Staff Software Engineer

Job description

Code for America believes the government can work for the people, by the people, in the new digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.

Our employees build and transform government and community tools and services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, nonprofit, and government to help support the people who need it most.

With a focus on transparency and fairness, and deep empathy for partners in government and community organizations and the people that our partners serve, we’re building a movement of motivated change agents driven by meaningful results and lasting impact.

At Code for America, you contribute to exciting work while learning and developing in a supportive and flexible environment. Our compensation and benefits are holistic and thoughtfully curated to represent our employees and our mission. Help us drive real generational change that lasts.

Code for America is looking for a talented Staff Software Engineer who will contribute to high-impact government services by supporting critical workflows, improving system reliability, and advancing automation efforts that make public services more accessible and effective for the people who need them most.

About the Role:

Code for America software engineers are involved in every stage of our products’ lifecycle, from prototyping and design, to developing features in response to user feedback, to operating technical systems at scale.

Staff Software Engineers further support organization-wide technical efforts and strengthen our software engineering teams as internal champions and subject matter experts for specific technology domains, tools, and processes.

This role will report to a Director of Engineering and is expected to travel no more than 10% of the time.

Code for America is based in California and can employ those who reside full-time within the United States. This is a remote position.

In this Position You Will:

• 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

About You:

The position is a perfect fit for a passionate front-end engineer with significant experience developing and maintaining componentized browser applications and design systems. You have some full stack software experience, but have delved deep into creating meaningful and impactful browser-based applications. You are excited to dive into complex data and architecture, and make public services more accessible and effective for the people who need them most.

• 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.

It’s a Bonus if You Have:

• 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

What You’ll Get

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.

Benefits and Perks:

• 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

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Code for America is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.

Code for America Workers United:

This position is covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement between Code for America and Code for America Workers United, affiliated with OPEIU, Local 1010. The agreement was ratified on October 27, 2023, and is currently in effect.

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