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Staff Solutions Engineer

at Code for America

San Francisco, CA or Remote (in the U.S)

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 ersity, 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.

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

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’s status within Code for America Workers United is still being negotiated.

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 the role that this program can play in helping them achieve their goals. This will involve identifying and designing technical solutions to improve access to their programs.

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.

Solutions Engineers at Code for America are an integral component of all of our program areas. There are currently three 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 a Solutions Engineering Manager and may be remote or based in San Francisco optionally. This role can include travel up to 10% of time.

In this position you will:

Partnerships and Collaboration (40%)

• 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.
• Lead our technical approach for project scoping, planning, drafting statements of work, MoUs and RFPs assisting the program and partnership teams in cultivation and development.

Strategic Leadership (30%)

• 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.
• Provide technical perspective and expertise in the development of legislative policy proposals and in meetings and communications with government partners, organizational stakeholders, and other key audiences.
• Provide technical perspectives and expertise in service of improved government services for government agencies, organizational stakeholders, and other key audiences.

Solutions Development (20%)

• 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 (10%)

About you:

This position is a perfect fit for someone with 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)
• 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 working with machine learning or natural language processing technologies
• Experience with government procurement processes
• Active contribution to open source projects.

What you’ll get:

Salary:

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

The targets for this role are dependent on the market/geographic location. The targets for this role range from $128,945 to $157,850 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 & Retirement:

• Full benefits package with 100% coverage towards select medical, dental and vision plans and contributes 80% of the cost towards dependent and family coverage
• 401k plan with matching funds up to 3%

Professional development:

• Bi annual 360 review process alongside compensation reviews
• $1000 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development
• A manager and org-wide structure that supports and enables professional development

Flexible Time:

• Unlimited Paid Time Off policy
• Flexible working hours- Full time employees work 40 hours however we aim to hold all internal meetings between 10 AM – 3 PM PT
• Code for America employees may work remotely across the US
  • Code for America employees may not work remotely outside of the US at anytime during their employment

Employee enablement support:

• $200 stipend in first paycheck for remote environment setup
• Additional equipment reimbursement of up to $500 for remote enablement
• Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Code for America values a erse, 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.