Senior Software Engineer

<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <h2 class="text-heading-large">About the job</h2> <div class="mt4"> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span class="tvm-operation__underline"><strong>Who We Are</strong></span></p> <p>McMaster‑Carr is a leading e‑commerce company that industrial customers have trusted for more than 120 years. Our products help customers restore manufacturing lines quickly, keep operations running smoothly, and prototype the next generation of innovative products.</p> <p>We earn that trust by offering the right products, making them easy to find, and delivering them fast--so customers can solve problems with speed, precision, and confidence. This role is a pathway to senior engineering management and technical leadership—your growth is determined by your impact, not by tenure.<br><br></p> <p><a href="https://www.builtinchicago.org/articles/what-its-build-tech-career-mcmaster-carr-ownership-and-long-term-growth"><span class="tvm-operation__underline"><strong>Our Culture</strong></span></a></p> <p>We intentionally cultivate a culture focused on clear execution and long‑term growth. We are responsible for building systems that endure for decades and support the company’s long-term growth. That responsibility means engineering work starts with a deep understanding of the problem and its impact, grounded in clear ownership, open communication, and direct feedback. Our teams are trusted to make thoughtful decisions about how work gets done, balancing a high bar for quality with practical execution. As an engineering leader here, you'll have significant autonomy with end-to-end ownership where you make product decisions while building things real people interact with directly.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span class="tvm-operation__underline"><strong>How You'll Make An Impact</strong></span></p> <p>Our engineering teams operate within domains: distinct, high‑impact areas of our platform that let engineers dive deep, build expertise, and release work that matters. Right now, we’re actively growing in the following areas:</p> <ul> <li><strong>McMaster.ai: </strong>Build and scale our domain-expert AI assistant that turns McMaster’s product data and customer history into a continuously learning assistant—interpreting intent, narrowing options, explaining tradeoffs, and carrying context across sessions to make complex industrial work feel effortless.</li> <li><strong>Customer Navigation: </strong>build and evolve the systems that help our customers find, evaluate, and understand millions of industrial products across our digital publications, including improving search relevance with LLM