Solutions Engineer

Code for America builds technology to help government services work for the people who need them most.

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the 21st century. We build open source technology and organize a network of people dedicated to making government services simple, effective, and easy to use. Our employees build and transform government services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, non-profit, and government to help support the people who need it most. With a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and deep empathy for both the government and the people the government serves, we’re building a movement of motivated change agents driven by meaningful results and lasting impact. At Code for America you will contribute to meaningful 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. Come help us drive real generational change that lasts.

Code for America is looking for a talented Solutions Engineer to join our Criminal Justice team and help us expand the reach of our Clear My Record platform. We are open to hiring any great level Solutions engineer. Please see our salary bands/targets associated with levels below. Our Criminal Justice team is working to transform the way government delivers services to those most impacted by the criminal justice system. Our goal is to help government implement policies that decriminalize, decarcerate, and reinvest in communities by removing barriers to employment, housing, health and education.

The vision for Clear My Record is for government to automatically clear all eligible criminal records so people can pass routine background checks to access jobs, housing, and educational opportunities from which they are typically excluded. We work at the intersection of technology, design, and policy and are working to expand, streamline, and automate the criminal record clearance process to clear all eligible criminal records in the U.S. Clear My Record is national in scope and the Solutions Engineer will play a critical role in our effort to expand our work to states across the country, representing Code for America in a variety of government, partnership, foundation and policy domains.

About the Role:
We’re seeking a Solutions Engineer to help us facilitate technical collaboration with government partners as we roll out Clear My Record across the country.  In this role, you’ll 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 Clear My Record can play in helping them implement laws that expand, streamline, and automate the record clearance process. This will involve identifying and implementing small software development and integration projects, when appropriate.

Once this common vision has been established, you will also solve data and integration challenges across a wide variety of different technology stacks.  On the development side, most of the work will involve: (1) analyzing, importing, exporting, cleansing, and transforming data. (2) Setting up and integrating third party or open source software.  You’ll also be an early member of our Solutions Engineering Team at Code for America, helping us define the contours of the role over time.

This position is based in San Francisco or remote, will include 30% travel (post covid), and will report to the Director of Solutions Engineering.

In this position you will:
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 .
Evaluate the technical landscape and partner capacity for prospective new state engagements, drafting assessments and recommendations.
Build and maintain relationships and develop technical champions within government and partner organizations
Implement proof-of-concept applications, software installations, and custom development projects in support of automated record clearance across multiple states.
Assist in project planning and drafting statements of work and technical requirements
Provide hands-on assistance and recommendations for addressing and systematizing solutions to complex data processing needs.
Design and implement flexible solutions to challenges involving data quality, normalization and spread across multiple systems.
About you:
4+ years of experience as a Solutions Engineer, Support Engineer, or Software Engineer with experience leading projects and interacting with customers.
Tenacity and adaptability; able to navigate relationships and technical challenges and unblock yourself and your team.
Strong self management skills and a proven ability to manage multiple engagements simultaneously
Ability to engage in research to learn about current systems and architecture, and then incorporate this knowledge to design new solutions and new architectures
Recent back-end development, database, data-science and/or devops experience.
Fundamentally curious and empathetic; able to thoughtfully balance partner, user, and team needs and identify solutions that move the work forward towards greater impact.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with exceptional attention to detail.
Fast learning curve and capacity to get up to speed in new tech stacks whenever needed.
Passion for our mission to make government services better for the people who need them most.
Some willingness to travel.
It’s a bonus points if you/have:
Experience working with or in government.
Prior experience in a similar partner-facing role (Solutions Engineer/Architect, etc).
Personal experience with or professional experience working within the justice system, social safety net or other mission-relevant government services.
Experience working with data classification, entity resolution, natural language processing or any of the following applications: OpenRefine, Trifacta, Talend
Active contribution to open source projects
What you’ll get:
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
A collaborative, hardworking and fun environmentLeadership and teammates who value Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity
Professional development includes bi annual 360 review process and $1000 annual budget
A manager and org-wide structure that supports and enables professional development
Compensation: Code for America’s salary bands are transparent internally as a part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We extend this to our hiring process. As a part of our equitable hiring practices, we target the median for all new hires. The salary ranges and medians for this role are: Senior Engineers –  ($105,000 – $140,00) in yearly salary. As a part of our equitable hiring practices, we target the median for all new hires. The median for this role is $125,000.
Staff Engineers –  ($120,000 – $160,00) in yearly salary. As a part of our equitable hiring practices, we target the median for all new hires. The median for this role is $145,000.
These ranges and the target are for the San Francisco/ Bay Area market and subject to adjustment for cost of living differentials.