Application Engineer III – D&L

Application Engineer III – D&L Location: 5000 Kansas Avenue Kansas City, KS 66106 Work Model: Hybrid Department: IT Make us your BEST Choice! Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) is a retailer-owned cooperative serving over 3,000 retail member stores with a complete assortment of grocery, fresh meat, fresh produce, specialty foods, health care, and general merchandise items. Through an extensive distribution network and nine distribution centers, AWG and its subsidiaries deliver in over 28 states. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies which provide real estate and supermarket development services, digital marketing services, and is a wholesale supply provider of health and beauty care, general merchandise, specialty/international foods, and pharmaceutical supply. If you have a passion for retail, the drive to succeed in a fast-paced industry, we can't wait for you to join the team! Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) is looking for a Solution Engineer III in Information Technology (IT) to provide development, integration, and application oversight for strategic technical solutions within our Distribution & Logistics (D&L) department. The Solution Engineer III role is a customer-facing role serving as an advisor, subject-matter expert, and delivery partner for our internal business units. As an experienced Engineer with a focus on solution implementation, you’ll be responsible for guiding our internal customers from concept to go-live and rollout. You are a passionate technologist who keeps up to date on the latest technologies, can dive deeply into business processes, and loves applying your skills to solve complex operational challenges. Working alongside department leadership, you will act as a key technical anchor to design modern integration layers (including Azure, Java Spring Boot, REST APIs, and modern front-end frameworks) while helping to mentor and guide our established development team through modern technology transitions. RESPONSIBILITIES Deliver Solutions (35%) Serve as the subject matter expert and go-to resource for designing and delivering integrated solutions and implementation best practices. Responsible for overall system-wide resiliency, scalability, data strategy, stability and operational efficiency of solutions. Develop high-quality technical solutions that address the customer’s needs while aligning with industry best practices and approved technology stacks. Support & Availability Service (30%) Monitor performance and optimize resources to ensure maximum uptime, high availability, and cost-effectiveness across hybrid cloud/on-prem environments. Serve as a tier-3 technical resource to analyze, diagnose, and resolve complex application issues and bugs, organically researching solutions when explicit documentation is unavailable Continuous Improvement (20%) Regularly self-analyze project successes and failures to develop metrics, feedback loops, and corrective actions for systemic improvement. Experiment with new solutions and cloud best practices to bridge operational gaps and help the workgroup adapt to a changing application landscape. Partner closely with development teammates to mentor them, share modern software engineering practices, and engage with the team on how to create more efficient and effective applications and processes. Strategy (15%) Collaborate directly with internal customers and business partners to deeply understand their business problems, operational workflows, and desired outcomes. Evaluate technology acquisitions designed to optimize feature/function for long term supportability, vendor viability and total cost of ownership. Drive technical resolution and integration coordination with third-party technology vendors when support or customization is needed during software rollouts. Position Requirements: Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or related technical degree. Experience: 5+ years of application development experience, with a proven track record of designing, developing, and implementing high-performing, large-scale, and complex systems, including integration with third-party applications. Core Technical Stack (Required): Strong proficiency in Java and Spring Boot frameworks, familiarity with cloud ecosystem services, preferably Microsoft Azure (such as Logic Apps and messaging infrastructure), solid experience working with relational databases and writing SQL, familiarity with front-end JavaScript environments (e.g. React). Integration Skills: Strong understanding of event-based/message architectures, data integration techniques, and HTTP request/response lifecycles, familiarity with cloud security and virtual networking basics (such as VNets, IAM roles, and access controls). Communication Skills: Accomplished interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrating a clear and articulate standard of written and verbal communications to various levels of business and technical audiences, organized with a strong architectural mindset and a dedication to IT best practices. Professional Attributes: High Initiative: Ability to work independently as a self-starter who is highly motivated and resourceful when diving into complex, undocumented systems. Patient Mentor: A strong passion and patience to mentor, pair-program, and grow the skillsets of legacy developers transitioning to modern stacks. Collaborative: Ability to work as a committed member of a cross-functional team, sharing ideas and inputs to deliver an exceptional product experience while excelling with remote team members. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Retail, wholesale, or Consumer Product Goods industry experience Experience integrating and supporting large-scale enterprise vendor software (such as Warehouse Management Systems, ERP solutions, and other transportation and logistics oriented software packages) Knowledge of modern DevOps technologies, CI/CD pipelines, and version control (Git, Jenkins, Ansible, etc.) Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1,100 member companies and 3,500 locations throughout 33 states from 9 wholesale division support centers. Consolidated sales for AWG in 2025 were $12.2 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, and pharmaceutical products. For more information, visit AWGinc.com . Benefits Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance Health Savings Account Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account Paid Vacation, Holiday, and Sick Time 401(k) with 4% match along with 3 other contributions Tuition Reimbursement Basic & Supplemental Life and AD&D Employee Assistance Program Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Wellness Program Yearly Holiday Bonus