Staff Software Engineer

codeforamerica; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage with no-cost employee

Paid holidays

Sabbatical after 5 years

Parental leave

401(k) with employer match

Job summary

Code for America in the United States is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help set the technical direction of an engineering team building high-impact public services. The role blends hands-on work with technical leadership and focuses on reliable delivery, sound architecture, and mentoring teammates. This remote role is open to U.S.

residents, with travel up to 10%. You will design features, write tests, mentor engineers, and establish technical direction while collaborating with product

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering production software with architectural ownership and data modeling for substantial systems.
• Strong coding, design, and code review skills with sound judgment on tradeoffs.
• Experience mentoring engineers and improving how a team builds, tests, and ships software.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, bias toward action, and adapt to changing priorities.
• Comfort using AI-assisted development tools responsibly within delivery workflows.
• Eligibility to work full-time within the United States.

Responsibilities

• Design and ship features that make government services easier for the public to navigate, iterating quickly and hardening them once proven.
• Write automated tests and develop monitoring strategies to maintain a high bar of service quality in production.
• Make architectural and data-modeling decisions for significant parts of a system, weighing tradeoffs such as speed versus maintainability and familiar tools versus the right tools.
• Establish direction for technical work within the team, anticipating challenges and documenting the reasoning behind key choices.
• Collaborate with product managers and cross-functional peers, adapting approach as priorities and tooling shift.
• Produce documentation and learning materials that strengthen the engineering culture and support others.

Skills

Software architecture

Data modeling

Mentoring

Code reviews

Delivery ownership

AI-assisted development tools

Job description

Role overview

A Staff Software Engineer is needed to help set the technical direction of an engineering team building high-impact public services. The role blends hands-on engineering with technical leadership, focusing on reliable delivery, sound architectural decisions, and mentoring teammates. It is a full-time remote position open to U.S. residents, with travel expected at up to 10%.

Responsibilities

• Design and ship features that make government services easier for the public to navigate, iterating quickly and hardening them once proven.
• Write automated tests and develop monitoring strategies to maintain a high bar of service quality in production.
• Make architectural and data-modeling decisions for significant parts of a system, weighing tradeoffs such as speed versus maintainability and familiar tools versus the right tools.
• Establish direction for technical work within the team, anticipating challenges and documenting the reasoning behind key choices.
• Collaborate with product managers and cross-functional peers, adapting approach as priorities and tooling shift.
• Produce documentation and learning materials that strengthen the engineering culture and support others.

Requirements

• Significant experience delivering production software, with demonstrated ownership of architecture and data modeling for substantial systems.
• Strong coding, design, and code review skills, paired with sound technical judgment on tradeoffs.
• Experience mentoring engineers and improving how a team builds, tests, and ships software.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, bias toward action, and support the team when priorities change.
• Comfort using AI-assisted development tools responsibly within delivery workflows.
• Eligibility to work full-time within the United States.

Nice to have

• Background working on civic, government, or other public-interest technology products.
• Familiarity with operating technical systems at scale in mission-driven contexts.

Benefits and work setup

• Remote-first with required residence in the United States; full-time schedule of 40 hours, Monday through Friday.
• Collaborative working hours aimed at 10 AM–3 PM PT for internal meetings.
• Open personal time off (subject to manager approval), at least 14 paid holidays, an organizational closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day, and paid sick time.
• Seventeen weeks of paid parental and family leave, plus three weeks of paid sabbatical after five years of service.
• Medical coverage that includes at least one no-cost employee-only plan and substantial employer contribution toward dependent coverage.
• 401(k) with a 100% employer match on the first 3% of contributions and an additional match for longer-tenured employees.
• Phone or internet reimbursement of $50 per month.
• Annual professional development stipend with rollover, plus dedicated support for building AI-related skills relevant to the role.