Staff Engineer

History Factory; Chantilly (VA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work options

Job summary

History Factory in Chantilly, VA seeks a Staff Engineer with AI expertise to design, build, and maintain production-grade applications and automations that increase operational efficiency. You will work with Node.js, Next.js, Laravel, SQL, and Python, and orchestrate workflows in Zapier, integrating with OpenAI and Gemini APIs.

You will collaborate with Creative, Archivist, and Content Development teams to improve workflows using AI, while maintaining secure, scalable tools and responsible AI

Qualifications

• 4+ years building web applications with Node.js/React/Next.js and Python.
• Experience shipping features with AI platforms like OpenAI, Claude, or Google Gemini APIs.
• Hands-on Zapier automation experience.
• Strong grounding in secure software practices (OWASP Top 10/ASVS), API design, and relational data modeling (MySQL / PostgreSQL).
• Proficiency with modern tooling: Git/GitHub, CI/CD, Docker, testing frameworks (Vitest/Pytest).
• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain production web applications using Node.js, Next.js / React / Vite, Laravel, and Python.
• Design and implement AI-powered features (generation, classification, extraction, RAG/embeddings).
• Create durable workflow automations with Zapier to reduce manual processes.
• Develop internal scripts to streamline data operations (ETL, file processing, metadata tagging).
• Collaborate with Creative, Archivist, and Content Development teams to map processes and pilot AI-powered improvements.
• Apply secure coding practices and guardrails; implement interface security and testing.
• Integrate with identity and external systems and document interfaces with OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Instrument systems for reliability and maintain CI/CD checks.
• Produce documentation and reusable components.

Skills

Node.js

React

Next.js

Python

OpenAI API

Claude API

Zapier

Secure coding

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Git

GitHub

CI/CD

Docker

Vitest

Pytest

Tools

Docker

GitHub

OpenAI API

Claude API

Google Gemini API

pgvector

Pinecone

NotebookLM

Gemini CLI

Job description

Since 1979, History Factory has been driven by the pioneering idea of making an organization’s history more useful for driving its business. Today, many of the world’s best enterprises turn to History Factory for unparalleled expertise at the intersection of business and history. Our unmatched combination of research and insights, standard-setting archives management and technology, and award-winning creative transforms a company’s inventory of experience—its history and heritage—into better performance and results.

We are seeking a product-minded Staff Engineer with AI experience to design, build, and maintain production-grade applications and automations that improve operational efficiency across the business. The ideal candidate is fluent across Node.js, Next.js (or other React-based frameworks), Laravel, SQL, and Python; comfortable orchestrating workflows in Zapier; and experienced in integrating with LLM platforms such as the OpenAI API and Google Gemini API. You will use AI coding assistants (e.g., Codex-CLI, Claude Code) responsibly to accelerate delivery while adhering to safe, secure engineering practices.

You will also collaborate with Creative, Archives, and Content Development teams to improve their day-to-day workflows using AI: coaching on prompt design and deploying tools such as Gemini CLI and NotebookLM to standardize, document, and accelerate their processes. You will have the opportunity to work with other members of the technology team to assist with this process improvement workstream.

You won’t always have all the answers (and that’s okay); we’re looking for a creative problem solver who can break down ambiguous challenges, explore options quickly, and ship pragmatic solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain production web applications using Node.js, Next.js / React / Vite, Laravel, and Python (services, APIs, and CLIs).
• Design and implement AI-powered features (generation, classification, extraction, RAG/embeddings) using frontier models such as OpenAI GPT-5 or Google Gemini.
• Create durable workflow automations with Zapier (webhooks, code steps, branching, error handling) to reduce manual processes.
• Develop internal scripts to streamline data operations (ETL, file processing, metadata tagging, batch transforms).
• Partner with Creative, Archivist, and Content Development teams to map current processes and pilot AI-powered improvements (prompt libraries, Gemini CLI/NotebookLM workbooks, retrieval templates, and Zapier automations); provide lightweight training.
• Apply secure coding practices and guardrails: parameterized queries/ORM to prevent SQL injection, input validation/encoding to mitigate XSS/CSRF, SSRF protections, least-privilege access, and secrets management.
• Implement prompt- and injection-safety strategies for LLM features (context scoping, output validation, tool/Function Calling allowlists, rate/cost limits).
• Integrate with identity and external systems (OAuth/OIDC; Google/Microsoft; SaaS APIs) and document interfaces with OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Instrument systems for reliability (logging, metrics, tracing), add tests (unit/integration), and maintain CI/CD checks.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners (Product, Marketing, Operations) to translate ambiguous needs into shippable solutions with measurable impact.
• Produce clear documentation (READMEs, runbooks, postmortems) and contribute to coding standards and reusable components.

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years building web applications with Node.js/React/Next.js and internal tools using Python (or equivalent experience).
• Demonstrated experience shipping features with AI platforms like OpenAI, Claude, or Google Gemini APIs (chat/tools/function-calling, embeddings).
• Hands‑on Zapier automation experience (webhooks, code steps, paths; robust retry/error handling).
• Strong grounding in secure software practices (OWASP Top 10/ASVS), API design, and relational data modeling (e.g., MySQL / PostgreSQL).
• Proficiency with modern tooling: Git/GitHub, CI/CD, containerization (Docker), testing frameworks (e.g., Vitest/Pytest).
• Comfort using AI coding assistants (e.g., Codex CLI, Claude Code) responsibly to augment—not replace—engineering rigor.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Creative problem‑solving: ability to decompose complex, ambiguous issues, learn unfamiliar domains quickly, and deliver working solutions without perfect information.
• Experience coaching non‑technical stakeholders on prompt engineering and safe AI usage; hands‑on with tools like Claude Code or Gemini CLI/NotebookLM to operationalize team workflows.
• Experience with RAG patterns and vector stores (e.g., pgvector, Pinecone), prompt evaluation, and guardrail frameworks.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a plus.
• Serverless/edge deployments (e.g., AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions) and background jobs/queues.

Location of Employment

Chantilly, VA / Washington, DC area.

Remote work options are available, but on‑site collaboration is required. You will be reporting to the Head of Technology Enablement.

This full‑time role owns the delivery of secure, scalable internal tools and client‑facing applications. You’ll operate in a high‑visibility capacity alongside department heads and leadership, applying sound engineering judgment and responsible AI to drive measurable efficiency gains. We value curiosity, resilience, and first‑principles thinking: you may not know every answer on day one, but you have the mindset and skills to find them fast, even under pressure.

EEO and accessibility Statement

History Factory is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, family medical history or genetic information, disability, past or present military service, or any other characteristics protected under the laws applicable in the locations where History Factory operates. History Factory will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.

History Factory is committed to the full inclusion of all individuals. We comply with federal and state disability laws and make reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request reasonable accommodation in the job application or interview process, please contact [e-mail].

The following questions are entirely optional. To comply with government Equal Employment Opportunity and/or Affi­rmedative Action reporting regulations, we are requesting (but NOT requiring) that you enter this personal data. This information will not be used in connection with any employment decisions, and will be used solely as permitted by state and federal law. Your voluntary cooperation would be appreciated. Learn more .