Software Engineer

About the Company

Code for America is a nonprofit organization working to make government services more accessible, effective, and responsive to the needs of the people they serve. For more than a decade, the organization has combined technology, nonprofit expertise, and government partnerships to reduce barriers, address community needs, and improve public services.

Its work is grounded in transparency, fairness, and empathy for government partners, community organizations, and the individuals who rely on their services.

About the Role

Code for America is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to establish technical standards, guide engineering practices, and improve software delivery across multiple teams and projects. This role focuses on solving complex, ambiguous technical challenges that extend beyond a single team's roadmap and developing reliable, reusable solutions that support the organization's mission.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Engineering, you will combine deep technical expertise with cross-team leadership. You will influence architecture and engineering strategy, mentor experienced engineers, and help teams build high-quality software that makes essential government services easier to access and use. This is a remote position, with travel expected to be no more than 10% of the time.

Key Responsibilities

Develop features and technical solutions that help people navigate government services and receive a more accessible, dignified experience.

Solve complex and undefined technical problems, evaluating trade-offs across competing priorities and considering their impact across engineering teams.

Own architecture and data-modeling decisions for systems spanning multiple services or teams, balancing delivery speed, maintainability, technical quality, and practical constraints.

Test new approaches and turn successful solutions into durable, reusable capabilities, including shared services, libraries, and AI-enabled components.

Create technical documentation, decision records, and learning materials that support engineering teams across the organization.

Define and document technical direction for your domain, anticipating cross-team challenges and explaining important technical decisions.

Mentor Staff and Senior Software Engineers, strengthening their technical judgment, engineering practices, and ability to work through unfamiliar problems.

Partner with Engineering Managers, Directors, and cross-functional colleagues to translate technology, policy, and organizational trends into technical strategy.

Establish shared engineering standards and reference architectures, encouraging adoption through code reviews, reference implementations, and practical examples.

Share effective approaches across projects and help align engineering practices between teams.

Evaluate emerging technologies, frameworks, infrastructure approaches, and AI-enabled product capabilities, recommending what to adopt, improve, or discontinue.

Represent Engineering in cross-functional planning and technical decision-making.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with deep expertise in system architecture, data modeling, web technologies, and API design.
• Demonstrated experience establishing technical standards or patterns that have been adopted across multiple teams.
• Experience defining and solving ambiguous technical problems and developing solutions that other teams can reuse.
• Expertise across multiple programming languages, frameworks, and technology stacks, with the ability to learn unfamiliar technologies quickly.
• Ability to use AI coding tools responsibly, validate and refine generated code, and help establish effective practices for AI-assisted development.
• Experience with Agile software development approaches such as Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Test-Driven Development (TDD), or Behavior-Driven Development (BDD).
• Demonstrated technical leadership across team boundaries, including setting direction and guiding decisions in complex or constrained environments.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools.
• Experience collaborating across disciplines and mentoring engineers in technical skills and professional development.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including the ability to explain complex technical trade-offs to non-technical and cross-functional audiences.
• A strong commitment to Code for America's mission of making government services work well for the people who need them most.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in one or more technology or domain areas relevant to Code for America's product portfolio.
• Personal or professional experience with social safety net programs or other government services aligned with the organization's mission.
• Previous experience as a tech lead, engineering manager, or in a similar leadership role before moving into a Principal individual-contributor position.
• Experience building and integrating AI-powered features into production systems, including evaluation and monitoring.

Salary & Benefits

The annual salary target range is $143,884–$176,138, with offer targets varying by market and geographic location. Code for America aims to target the midpoint of the second quartile of its salary range for new hires. Recruiters will discuss compensation in more detail during the initial phone screen.

The benefits package includes:

• Health and Retirement
• At least one no-cost health insurance option for full-time employees covering employee-only medical coverage.
• A minimum of 80% of the cost of dependent coverage.
• A 100% employer match on the first 3% of employee retirement contributions.
• For employees with three or more years of service, an additional 50% match on contributions between 3% and 5%, for a maximum employer contribution of 5%.

Remote Work and Equipment

• A laptop provided by the organization.
• A one-time $700 remote-work setup benefit, consisting of a $200 stipend in the first paycheck and up to $500 in reimbursement, subject to the equipment policy.
• A $50 monthly cell phone and/or internet reimbursement.
• Remote work from anywhere in the United States, provided the employee's primary residence is within the country.
• A standard full-time schedule of 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, with internal meetings generally scheduled between 10 AM and 3 PM Pacific Time. Employees are expected to be available during these collaborative hours.

Professional Development

• A $500 annual professional development stipend, prorated at the time of hire.
• The ability to roll over up to $500 in unused professional development funds each year, up to a maximum of $1,000.
• Training and guidance for employees required to use AI in their roles, along with opportunities to develop AI-related skills.

• Time Off and Leave
• Open personal time off, subject to manager approval.
• At least 14 paid holidays and an organization-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day.
• Up to 96 hours of paid sick time annually.
• 17 weeks of paid parental and family leave.
• Three weeks of paid sabbatical after five years of service.

The organization also emphasizes a collaborative, cross-functional work environment with colleagues and leaders who value strong work, mutual respect, and shared purpose.

Location and Work Arrangement

This is a remote position open to candidates whose primary residence is within the United States. The role reports to the Senior Director of Product Engineering and requires no more than 10% travel. Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, and are expected to be available for internal meetings generally scheduled between 10 AM and 3 PM Pacific Time.

Hiring Process

The hiring process typically takes one to two months or longer from initial recruiter contact. Specific stages and timeline expectations will be discussed during the initial recruiter phone screen.

Equal Opportunity / EEO

Code for America is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against based on 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 other category protected by applicable local, state, or federal law.

Labor Agreement Information

This position is not covered by the collective bargaining agreement between Code for America and Code for America Workers United, affiliated with OPEIU, Local 1010. The agreement was ratified on January 13, 2026, and is currently in effect.