Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer – Back-End Focused

Standtogether; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Health insurance

Wellness programs

Professional development

Job summary

Standtogether in Arlington, VA is hiring a Senior Full‑Stack Software Engineer (Back‑End Focused) to own backend architecture and reliability for enterprise IT projects powering consumer‑facing web apps.

You will work across React/Next.js frontends and Node.js backends, with Contentful CMS, AWS, and CI/CD pipelines, while mentoring engineers and aligning technical work with business goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of full‑stack software engineering with backend focus.
• Experience mentoring software engineers.
• Strong collaboration and cross‑functional skills.
• Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP with Node.js backend.
• Experience designing APIs in distributed/microservices architectures.
• Experience with JWT/OIDC (Auth0 or equivalent).
• Relational and NoSQL databases; MongoDB experience preferred.
• Docker and AWS ECS; familiarity with AWS services.
• IaC with Terraform + Terragrunt; GitHub Actions CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture, design, and technical decision making across full stack.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable, secure APIs for consumer apps.
• Oversee CMS content modeling and editorial workflow in Contentful.
• Improve CI/CD, deployment, monitoring, and reliability.
• Ensure security and cloud best practices in AWS (IAM, S3, VPC).
• Establish engineering standards and scalable design patterns.
• Provide technical mentorship and performance guidance.
• Collaborate with product, design, and business stakeholders.
• Support sprint planning, estimation, roadmaps, and hiring.

Skills

Backend focus

Node.js

NestJS

JavaScript/TypeScript

Python

PHP

JWT/OIDC

Auth0

passport-jwt/JWKS

SQL

MongoDB

Docker

AWS ECS

API Gateway

S3

Terraform/Terragrunt

CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

Observability

Contentful CMS

Headless CMS

Security best practices

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering

Master’s degree (advantage)

Tools

Contentful CMS

Drupal

WordPress

Turborepo

pnpm

Storybook

OpenAPI tooling

Job description

As a Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer (Back-End Focused) on our Enterprise IT team, you will own the architecture and reliability of the backend systems powering Stand Together's high-visibility, consumer-facing web applications. In this role, you will combine hands‑on development with architectural oversight across scalable, AWS-hosted applications, ensuring the reliability, performance, and long‑term scalability of our digital ecosystem while mentoring engineers and partnering cross‑functionally to deliver high‑impact solutions.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture, design, and technical decision‑making across the full application stack, including React and Next.js frontends, Node.js backend services, Contentful CMS integrations, and AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable, secure, and high‑performing APIs that serve as the foundation for consumer‑facing applications.
• Oversee CMS content modeling and editorial workflow optimization within Contentful CMS.
• Improve CI/CD pipelines, deployment processes, monitoring, observability, and system reliability.
• Ensure compliance with security, governance, and cloud infrastructure best practices within AWS, including IAM least‑privilege, private S3 patterns, and secrets management.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards, best practices, and scalable design patterns.
• Provide technical mentorship, supervision, and performance guidance to engineers.
• Partner with product, design, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Support sprint planning, technical estimation, roadmap development, and hiring efforts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of full‑stack software engineering experience with a clear back‑end focus, including demonstrated architectural responsibility.
• Experience mentoring software engineers.
• Excellent collaboration, communication, and cross‑functional partnership skills.
• Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP; strong Node.js backend experience, preferably with NestJS.
• Experience designing and consuming APIs in distributed or microservices architectures.
• Experience with JWT/OIDC authentication, including Auth0 or equivalent, and passport‑jwt/JWKS patterns.
• Proven experience with relational (SQL) and NoSQL databases — schema design, query optimization, multi‑environment deployments, and operational MongoDB (replication, sharding, performance tuning) preferred.
• Docker and container orchestration on AWS ECS (task definitions, logging, ECR).
• Working knowledge of core AWS services: Amplify, API Gateway, ALB/NLB, S3, EFS, CloudWatch, X‑Ray, IAM, and VPC.
• Experience building and maintaining automation within cloud‑native environments using IaC frameworks (Terraform + Terragrunt).
• CI/CD experience with GitHub Actions and GitHub OIDC for secure AWS deployments.
• Observability and production operations experience: logs, metrics, alarms, distributed tracing, and production troubleshooting.
• Security best practices experience including IAM least‑privilege, private S3 patterns, and secrets management.
• Testing and quality discipline across unit, integration, and e2e layers (Jest), with strong linting and formatting standards.
• Experience integrating headless CMS platforms with modern front‑end frameworks.
• Enthusiasm to contribute to Stand Together's vision and principled approach to solving problems, and a commitment to stewarding our culture, which champions values including transformation and innovation, entrepreneurialism, humility, and respect.
• Experience supervising, coaching, and developing engineers, including performance feedback, goal‑setting, and day‑to‑day work prioritization.
• Experience with Contentful CMS, Drupal, and WordPress in headless or hybrid configurations.
• Familiarity with Turborepo, pnpm, monorepo patterns, Storybook, and design systems.
• Zod/schema‑first validation and OpenAPI generation tooling experience.
• Hands‑on experience with CloudPosse Terraform modules and terragrunt layout patterns.
• Performance tuning for Node.js applications and MongoDB, including caching strategy design.
• Experience with EFS for stateful containers and mounting/permission management.
• Knowledge of Checkov, Terraform security scanning, and Terraform CI checks.

Benefits

• Enjoy a 6% 401(k) match with immediate vesting, flexible time off, comprehensive health and dental plans, plus wellness and mental health support through Peloton and Talkspace.
• Join a passionate community of over 1,300 employees dedicated to improving lives and driving innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
• Thrive in a non‑hierarchical environment that empowers employees to discover, develop, and apply their unique talents.
• Competitive compensation: Our approach rewards the value you create through competitive salaries and bonus opportunities, allowing you to share in the success you help drive.

We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. That is why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, and respect.