines and guardrail architectures that scale across all systems. Influence company-wide AI safety policy and regulatory compliance standards.
- Platform Integration: Design integrations between agents and UKG's entire enterprise ecosystem. Build strategic tools, APIs, and MCP servers that unlock capabilities across products. Define integration patterns that scale across teams and product lines.
- Service Excellence: Define service health, quality, and operational standards for all agentic systems. Establish monitoring, observability, and incident response frameworks. Set the bar for production excellence, reliability, and cost efficiency.
- Mentorship & Talent Development: Mentor senior engineers, lead engineers, and engineering managers. Raise the technical bar through code reviews, design reviews, and architectural guidance. Build the next generation of technical leaders. Recognized as go-to expert and trusted advisor.
- Thought Leadership: Represent UKG externally as a technical expert. Publish articles, present at conferences, contribute to open source, and engage with the AI engineering community. Establish UKG's technical reputation and attract top talent.
- Strategic Partnerships: Engage with technology partners (Google, Anthropic) to influence platform roadmaps. Represent UKG in technical advisory relationships. Leverage partnerships to drive internal innovation.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 10+ years of professional software development experience, with 3+ years building agentic AI systems or LLM-powered applications in production at scale.
- Deep expertise in Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, or TypeScript, with track record of setting coding standards and best practices.
- Proven experience architecting and building production agents using Google ADK, Anthropic Claude SDK, LangChain, LangGraph, or similar platforms.
- Expert-level understanding of prompt engineering, context engineering, and advanced agent design patterns (ReAct, Chain-of-Thought, constitutional AI, multi-agent collaboration).
- Track record of influencing technical direction across multiple teams or organizations. Demonstrated ability to set architectural standards and drive adoption.
- Proven ability to lead highly complex, cross-functional initiatives with significant business impact.
- Deep expertise with GCP (Vertex AI, Google ADK), Azure (Azure OpenAI), or AWS (Bedrock), and modern DevOps practices.
- Exceptional problem-solving skills, systems thinking, and ability to navigate complex technical and organizational challenges.
- Outstanding leadership, communication, and influence skills. Ability to drive technical decisions across senior stakeholders and executive audiences.
- Demonstrated track record of mentoring senior engineers and raising the technical bar across organizations.
Company Overview:
UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry — because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.
Equal Opportunity Employer
UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.
View The EEO Know Your Rights poster
UKG participates in E-Verify.
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process
For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email UKGCareers@ukg.com.
The pay range for this position is $145,600 to $209,300. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation. Learn more about UKG’s benefits and rewards at https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits
UKG will never ask you for a copy of your driver’s license, social security card, or passport during a job inter
All job descriptions are written to accurately reflect the open job and include general work responsibilities. They do not present a comprehensive, detailed inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required for the job. Management reserves the right to revise the job or require that other or different tasks be performed if or when circumstances change.
See All 72 Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Massachusetts
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Find Staff Software Engineer JobsStaff Software Engineer Jobs by City in Massachusetts
Where Massachusetts roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Staff Software Engineer Job Market in Massachusetts
A snapshot from current Massachusetts openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Manufacturing
- Electronics & Hardware
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
- Fintech
What Massachusetts Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in staff software engineer jobs across Massachusetts.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field
- Seven or more years of professional software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership
- Deep expertise in at least one backend language such as Java, Python, Go, or C++
- Experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems or cloud-native architectures on AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Track of mentoring engineers and leading cross-functional technical projects from scoping through delivery
- Familiarity with agile development practices, CI/CD pipelines, and code review standards at scale
Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Massachusetts: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a staff software engineer in Massachusetts?
Staff software engineering in Massachusetts requires no state-issued license, so the path runs through education and demonstrated seniority. Most Massachusetts employers expect a bachelor's degree in computer science or a closely related field, though strong candidates also come from physics, mathematics, or engineering disciplines. The critical step is accumulating substantial experience at the senior engineer level, leading complex technical projects, and building a record of cross-team influence before stepping into a staff role.
How much do staff software engineers make in Massachusetts?
Staff software engineers in Massachusetts earn a median of about $165,210 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $102,810 for the lowest 10% to over $213,970 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire staff software engineers in Massachusetts?
Employers hiring staff software engineers in Massachusetts right now include UKG, Symbotic, and Suno, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Massachusetts's concentration of enterprise software companies, defense contractors, and life-sciences technology platforms means demand for staff-level engineers is spread across a wider range of industries than in most other states.
Which Massachusetts cities have the most staff software engineer jobs?
Boston, Lowell, and Cambridge account for the largest share of staff software engineer openings in Massachusetts. Boston and Cambridge drive the bulk of hiring through their dense concentration of enterprise software firms, biotech platform companies, and financial technology employers, while suburban Route 128 cities like Waltham and Burlington host major corporate engineering campuses that generate consistent staff-level openings even outside the urban core.
Are there remote staff software engineer jobs in Massachusetts?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 76% of staff software engineer openings tied to Massachusetts are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how portable the work is when it involves software architecture, code review, and technical design rather than on-site hardware or laboratory access. Platform engineering, backend systems, and developer tooling roles tend to carry the most remote flexibility.
How can I get hired as a staff software engineer in Massachusetts with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a mid-level software engineering role at a Massachusetts employer that promotes from within. Large Boston-area companies like HubSpot, Wayfair, and Liberty Mutual run new-graduate engineering programs that feed into leveled career tracks leading to staff. Candidates who build open-source contributions, earn cloud certifications from AWS or Google, or complete graduate coursework in distributed systems at a Massachusetts university strengthen their case for faster promotion into staff-level scope.
Where can I find and apply to staff software engineer jobs in Massachusetts?
You can find and apply to staff software engineer jobs in Massachusetts on Migrate Mate, which lists current Massachusetts openings updated regularly. Find roles that fit your experience and seniority level and apply directly to the employers posting them.
See All 72 Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Massachusetts
Find roles in Massachusetts that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Software Engineer Jobs