Principal Software Engineer

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.

Our employees and active community of volunteers build and transform government and community tools and services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, nonprofit, and government to help support the people who need it most. With a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and deep empathy for partners in government and community organizations and the people that our partners serve, we’re building a movement of motivated change agents driven by meaningful results and lasting impact. At Code for America, you contribute to exciting work while learning and developing in a supportive and flexible environment. Our compensation and benefits are holistic and thoughtfully curated to represent our employees and our mission. Help us drive real generational change that lasts.

We’re seeking Principal Software Engineers to lead on organization-wide technical efforts and strengthen our software engineering teams.

As of October 27, 2023, Code for America has reached a CBA (collective bargaining agreement) with Code for America Workers United, affiliated with OPEIU (Office Professional Employees International Union, Local 1010). This position is not designated as part of Code for America Workers United.

About the Role:

Code for America’s Software Engineers are involved in all stages of our products’ lifecycle: Research, design, prototyping, developing applications, tools, services or specialized utility programs that integrate with government systems at scale. 

As a Principal Engineer you work well with ambiguity, enjoy simplifying complex product specifications into nonfunctional designs, technical strategies, guide cross-portfolio architecture decisions and technical specifications that persuasively articulate a technical approach. You develop software with high output, high quality and high stability to maintain our uptime SLA. You prototype to show what’s possible. You gain a deep understanding of organization-wide portfolio needs and simplify them into cohesive technical systems that can be leveraged by other portfolio solutions. You break down and estimate work for more junior engineers and positively influence cross-functional partners across the organization.

This role may report into either our Sr. Engineering Manager or Director of Engineering.

About You:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics or 10+ years related experience in the field of software engineering

• 10 years of experience with an OOP language like Java, Python or Ruby

• 10 years of experience with Cloud computing platforms such as AWS or GCP, or 2 years of experience with Aptible

• Understanding of computer science and web fundamentals, from data structures to APIs

• Eager in collaborating with others, provide technical and professional mentorship to others

• Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills

• 8 years developing and deploying with Github, CICD pipelines with Circle.ci or Jenkins. 

• 8 or more years working in Agile Software Development model, XP, or TDD

• Experience optimizing performance, investigating, troubleshooting and fixing customer issues as a full-stack engineer. 

• Experience working with PII, creating secure systems, and handling security incidents and improvements

• Write clean, maintainable, and well-architected code 

• Write concise documentation

It’s a bonus if you have:   

• Led a team as a tech/engineering lead or engineering manager

• Familiarity with pair programming and test driven development

• Experience with Separation of Concerns, Service Oriented, and Component based  Architecture

• Expertise in Ruby on Rails, Java Spring, and/or AWS

• Experience with making government services better for people who need them most

• Experience with the justice system, social safety net, or other mission relevant experience

• Familiarity with AI, GAI, Data Factory, Software Connector Strategies

What you’ll get: 

Salary:

Code for America’s salary bands are transparent as a part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are happy to extend this transparency in the recruitment process. As part of our equitable hiring practices, we target the 2nd quartile midpoint number of each salary band, for all new hires.

Offer targets vary based on market / geographic location. The target offer numbers for this role range from $143,884 to $176,138, annually.

Benefits and perks:

• Values:

  • Leadership and teammates who value Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (DE&I)

  • A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and fun environment

• Medical:

  • Full benefits package with options up to 100% coverage towards select medical, dental and vision plans

  • Employer contributes up to 80% of the cost towards dependent and family coverage

• Retirement & 401k Plans:

  • Employees under 3 years eligible for a 100% employer match of up to 3% of employee contribution

  • Employees with 3+ years eligible for an additional 50% employer contribution over 3%, to a maximum of 5%

• Professional Development:

  • $1000 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development; prorated at time of hire

  • Up to $1000 of professional development funds can be rolled over each year, up to a maximum of $2000

• Time Off: 

  • Open personal time off, a minimum of 16 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure Christmas Day through New Years Day

  • Paid sick time; up to 96 hours annually

  • Competitive paid parental and family leave

  • 4 weeks of paid sabbatical after 4 years of service, with an option of up to 4 additional weeks of unpaid time away

• Remote Work:

  • Code for America employees may work remotely across the US

  • Code for America employees main residence must be within the US

  • Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday - Friday

  • Collaborative working hours: we aim to hold all internal meetings between 10 AM - 3 PM PT. We expect all Code for America staff to be available during these set working hours

• Employee Enablement Support: 

  • Laptop provided

  • $700 remote environment setup; $200 stipend and up to $500 reimbursement, in accordance with our equipment policy

  • Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month

Equal Employment Opportunity: 

Code for America values a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and strongly encourages women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. Code for America is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.