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ATS Keyword Database › Software Engineer

ATS Keywords for Software Engineers (2026) — Junior, Mid, Senior, Lead

These are the ATS keywords actually found in real software-engineer job descriptions and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational data. Tiered by seniority — junior, mid, senior, and staff/lead — because what an SDE-I needs to surface is not what a Staff Engineer needs to surface. Run your resume through our free scanner to see which of these your ATS actually extracts from your file.

Last updated: 2026-05-15
93 keywords across 12 categories
32 JDs sampled + 3 O*NET occupations
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Always include (every level)

These keywords appear in roughly 90%+ of the job descriptions we sampled across all seniority levels. If they're missing from your resume — junior or senior — you're failing the keyword match before any review happens.

Core foundations every SWE resume needs

Every level of software-engineering JD references these. If your resume doesn't surface them, you're missing the floor. These appear in roughly 90%+ of the JDs we sampled.

  • GitO*NET + JD
    Version-control system; cited in nearly every JD
  • Code reviewO*NET + JD
    Process keyword that Workday matches against
  • AgileO*NET + JD
    Methodology keyword. Synonyms: Scrum, Kanban
  • Unit testingJD
    Quality keyword; appears in 28/32 JDs
  • REST APIO*NET + JD
    Standard for backend roles, often listed in skills
  • SQLO*NET + JD
    Database keyword; even frontend roles list it
  • CI/CDJD
    Continuous integration / continuous deployment

Junior / Entry-level keywords (0–3 years)

Junior job descriptions filter heavily on specific technical training. Your resume needs explicit, named tokens — not generic skill categories.

Languages & frameworks (junior signal)

Junior JDs list specific languages explicitly because hiring managers are filtering on technical training. Generic skills like 'collaborates well' do not parse as keywords — specific language names do.

  • PythonO*NET + JD
  • JavaO*NET + JD
  • JavaScriptO*NET + JD
  • TypeScriptO*NET + JD
  • ReactO*NET + JD
  • Node.jsO*NET + JD
  • HTML5O*NET + JD
  • CSS3O*NET + JD
  • C++O*NET
  • C#O*NET

Computer-science fundamentals (junior signal)

Junior SWE JDs are heavily weighted toward CS-fundamentals signaling because the candidate has limited industry experience. List these explicitly in a Skills section, not buried inside experience bullets.

  • Data structuresJD
  • AlgorithmsJD
  • Object-oriented programmingO*NET
  • Big-O analysisJD
    Signals algorithmic depth in junior context
  • DebuggingO*NET
  • Pair programmingJD

Tools & environment

Tool-name keywords are specific tokens recruiters search. Generic 'used dev tools' will not match — naming the tool will.

  • GitHubO*NET + JD
  • VS CodeJD
  • LinuxO*NET + JD
  • DockerJD
    Increasingly listed even at junior level
  • JiraJD
  • PostmanJD

Mid-level keywords (3–6 years)

Mid-level JDs add architecture vocabulary and ownership signals. The shift from junior is that you're expected to own features end-to-end and design components, not just implement them.

Architecture & system-design keywords (mid signal)

Mid-level JDs start filtering on architecture vocabulary. These are the tokens that distinguish 'codes features' from 'designs systems'.

  • MicroservicesJD
  • Distributed systemsJD
  • API designO*NET + JD
  • Database designO*NET
  • Performance optimizationJD
  • CachingJD
    Redis, Memcached, in-memory cache
  • Message queuesJD
    RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS
  • Event-driven architectureJD

Cloud platforms (mid signal)

Cloud-provider keywords are explicit-match. Workday and Greenhouse both treat 'AWS' and 'Amazon Web Services' as the same token; 'cloud experience' is too generic to match.

  • AWSO*NET + JD
  • Amazon Web ServicesO*NET + JD
  • Google Cloud PlatformO*NET + JD
  • GCPO*NET + JD
  • Microsoft AzureO*NET + JD
  • LambdaJD
    Serverless functions — often listed explicitly
  • S3JD
  • EC2JD
  • DynamoDBJD
  • PostgreSQLJD

Ownership & delivery vocabulary (mid signal)

Mid-level JDs filter for ownership signals. These verbs and nouns appear in nearly every mid-level Greenhouse posting we sampled.

  • Feature ownershipJD
  • On-call rotationJD
  • Production debuggingJD
  • Cross-functional collaborationJD
  • Technical documentationO*NET + JD
  • Code review (as reviewer)JD

Senior keywords (6–10+ years)

Senior JDs filter on system-design depth and technical leadership. Even individual-contributor senior roles expect cross-team influence vocabulary.

Senior-engineer system-design vocabulary

Senior JDs filter heavily on system-design keywords. If these are missing from your resume but in your actual experience, you're failing the keyword match for roles you'd otherwise crush.

  • ScalabilityO*NET + JD
  • High availabilityJD
  • Fault toleranceJD
  • Load balancingJD
  • Horizontal scalingJD
  • Eventual consistencyJD
  • CAP theoremJD
  • Database shardingJD
  • Service meshJD
  • ObservabilityJD
    Logging, metrics, tracing

Infrastructure & DevOps (senior signal)

Senior JDs nearly always list infrastructure tokens, even for non-DevOps engineers. Hiring managers expect senior engineers to understand the deployment pipeline.

  • KubernetesJD
  • DockerO*NET + JD
  • TerraformJD
  • Infrastructure as codeJD
  • CI/CD pipelinesJD
  • GitHub ActionsJD
  • JenkinsJD
  • HelmJD

Technical leadership signals (senior)

Senior-engineer JDs filter for leadership context even for individual-contributor tracks. List these where they apply truthfully.

  • Technical leadershipJD
  • MentorshipJD
  • Architectural decisionsJD
  • Design reviewsJD
  • Technical roadmapJD
  • Hiring (technical interviews)JD
  • Cross-team alignmentJD

Staff / Principal / Lead keywords (10+ years)

These roles filter for strategy, influence-over-authority, and org-wide impact. Senior keywords alone won't pass these filters.

Staff / Principal / Lead engineer vocabulary

Staff and Principal Engineer JDs filter for strategy and influence-over-authority signals. Pure-IC senior engineers without these signals often fail Staff-level keyword filters.

  • Technical strategyJD
  • Engineering excellenceJD
  • Org-wide impactJD
  • Technical visionJD
  • Influence without authorityJD
  • Multi-team coordinationJD
  • Long-term architectureJD
  • OKR setting (engineering)JD
  • Engineering quality metricsJD

Engineering-management adjacent (Tech Lead / EM track)

If you're targeting EM or hybrid TL roles, these tokens appear in JDs that other Staff-IC roles don't have.

  • Direct reportsJD
  • People managementJD
  • Performance reviewsJD
  • 1:1 coachingJD
  • Hiring planJD
  • Budget ownershipJD

How to actually use these

How to actually use these in your software-engineer resume:

1. Skills section first, evergreen tier always. Include the "Core foundations" keywords explicitly in a dedicated Skills section near the top of your resume. ATS parsers (especially Workday and SuccessFactors) weight the Skills section more heavily than experience bullets for keyword matching.

2. Match the tier to the role you're applying for, not your current title. Applying for a Senior role? Surface senior-tier keywords even if you're currently Mid. Applying for Staff? Surface Staff-tier vocabulary. Recruiters and ATS filters key off the keywords matching the role's level, not your job title.

3. Specific tool names, not generic categories. Write "PostgreSQL" not "relational databases". Write "AWS Lambda" not "serverless". The parser is doing literal token-matching; "relational databases" matches roughly nothing in a JD that says "PostgreSQL experience required".

4. Don't keyword-stuff. Listing 50 languages you used once each fools no ATS in 2026 and embarrasses you with the recruiter who reads after the filter. Pick the 8-15 keywords that genuinely describe your work. Keyword stuffing is the #1 reason senior engineers get filtered as "junior" by Workday — the parser sees breadth but no depth signal.

5. Run the scanner. Upload your current resume to our free scanner — you'll see which of these keywords actually extract from your file. Two-column "modern" templates frequently dump skills into a sidebar that Workday and Greenhouse read separately from the main column, meaning your Python/Kubernetes/Terraform list never gets associated with your experience.

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Sources for this list

  • O*NET occupation code 15-1252.00 — Software Developers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • O*NET occupation code 15-1254.00 — Web Developers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • O*NET occupation code 15-1257.00 — Web and Digital Interface Designers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • 32 public job descriptions manually curated from: Greenhouse boards (boards.greenhouse.io), Lever boards (jobs.lever.co), Workday public career sites
  • ATS engines most observed for this profession: Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby
  • Full methodology — how we source and update these lists

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