Staff/Principal Software Engineer

Job description

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services. We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists. The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, software engineers design, build, and operate production systems that make government services more reliable and accessible for the people who depend on them. In this role, you’ll help drive a major modernization effort at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), working alongside colleagues in product, design, security, data, and platform engineering to turn strategy into reality. You’ll accelerate delivery and strengthen resilience by applying modern engineering practices and secure defaults, while leaving behind patterns, documentation, and skills that empower teams to sustain and expand the work over time.

What you’ll do

• Deliver production-ready software as part of a cross-functional team and own services through build, deployment, and operations
• Apply lean-agile engineering practices — API-first, simple design, trunk-based development, continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), version control, automated testing
• Standardize and automate environments with infrastructure as code (IaC) and policy as code to create secure, repeatable delivery
• Improve reliability and performance with meaningful observability — metrics, logs, traces — and use service level objectives (SLOs) to guide engineering work
• Modernize and integrate systems across cloud platforms and existing enterprise services, with a preference for open source where it fits
• Build in security, privacy, and accessibility from day one — evidence automation for compliance, defense against common vulnerabilities, and Section 508 accessibility standards
• Identify and reduce technical debt by analyzing stability and operability, then designing and communicating clear remediation plans
• Enable federal partners by sharing practices, reusable patterns, and toolkits that help them sustain and evolve improvements over time

What we’re looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Ability to write clean, reliable, and reusable code for large-scale production systems
• Experience with modern delivery — continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), automated testing, code review, and operating services in cloud environments
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure as code (IaC) and environment automation
• Strong understanding of secure software practices and how to integrate compliance into delivery
• Working knowledge of data persistence and patterns for building resilient, observable services
• Commitment to capacity building — mentoring, documenting, and transferring knowledge so teams can continue improving after you
• Ability to communicate clearly with executives and cross-functional teams in a professional services environment
• Passion for creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that align with Skylight’s core values
• Ability to spend time on‑site at HHS in Washington, DC — either by being based locally or by traveling regularly for in‑person work when it’s important

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Experience with containers and orchestration, such as Docker or Kubernetes
• Background in application or cloud modernization, integrations, or data-intensive products
• Experience integrating security, compliance, and governance tooling — for example, automating evidence collection, connecting ATO platforms, or streamlining workflows across enterprise systems
• Exposure to compliance environments such as the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), or Authority to Operate (ATO) processes
• Prior experience in civic tech, government, or other highly regulated environments
• Experience working effectively on hybrid or distributed teams

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• As a government contractor, you may be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance.
• You may be required to complete a company background check successfully.
• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This role requires some in-person time in Washington, DC. Candidates based in the DC area should be able to work on-site at HHS periodically. Candidates outside the area are also welcome to apply, as long as they can travel to DC frequently for on-site collaboration. A relocation incentive of up to $10,000 is available.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Software Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate Software Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
• Software Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
• Software Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior Software Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff Software Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal Software Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Flexible paid time-off-policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
• Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

We want you to have a great interview experience with us! Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit ourjoin page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out ourCareer Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at [email protected].

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.