Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer - Back-End Focused

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

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Health insurance

Wellness & mental health support

Flexible time off

Job summary

Stand Together is seeking a Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer (Back-End Focused) on the Enterprise IT team. You will own architecture and reliability of backend systems powering high-visibility, consumer-facing web apps hosted on AWS, mentoring engineers and partnering cross-functionally to deliver impactful solutions.

You will drive API design, CMS workflows in Contentful, and CI/CD improvements while upholding security and scalable best practices across the tech stack.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of full-stack software engineering experience with back-end focus and architectural responsibility.
• Experience mentoring software engineers.
• Strong collaboration and communication across cross-functional teams.
• Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP with Node.js backend (NestJS preferred).
• Experience designing and consuming APIs in distributed/microservices architectures.
• Knowledge of JWT/OIDC authentication (Auth0 or equivalent) and passport-jwt/JWKS patterns.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases, MongoDB familiarity, and AWS services.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture, design, and decision-making across the full application stack.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable, secure APIs for consumer-facing apps.
• Oversee CMS content modeling and editorial workflows in Contentful.
• Improve CI/CD pipelines, deployment, monitoring, and observability.
• Ensure security practices and IAM least-privilege on AWS.
• Establish engineering standards and scalable design patterns.
• Mentor engineers and provide performance guidance.
• Collaborate with product, design, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Support sprint planning, estimations, roadmaps, and hiring efforts.

Skills

JavaScript/TypeScript

Python

PHP

Node.js

NestJS

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Contentful CMS

AWS

Docker

Terraform

Terragrunt

GitHub Actions

OpenAPI

Job description

Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, thought leadership, a network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.

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.

How You Will Contribute

• 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.

What You Will Bring

• 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.

Standout Candidates Will Bring

• 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.

What We Offer

• Competitive 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.
• A meaningful career: Join a passionate community of over 1,300 employees dedicated to improving lives and driving innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
• Commitment to growth: 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.

Our Values:

Working for an organization within the Stand Together philanthropic community is different from many other places. The culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom-up empowerment. PBM® empowers employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.

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.

140000 - 170000 USD a year

For this role, the anticipated base salary range is $140,000 – $ 170,000 per year. This role may also be eligible for additional bonus compensation designed to align total compensation with an employee’s overall contribution to the organization.

Our Principles-Based Management™ (PBM) compensation philosophy is grounded in an individualized approach that rewards the long-term value each person creates for the organization. Compensation decisions are informed by a variety of factors, including relevant experience, capabilities, demonstrated skills, role responsibilities, and expected contribution. Consistent with this approach, base salary may vary within or outside of the anticipated range based on these considerations.