Senior Technical Lead – Emerging Technologies

Hybrid 3 days in office/week in St. Louis, MO Our client seeks a Senior Technical Lead to guide emerging retail technologies including in-store automation, digital shelf capabilities, and item integration. The role will lead solution design, integrations, and modernization across .NET, Python, APIs, ETL, and Google Cloud. You will mentor developers, partner with architecture, and deliver scalable, reliable systems that support robotics, electronic shelf labels, and data-driven store operations. The work will influence platform strategy and measurable outcomes across the enterprise. This is a contract to hire opportunity. Applicants must be willing and able to work on a w2 basis and convert to FTE following contract duration. For our w2 consultants, we offer a great benefits package that includes Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits, 401k with company matching, and life insurance. Rate: $70.00 to $80.00/hr. w2 Responsibilities • Serve as technical lead and mentor for developers and analysts on the Emerging Technologies team. • Define technical strategy and architecture standards in partnership with enterprise architecture. • Design, develop, and maintain integrations and applications using .NET Core/C#, Python, Talend, RESTful APIs, Oracle, and GCP. • Lead proofs of concept and pilot initiatives for next-generation retail technologies. • Evaluate, recommend, and implement frameworks and platforms to modernize and future-proof systems. • Establish best practices for cloud architecture, CI/CD pipelines, testing automation, and API governance. • Collaborate with business stakeholders to align technology roadmaps with operational goals and customer experience. • Ensure scalability, security, reliability, and maintainability of systems and integrations. • Provide documentation and support ongoing production stability and application maintenance. • Mentor junior team members and foster knowledge sharing and continuous learning. Experience Requirements • 8+ years of professional software development with 3+ years in a technical leadership or solution design role. • Proficiency with .NET Core/C# and Python for application development. • Experience with Talend or similar ETL and data integration platforms. • Design and development of RESTful APIs and web services. • Hands-on work with relational databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL. • Cloud platform experience, preferably Google Cloud Platform. • Proven delivery of complex cross-functional initiatives from concept through deployment and support. • Strong communication, documentation, stakeholder engagement, and mentoring skills. • Microservices and event-driven architectures (preferred). • Containerization and orchestration with Docker or Kubernetes (preferred). • API management and GraphQL (preferred). • AI/ML exposure (preferred). • IoT and edge computing (preferred). • Modern data engineering practices (preferred). • Serverless and cloud-native frameworks (preferred). • Automation and robotic process integration (preferred). • Retail technology innovations such as digital shelves, smart sensors, and robotics (preferred).