Senior Software Engineer

Melon Local — Salt Lake City, UT or Las Vegas, NV (Remote)

Base $130,000–$160,000 DOE Full benefits Reports to Software Engineering Manager

About Melon Local

Melon Local is a fast-growing digital marketing agency built on exceptional customer service, measurable results, and innovative technology. We support more than 1,500 small and mid-sized businesses across the country through paid search, paid social, lead generation, and proprietary internal systems that help our teams scale smarter and faster.

As our agency expands into new markets, verticals, and service lines, technology plays a central role in how we operate. We’re investing heavily in automation, internal tooling, AI-driven efficiencies, and scalable software infrastructure that empowers our teams and improves the client experience.

We believe in transparent leadership, shared success, and building an environment where talented people can grow quickly, contribute meaningfully, and take ownership of what they build.

The role

We’re hiring a Senior Software Engineer for a specific shape of seat: an AI-augmented individual contributor (IC) who directs AI tooling as their primary implementation method.

Your day-to-day looks like this. You envision complex full-stack implementations end-to-end across our system, then drive your AI tooling to write the code you’ve already worked out in your head. You validate AI output for correctness, refactor as needed, and ship.

Coding throughput comes from AI. Architectural judgment, code review, and the ability to spot what’s wrong with a 200-line pull request (PR) come from you.

You must already understand what good .NET code looks like at every layer — the work depends on you being able to validate what AI produces. You won’t be typing most of the code, but you’ll be reading and reviewing all of it.

What you’ll own

• Envision and architect features across our interconnected system: Azure Functions, two Web APIs, an ASP.NET MVC web app, and a customer-facing React app served by a .NET Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) that calls those same Web APIs.
• Direct AI tooling as your primary implementation method. Spend more time directing the AI than typing code yourself — but bring the deep mental model that lets you direct it well.
• Make architectural decisions about cross-system integration: what contracts the Web APIs expose, how the BFF aggregates, what belongs in Azure Functions versus the Web APIs versus the MVC app.
• Debug across the full stack. When something breaks, trace it from the React UI through the BFF, through the Web APIs, into SQL Server.
• Validate code in reviews — primarily reviewing AI-produced and AI-augmented code from yourself and peers, looking for subtle issues, architectural drift, or pattern violations.
• Contribute to architecture conversations and code reviews as one engineer among peers, not as a tech lead directing them.
• Treat AI coding tools as your daily power tool, not a curiosity.

This role may not be a fit if…

We’ve seen excellent engineers self-select out at this stage and appreciate the honesty. If any of the below describes you, this isn’t your seat — but feel free to share your background. We may have a different fit now or in the future.

• You don’t currently use AI development tools daily, or you’d rather write every line of code yourself.
• Your last six months have been mostly managing engineers, defining strategy, or doing architecture/standards work without recent active implementation.
• You can’t comfortably read a 200-line .NET PR and identify what’s wrong with it. This role is heavy on reviewing AI-produced code.
• You’re looking for a Staff or Principal architect role where you direct other engineers’ work rather than implement features yourself.
• You haven’t worked across multiple related .NET projects (APIs, MVC web apps, serverless functions, BFFs). This role is heavily about cross-system thinking.
• You’re skeptical that AI-augmented development is where professional engineering is moving. We’re committed to this workflow, and we want someone enthusiastic about it.

What you bring

Required technical foundation

You must already have this. You’ll be validating AI output against your own mental model, not Googling fundamentals.

• 5+ years of professional .NET engineering experience, including hands-on work in the last 12 months.
• Deep understanding of C#, .NET Core/.NET 8+, ASP.NET MVC, Web APIs, and Razor. You can write any of this from scratch if needed — you just won’t be typing most of it day-to-day.
• Working knowledge of Entity Framework Core: dependency injection of DbContext, LINQ queries, migrations, and EF performance patterns. You can explain how a DbContext is registered and consumed without looking it up.
• SQL Server competency. Write queries, understand indexing, read execution plans, identify N+1 problems.
• React experience for our customer-facing app side.
• Comfort with Azure Functions or similar serverless patterns.
• Architectural intuition across multiple related services. You can look at a feature spec and immediately see which of our projects need to change.

Required working mindset

• You’ve already shifted to AI-augmented development. AI tooling is or could quickly become your primary implementation method, and you’re enthusiastic about that direction — not just tolerant of it. We use Claude Code in-house; experience with Copilot, Cursor, Codex, or similar transfers directly.
• You’re as comfortable validating code as producing it.
• You think about implementation end-to-end before writing a single prompt.

Nice to have

• Experience with BFF (Backend-for-Frontend) patterns.
• Azure DevOps for CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous delivery).
• Familiarity with multi-service distributed systems debugging.

What success looks like

First 30 days. Get fluent with our five interconnected projects — Azure Functions, two Web APIs, the MVC web app, and the React + .NET BFF customer app. Ship your first feature using Claude Code, validate the output, and submit a clean PR. Pair with current engineers to absorb our AI-augmented workflow.

First 60 days. Own a full-feature implementation end-to-end across at least two of our services. Lead the architectural decision about where the work should live. Validate and ship AI-produced code that meets our quality bar without further direction.

First 90 days. Be the primary engineer on a significant feature area, including cross-system integration work. Be a trusted code reviewer that peers actively seek out.

Tech stack you’ll live in

Backend: C#, .NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework Core, Web API, SQL Server, Azure Functions, BFF patterns.

Frontend: React (customer-facing app), Razor (MVC web app).

Tooling: Claude Code (primary AI development tool), Git, Azure, REST APIs.

Architecture: Distributed services across an MVC web app, two Web APIs, Azure Functions, and a customer-facing React app with a .NET BFF that communicates to the same Web APIs.

Why Melon Local

Growth trajectory. We’re actively expanding into new markets, verticals, and service lines — and technology is central to how we scale. The engineers we hire today will help shape the systems that power the next stage of our growth.

Real ownership. You won’t be buried in bureaucracy or disconnected from the impact of your work. You’ll build systems that directly affect operations, performance, and scalability across the company.

Transparent leadership. Strong teams are built through transparency, collaboration, and shared accountability. Our engineering team works closely with leadership and has visibility into the bigger picture of where the business is headed.

Career upside. As the company grows, so do the opportunities. We invest in people who take ownership, solve problems, and help move the business forward.

Collaborative culture. We work hard, move fast, and genuinely enjoy building together. Cross-department collaboration and innovation are part of everyday life at Melon Local.

Compensation & benefits

• Base salary: $130,000–$160,000 DOE.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Supplemental and disability insurance options.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Paid time off and paid holidays.
• Paternity and maternity leave.
• Professional development and ongoing training support.
• Performance-based bonus opportunities.
• Cross-training and career advancement opportunities.
• Flexible scheduling options.

Logistics

Location: Salt Lake City, UT or Las Vegas, NV. This is a remote position; however, candidates must be located in the Salt Lake City or Las Vegas metropolitan areas, or within reasonable driving distance of either market, to support occasional in-person meetings, team collaboration, and business needs.

Schedule: Monday through Friday, full-time.

Reports to: Software Engineering Manager.

Equal opportunity

Melon Local is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for every member of our team. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected classification under applicable law.

How to apply

Send your resume along with a brief note about your engineering background, the types of systems you’ve helped build, and how you currently use AI tools in your work. We review every application and respond to candidates selected for first-round conversations.

Pay: $130,000.00 - $160,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k) 4% Match
• Bereavement leave
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid holidays
• Paid sick time
• Parental leave
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Salt Lake City, UT 84116