Senior Software Engineer

Description

About Housing Connector

Housing Connector is a trailblazing, tech-powered nonprofit on a mission to transform housing access for individuals and families experiencing housing instability. We believe that no home should sit vacant while people are in need.

Our Zillow-powered marketplace helps bridge the gap between property owners and renters by addressing financial and resident-related barriers. At the same time, our Community Hub platform makes it easier for case managers to find, secure, and track housing opportunities for their clients — streamlining the housing journey from end to end.

Recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea and named a Best Place to Work by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2024, Housing Connector brings innovation and impact together.

This is a unique opportunity to build meaningful technology from the ground up — and to play a key role in shaping the systems that help people find and keep stable housing. Join us in creating lasting, measurable change in the housing ecosystem.

Position Overview

The Community Hub is a centralized digital platform developed by Housing Connector to help case managers manage their clients' housing journeys from end to end. It serves as a single location where case managers can access housing data, simplify workflows, and support clients through every stage of the housing process — from identifying available units to lease-up and move-in. As the system evolves, it will also support broader partner integrations and cross-sector collaboration.

As our first engineering hire, the Senior Software Engineer will play a foundational role in shaping this platform and our broader digital strategy. You will be instrumental in designing and building secure, scalable web and mobile applications that directly serve front-line housing providers and community organizations. Reporting to our Director of Product and Technology, you will own critical architectural decisions, establish engineering best practices, and influence the future growth of our technical team and infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the technical architecture and evolution of our digital platform, including the Community Hub — ensuring it can scale to support additional tools, user types, and integration needs over time.
• Design and build scalable web applications using modern JavaScript frameworks and best practices.
• Own the full software development lifecycle and implement engineering best practices (CI/CD, automated testing, code reviews).
• Architect and implement APIs and system integrations, facilitating secure, reliable connections with third-party systems (Zillow, property management software).
• Lead the technical transition from our current Salesforce-heavy infrastructure to more flexible, custom solutions
• Ensure platforms are secure, reliable, and compliant with relevant data protection and privacy standards
• Build with a platform mindset, creating systems that are extensible and can support multiple stakeholders and use cases over time
• Mentor future engineering hires and help shape an inclusive, collaborative engineering culture
• Collaborate closely with product, business, and community-facing stakeholders to translate complex needs into elegant technical solutions

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

Required Skills:

• 5+ years of professional software development experience
• Strong track record of technical leadership and architecture design
• Full-stack development expertise, including:

JavaScript and React (or similar modern frameworks)

Backend development (RESTful APIs, database design)

Cloud infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines

• Experience building and scaling customer- or partner-facing web applications
• Knowledge of security best practices (documentation, testing, code review, version control)
• Strong development practices (code review, documentation, testing methodologies)
• Demonstrated ability to build systems that are scalable, reliable, and maintainable
• Ability to communicate technical decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• Comfort working in ambiguous environments and independently setting technical direction

Preferred Experience:

• Experience in early-stage or startup environments, especially as a founding or first technical hire
• Background building multi-tenant applications and enterprise integrations
• Domain experience in:

Mapping and location-based services

Property management systems or real estate technology

Payment processing and billing systems

• User-centered design experience, aligning technical solutions with customer needs
• Familiarity with Salesforce development and Lightning Web Components
• Experience implementing secure development practices and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA)
• Passion for social impact, housing equity, and building technology that reduces barriers to opportunity

What We Offer

At Housing Connector, we prioritize equity, flexibility, and professional growth:

• Comprehensive Health Coverage – Medical, dental, vision plans. We pay 100% of our employees’ premiums and 50% of their partners/dependents.
• Generous Paid Time Off – 22+ days PTO (in first year) and dedicated Community Service Leave.
• Extensive Holiday Schedule – Including a full week off in December.
• Paid Parental Leave – Supportive leave options for families.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Confidential resources for personal support.
• Life Insurance – Financial security for you and your loved ones.
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA, DCRA) – Health and dependent care expense accounts.
• 401(k) with Employer Match (6%) – Invest in your future.
• Professional Development – Annual stipend ($500) to enhance your skills.

Housing Connector is a remote-first organization headquartered in Seattle, WA. While this role would ideally be based in Seattle to enable in-person collaboration with the Director of Product and Technology, we are open to exceptional candidates located in Austin, Denver, or Portland. Regardless of location, the engineer should be comfortable working independently and collaborating with a distributed team. Travel to Seattle will be required at least quarterly, with more frequent visits likely during the first six months to support onboarding, strategic planning, and team integration. Daily in-office presence is not expected, even for Seattle-based hires.

Housing Connector is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.