Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Frontend (ACF)

Skylight is a digital consultancy focused on improving public services through design and technology. The Senior/Staff Software Engineer will design, implement, and maintain user-centered web applications to support the Administration for Children and Families' digital transformation efforts.

Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain modern, user-centered web applications that support ACF’s digital transformation
• Collaborate with designers, researchers, product managers, and backend engineers to deliver cohesive, accessible, and performant experiences
• Implement responsive, data-rich interfaces that help users make sense of complex information
• Integrate APIs, state management, and asynchronous data flows to create seamless interactions
• Contribute to the design and evolution of ACF’s frontend architecture and component libraries
• Apply lean-agile engineering practices such as API-first design, version control, automated testing, and continuous integration
• Identify and address technical debt, performance issues, and opportunities for improvement
• Evaluate and incorporate emerging technologies, including AI-enabled features, where they enhance user experience
• Promote maintainability and long-term scalability through clear documentation and knowledge sharing

Requirements:

• Ability to write clean, reusable, and maintainable code with strong attention to testing and reliability
• Experience building modern web applications using React (or equivalent single-page frameworks) and component-driven design
• Strong understanding of frontend architecture, state management, asynchronous data fetching, and API integration patterns
• Experience collaborating with backend teams (especially Python-based) to deliver cohesive user experiences
• Familiarity with building secure, compliant software and mitigating common vulnerabilities
• Experience designing and implementing interactive, data-rich UIs (e.g., filters, tagging, dashboards)
• Familiarity with integrating AI- or ML-driven features such as search, tagging, or summarization
• Experience contributing to build and deployment pipelines (e.g., CI/CD, AWS Amplify, or similar)
• Understanding how to design performant, reliable, and user-centered systems
• Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
• Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values
• Ability to travel for work from time to time
• 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
• Experience using AWS hosting and build services such as CloudFront, S3, Amplify, or Cognito
• Familiarity with data visualization frameworks (e.g., D3.js, Plotly, Chart.js)
• Experience designing natural language interfaces (e.g., search, tagging, annotation tools)
• Experience with design systems such as Storybook, Figma, USWDS, or GOV.UK Design System
• Experience contributing to accessibility-first or government digital service projects
• Understanding of frontend performance optimization and observability tooling
• Experience collaborating effectively within remote teams
• Prior experience working in the civic tech space
• Experience working in a remote-team environment