Software Engineer, Full Stack Developer

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 our Senior 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.

• 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 road mapping 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

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:
  • Java script / 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.

• 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…