Software Engineer Resume: 50+ ATS Keywords That Actually Match JDs

Keyword match is 25% of your ATS score, the single largest category. These are the keywords that appear most often in tech JDs, grouped so you can pull the ones that are true for you.

Frontend

React, TypeScript, JavaScript (ES6+), Next.js, Redux, HTML5, CSS3, Tailwind, Webpack/Vite, accessibility (a11y), web performance, responsive design, REST, GraphQL, Jest, Cypress.

Backend

Node.js, Python, Java, Go, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, microservices, REST API design, GraphQL, message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS), caching, authentication/OAuth, unit testing, system design.

DevOps / Platform

AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, observability (Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana), incident response, infrastructure as code, SRE, on-call.

Seniority signals (often filtered on)

Mentoring, technical leadership, architecture, cross-functional, roadmap, stakeholder, code review, hiring/interviewing, migration, scalability, "led" / "owned" / "drove".

How to add keywords without stuffing

Never list keywords bare: embed them in quantified bullets. Weak: "Familiar with Kubernetes." Strong: "Migrated 12 services to Kubernetes on EKS, cutting deploy time 40%." The ATS matches the keyword; the human believes it because of the number.

Check your match in 50 seconds

Paste your CV and the actual JD into our free scanner. It extracts that job's specific keyword fingerprint and shows exactly which ones you're missing. No signup for your first scan.

Ready to beat the ATS?