Staff Solutions Engineer

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the new 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 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 transparency and fairness, 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.

Code for America is looking for a talented Staff Solutions Engineer who will collaborate with government partners and deliver technical guidance, transforming the way our government delivers services to communities in need.

This person is a deeply experienced technologist and systems thinker who builds bridges between complex legacy government systems, cutting-edge civic technology, and mission-aligned public policy.

About the Role:

In this role, you’ll work with a team of designers, researchers, engineers, product managers, and policy experts across our program portfolios. You will spend time with key government agencies to build rapport with their technical team, understand their technical needs, and develop a shared understanding of how Code for America can help them achieve their goals. This will involve identifying and designing technical solutions to improve access to their programs.

Solutions Engineers at Code for America are an integral component of all of our program areas. There are currently three focused program areas at Code for America:

• Criminal Justice, which focuses on Automatic Record Clearance,
• Tax Benefits, which focuses on free trustworthy tax services and simplified tax filing,
• And the Social Safety Net. Focus areas in this portfolio include food benefits, integrated benefits applications, and training & capacity building.

This role will report to the Senior Director of Solutions Engineering and is expected to travel no more than 10% of the time.

Code for America is based in California and can employ those who reside full-time within the United States. This is a remote position.

In this Position You Will:

• Partnerships and Collaboration
  • Build and maintain relationships and develop technical champions within government and partner organizations.
  • Assist in project planning and drafting statements of work and technical requirements
  • Work closely with cross-functional government partners to clarify problems and understand system constraints, and offer feasible and high-value technical solutions that consider the needs of all stakeholders.
  • Assist in documenting and communicating technical best practices and in the framing of government RFPs.
  • Collaborate with government partners and provide written resources to communicate complex technical concepts.
• Strategic Leadership
  • Provide technical perspectives and expertise in service of improved government services for government agencies, organizational stakeholders, and other key audiences.
  • Estimate project scope and rough project plans for government initiatives.
  • Evaluate the technical landscape and partner capacity for prospective new state engagements, drafting assessments and recommendations.
• Solutions Development
  • Implement proof-of-concept applications, software installations, and custom development projects.
  • Leading light technical implementations and low / no-code software solutions.
  • Develop and implement training plans and documents to empower government agencies to improve and modernize the delivery of government services.
• Other duties as assigned

About You:

This role may be perfect for you if you have the technical skills to tackle engineering problems, the social skills to face human-factors problems, and the judgment to differentiate between the two. The ability to communicate complex technical concepts in straightforward language to non-technical audiences will be critical to your success.

• 7+ years of experience as a Software Engineer, Solutions Engineer, or Solutions Architect with experience leading projects and interacting with customers.
• Recent back-end development, database, data-science and/or DevOps experience.
• 4+ years of experience coding backend systems and data infrastructure in an industry-standard language (Python, Ruby, Java, Scala, Kotlin, etc)
• Recent experience integrating emerging technologies (e.g., generative AI models) into existing workflows or new solutions.
• Strong self-management skills and a proven ability to manage multiple engagements simultaneously
• Fundamentally curious and empathetic; able to thoughtfully balance partner, user, and team needs and identify solutions that move the work forward towards greater impact.
• Tenacity and adaptability; able to navigate relationships,ambiguity, and technical challenges and unblock yourself and your team.
• Ability to engage in research to learn about current systems and architecture, and then incorporate this knowledge to design new solutions and new architectures.

It’s a Bonus if You Have:

• Experience working with or in government.
• Personal experience with or professional experience working within the justice system, social safety net or other mission-relevant government services.
• Experience automating with large language models or natural language processing technologies.
• Experience with government procurement processes.
• Active contributions to open source projects.

What You’ll Get

Salary:

Code for America’s salary bands are transparent as a part of our commitment to transparency and fairness. As part of our hiring practices, we aim to target the midpoint of the 2nd quartile of the range for all new hires.

Offer targets vary based on market / geographic location. The offer targets for this role range from $128,945- $157,850 annually.

Benefits and Perks:

• Values:
• Leadership and teammates who share a strong work ethic and values, and who respect and care for one another
• A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful environment
• 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
• 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
• Retirement & 401k Plans:
• Employees under 3 years are eligible for a 100% employer match of up to 3% of employee contribution
• Employees with 3+ years are eligible for an additional 50% employer contribution over 3%, to a maximum of 5%
• Medical:
• Full benefits package with options up to 100% coverage toward select medical, dental, and vision plans
• Employer contributes up to 80% of the cost towards dependent and family coverage
• 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
• Time Off:
• Open personal time off, a minimum of 16 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's 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

Equal Employment Opportunity:

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.

Code for America Workers United:

This position is not covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement between Code for America and Code for America Workers United, affiliated with OPEIU, Local 1010. The agreement was ratified on October 27, 2023, and is currently in effect.