Technical Lead, Drupal

For People; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% health insurance premium paid (G0

Annual profit sharing

Job summary

For People seeks a Technical Lead to own the agency’s public data website. The platform is built on Drupal with a separate React front end, and you will drive architecture, coding standards, and secure, maintainable releases.

You will ensure uptime targets, collaborate with CMS product owners, data owners, and partner firms, and lead data migrations while upholding accessibility and security best practices. This is a 100% remote federal contract role with occasional CMS HQ travel.

Qualifications

• / The role requires 6+ years of Drupal development, including 3+ years on managed Drupal hosting such as Acquia, 3+ years building custom Drupal modules, and 3+ years with MySQL and SQLite databases.
• / 6+ years of web development total, with 3+ years React and 3+ years connecting React front ends to Drupal.
• / Experience building and running software for the federal government, including CMS systems and compliance with FISMA and ATO processes.
• / Experience with CDNs and cloud hosting and planning migrations between hosting environments.
• / Experience owning a full testing practice (functional, performance, security, accessibility) and building sites meeting Section 508.

Responsibilities

• Lead the engineering for the agency's public data website, built on Drupal with a separate React front end, owning architecture decisions and coding standards.
• Keep the site reliable and secure with uptime targets, release management, monitoring, incident response, and security documentation for Authority to Operate (ATO).
• Lead research on hosting and content delivery options and migrate platforms without ATO gaps.
• Provide CMS offices a publishing/update capability in Drupal and set team engineering standards, including reviews, automated tests, and accessibility checks.

Skills

Drupal development

React development

Agile methodologies

Open data standards

Public sector experience

Security awareness

Accessibility awareness

Team leadership

Tools

Acquia hosting

MySQL

SQLite

Akamai CDN

Cloud hosting

Job description

For People is improving government digital services for the disadvantaged population. We work directly with government agencies to modernize software, systems, and platforms so that they better serve people.

Your Impact

Every month, hundreds of thousands of people go looking for facts about Medicare and Medicaid. They are researchers, reporters, policy staff, and health care providers. When the data is hard to find, a file is too large to post, or a column quietly changes its name between releases, their work slows down or goes wrong. This project supports the website where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes that data for the public. It holds a large catalog of datasets, lookup tools, and dashboards from many parts of the agency, available as downloads, interactive tools, and a public API. As Technical Lead, you will be the top technical authority for the team that builds and runs it. You will keep the site fast, secure, and accessible, and you will lead the engineering behind its next stage, including larger data files, self‑service publishing for the CMS offices that own the data, and bringing CMS data that is now spread across other agency websites onto one site.

This position is a full‑time position

contingent on For People being awarded a federal contract. If awarded, this position’s expected start date is February 2027.

Our Culture

For People is a team of humans. We place a significant amount of emphasis on positive work‑life balance, setting healthy expectations, and making sure our loved ones are taken care of first. That means picking a child up from school during the day or going for a mid‑day walk is okay!

This position is 100% remote. Our entire team is remote across the United States, from the West Coast to the East Coast. There will never be a return‑to‑office, as we have none! Occasional travel to CMS headquarters in Baltimore, MD (2-3 times per year) is required. These trips are infrequent and scheduled well in advance.

This full‑time position's published base salary range is between $130,000 and $160,000 annually. All positions include generous benefits (e.g., For People pays 100% of Gold-tier employee health insurance premiums) and annual company profit sharing.

Your Opportunities

• Lead the engineering for the agency's public data website, built on Drupal with a separate React front end. You will own architecture decisions, keep Drupal and its modules current, and be responsible for your team’s coding standards.
• Keep the site reliable and secure, with targets of 99.5% uptime. That covers release management, monitoring and alerts, incident response, and the security documentation that keeps the site's Authority to Operate (ATO) current.
• Lead the research on new hosting and content delivery options. Lead out the migration to any new platform architectures without a gap in the site's ATO.
• Give the CMS offices that own the data a way to publish and update it themselves in Drupal.
• Set the team's engineering standards, including code reviews, agentic coding tools, automated tests, security scans, and accessibility testing before every release.
• Lead the technical work of moving data from other CMS websites onto the platform, and look for responsible uses of AI.
• Work closely with CMS product owners, data owners across the agency, other CMS contractors, and teammates from our partner firms, and explain technical trade‑offs in plain language.

You Bring

A humble and caring attitude aligning with For People's values: passion, fun, curiosity, sustainability, humility, and respect.

• 6+ years of Drupal development, including 3+ years on managed Drupal hosting such as Acquia, 3+ years building custom Drupal modules, and 3+ years with MySQL and SQLite databases.
• 6+ years of web development overall, including 3+ years of React and 3+ years connecting React front ends to Drupal.
• Experience building and running software for the federal government, including work on CMS systems. You have kept a codebase in line with federal security requirements (FISMA) and you know how the CMS ATO process works.
• Experience with content delivery networks (Akamai or similar) and cloud hosting, including planning and carrying out a move from one hosting environment to another.
• Experience owning a team's full testing practice, including functional, performance, security, and accessibility testing, and building websites that meet Section 508 requirements.
• Experience leading engineers on an agile team for a public‑facing data or content platform, and working knowledge of open data standards.

Some Fine Print

You will be working on a United States government platform, and they have a few basic requirements for contractors like ourselves. All work must be physically performed within the United States at all times. In addition, you must be a United States citizen and be able to pass a government‑performed public trust background check.

For People is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, and/or veteran status.