Staff Software Engineer

Summary

Join Code for America as a Staff Software Engineer and contribute to high-impact government services. You will support critical workflows, improve system reliability, and advance automation efforts to make public services more accessible. Code for America software engineers are involved in all product lifecycle stages, from prototyping and design to operating technical systems at scale. Staff Software Engineers support organization-wide technical efforts and act as internal champions and subject matter experts. This remote position reports to a Director of Engineering and requires less than 10% travel. The ideal candidate is a passionate front-end engineer with extensive experience in developing and maintaining browser applications and design systems, and a strong understanding of accessibility. Code for America offers a holistic compensation and benefits package.

Requirements

• 10+ years of full-stack web development experience, with strong expertise in system architecture, data modeling, and API design
• 6+ years of experience developing and supporting multilingual web applications
• 6+ years working with Agile Software Development models like Scrum, XP, TDD, or BDD
• Demonstrable expert-level skills in applied computer science and web fundamentals, including data structures, design patterns, and application architecture
• Eager for collaboration with peers, and providing technical and professional mentorship
• Truly excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Expert understanding and experience communicating with cross-functional peers, and in translating those conversations into actionable tasks
• This specific Staff Software Engineer should have specialized expertise in: Javascript / Typescript/ Web-based software engineering with an emphasis on browser experiences
• Experience with JavaScript and its derivatives, including both modern frameworks (React, Vue, etc) and ‘vanilla’ patterns and tools
• Solid Understanding of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Proven experience conducting experience evaluations or audits for accessibility
• Understanding of UX patterns and principles, and in translating product and UX requirements into actionable tasks
• Evaluating, investigating, and optimizing client experience and code performance in front-end code

Responsibilities

• Specialty Engineering Every Staff Engineer at Code for America has a specialty area for which they act as a Subject Matter Expert in contexts and conversations across the organization
• Examples of how Specialty Engineering knowledge is currently applied: Facilitating strategy and roadmapping conversations about areas of expertise
• Own technical decision making and documentation around the implementation and architecture of your SME area
• Authoring developer-centric documentation and best practice guidelines
• Working with other engineering leaders on how to upskill their teams in your area of expertise
• Create and maintain detailed learning and reference materials, including practical examples and prototypes
• Product Engineering Craft new features that help users more easily navigate government services and receive a dignified experience
• Write automated tests and develop monitoring strategies to ensure a high level of service quality
• Implement minimal features to maximize learning, and then harden features to scale when we know they work
• Support Engineering’s culture of writing by producing quality documentation and learning materials for internal and external audiences
• Mentorship Be a friendly face,eager collaborator, and mentor for other software engineers in your particular area of expertise
• Other duties as assigned

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud infrastructure and IaC tooling
• Experience with making government services better for people who need them most
• Personal or professional experience with the justice system, social safety net, or other mission relevant experience

Benefits

• Salary: Code for America’s salary bands are transparent as a part of our commitment to transparency and fairness. As part of our hiring practices, we aim to target the midpoint of the 2nd quartile of the range for all new hires. Offer targets vary based on market / geographic location. The offer targets for this role range from $128,945 - $157,850 , annually
• Values: Leadership and teammates who share a strong work ethic and values, and who respect and care for one another A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful environment
• Employee Enablement Support: Laptop provided $700 remote environment setup; $200 stipend and up to $500 reimbursement, in accordance with our equipment policy Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month
• Professional Development: $1000 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development; prorated at time of hire Up to $1000 of professional development funds can be rolled over each year, up to a maximum of $2000
• Retirement & 401k Plans: Employees under 3 years are eligible for a 100% employer match of up to 3% of employee contribution Employees with 3+ years are eligible for an additional 50% employer contribution over 3%, to a maximum of 5%
• Medical: Full benefits package with options up to 100% coverage toward select medical, dental, and vision plans Employer contributes up to 80% of the cost towards dependent and family coverage
• Remote Work: Code for America employees may work remotely across the US Code for America employees main residence must be within the US Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday - Friday Collaborative working hours: we aim to hold all internal meetings between 10 AM - 3 PM PT. We expect all Code for America staff to be available during these set working hours
• Time Off: Open personal time off, a minimum of 16 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day Paid sick time; up to 96 hours annually Competitive paid parental and family leave 4 weeks of paid sabbatical after 4 years of service, with an option of up to 4 additional weeks of unpaid time away