Lead Software Engineer - Tech Incubation Team at Wellmark, Inc.
Des Moines, IA
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Jul 15, 2026
Des Moines, IA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior engineering role focused on rapid prototyping and early-stage product development within a dedicated technology incubation function at a health insurance company. The work centers on turning loosely defined ideas into working prototypes and MVPs — particularly involving AI and agentic capabilities — using Node.js/TypeScript and cloud platforms. The role also carries mentorship and cross-functional responsibilities, helping shape lightweight engineering patterns and communicating findings to product, architecture, and business stakeholders.
Senior level · 5+ years · Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 40 people in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 25–60
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $129,241 (middle half $103,783–$143,477).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (5)
The Required section offers two experience paths: a Bachelor's degree in CS/MIS/related field plus 5+ years of development experience, OR 9+ years of related experience with no degree. Because equivalent experience is explicitly accepted, the degree requirement is set to None. The overall years minimum is set to 5 (the lower of the two paths).
The Required section lists example languages/frameworks — 'Angular, NodeJS, Python, C++, .NET, SQL' — as illustrative examples of development experience rather than individual hard gates on each specific technology. They are treated as required because they appear under the Required heading, but the 'ex.' qualifier signals they are representative examples of the type of experience sought, not an exhaustive checklist. C++ is omitted as a skill because it appears only as one of several illustrative examples and is not reinforced elsewhere in the posting.
Node.js, TypeScript, AWS/Azure, LLMs, RAG, and CI/CD all appear exclusively under the Preferred Qualifications section and are therefore marked as preferred.
The role title carries no explicit seniority level word, so the title states no level. The actual scope — leading system design, mentoring engineers, shaping enterprise patterns, 5–9+ years required — supports a Senior classification.
The alternative occupation code 15-1299 is noted because the role's primary focus on rapid prototyping, incubation, and AI/LLM experimentation sits at the edge of standard software development; however, 15-1252 is the stronger fit given the hands-on coding and system design responsibilities.
Read the full posting
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