Staff Software Engineer

Code for America believes in transforming government services through technology, and they are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to enhance accessibility and effectiveness of public services. The role involves contributing to the entire product lifecycle, acting as a subject matter expert, and mentoring other engineers.

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

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
• 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
• 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