Staff Software Engineer

Who We Are

Murmuration is a nonprofit organization that amplifies the power of civic engagement by providing data, digital tools, and research-driven insights to community-focused organizations so that together we can create an America where everyone can lead healthy, free, and dignified lives.

Every day, people are trying to shape our future for the better. Fighting for water that’s safe to drink. Schools that serve students equitably. Gun laws that make sense. And rallying people who care like we do. And yet too often the skillful organizers working to mobilize communities lack access to technology that could supercharge their efforts. Knocking on every door instead of knowing which will open most easily. And going up against outside interests that have half the heart, but twice the tools.

In communities across America, Murmuration’s partners are leveraging our data, tools, and insights to help thousands of organizers orchestrate millions of individual people to do big things together. Demand big things together. To create the world they want. Together.

About the Position

A Staff Software Engineer is primarily responsible for developing, maintaining, and orchestrating various Backend components, ensuring feature delivery aligns with technical standards and project timelines while prioritizing product stability. Acting as a senior individual contributor on their team, they take ownership of complex projects, lead technical direction, and mentor peers through code reviews, paired programming, and refinement sessions. You’ll also be the designated Tech Lead for the team, taking on additional team responsibilities which include, but are not limited to, upholding high-quality coding standards, overseeing ticket and documentation processes, and collaborating with Product Management to prioritize work, manage tech debt, and drive engineering improvements. They also plan sprints and advocate for initiatives, including, but not limited to, performance optimizations, re-architecting efforts, or infrastructure improvements.

Note: At Murmuration, we are committed to becoming an even more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. To this end, all staff members are expected to actively participate in DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging) programming.

Job Level: IC 5

What You’ll Do

• Develop software aligned with specifications & designs, ensuring code is well-tested, maintainable, and documented;
• Work autonomously with minimal oversight, delivering production-ready solutions that prioritize long-term maintainability and supportability;
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert for your team's product, contributing to complex algorithmic tasks, feature designs, and broader technical standards;
• Create, communicate, and defend design decisions to your team and the broader engineering organization through demo sessions, chapter meetings, and architecture reviews;
• Take ownership of Jira epics or large tasks, driving them to completion and demonstrating work to ensure requirements are met;
• Manage builds, releases, and change log creation while adapting development efforts to align with the team's SDLC;
• Oversee engineering briefs, review architectural design documents, and maintain a customer-centric approach while supporting team members through regular check-ins and feedback;
• Mentor engineers through facilitating pull-request reviews for your team, paired programming sessions, and technical guidance on design & best practices; and
• Be the team’s designated Tech-Lead, which includes the following responsibilities:
  • Collaborate with Product to refine Jira tasks, estimate effort for development activities, and align Pod priorities with roadmap timelines;
  • Oversee Jira standards for the team’s work, ensuring work is scoped properly with clear & tangible acceptance criteria;
  • Identify and document technical debt, translating it into actionable tickets for review; and
  • Oversee and review Pod technical work, ensuring feature stability and adherence to the application’s architecture.

Requirements

• 10 - 15 years’ experience;
• BS, BA in Computer Science or other related degree (boot camp(s) and/or work experience can be substituted for degree requirements);
• Mastery in Typescript/Javascript or a similar functional programming language which isn’t strongly typed, including understanding threading or multi-processing for the given language;
• Working knowledge of AWS Lambdas or AWS Fargate;
• Mastery of a standard IDE for code development;
• Familiarity with a standard code repository (e.g., git);
• Familiarity with the standard package manager used by Node;
• Demonstrated proficiency on how to deploy the framework;
• Familiarity with one CI/CD framework;
• Experience designing and developing product features from design to production deployment;
• Previous experience supporting a production environment;
• Ability to demonstrate good communication skills, including the ability to clearly and adequately in order to define a position and defend it (in writing or verbally);
• Ability to document a design, component, or workflow they have working knowledge of; and
• Ability to create and design technical workflows and break that larger project into smaller workable components.

Nice to Haves:

• Demonstrable knowledge in the creation, use, and support of GraphQL in a production environment;
• Demonstrable knowledge in the creation, use, and support of a document database like MongoDB;
• Advanced experience with CI/CD platforms & best practices;
• Additional experience with other AWS products, such as S3, IAM, System & Secrets Manager, Elastic Container Registry, Event Bridge, and API Gateway;
• Experience with container technologies, such as Docker or Kubernetes; and/or
• Experience with IaC technologies, such as AWS CDK or Terraform.

Talented Staff Software Engineers come from all walks of life and career. If you are passionate about civic engagement and technology, please apply, even if you do not check every box!

Location and Compensation

The Staff Software Engineer is a full-time, salaried position with a comprehensive benefits package (more detail below). It is based anywhere in the U.S. The starting salary range for this position is $135,000 - $165,000 and is commensurate with experience.

Our Culture of Care

We work hard to create a culture of care to ensure that our staff are best equipped to lead happy, healthy, and balanced lives. To that end, we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes:

• Health, vision, and dental insurance with 100% of premiums covered for you and qualifying family members;
• Retirement benefits with a 5% employer match;
• A flexible unlimited PTO plan;
• Generous paid parental leave;
• Pre-tax commuter benefits;
• A company laptop;
• A flexible remote work environment;
• A home office setup stipend for all new employees;
• Monthly reimbursement for remote work expenses;
• A yearly professional development fund;
• Mental health and wellness benefits through Calm and Better Help; 
• Yearly in-person staff retreats; and
• A welcoming culture that celebrates diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

An Equal-Opportunity Employer with a Commitment to Diversity

Murmuration is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and as an organization committed to diversity and the perspective of all voices, we consider applicants equally of race, gender, color, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability, political affiliation and national origin. We reasonably accommodate staff members and/or applicants with disabilities, provided they are otherwise able to perform the essential functions of the job.

Note: Murmuration is two organizations working together to pursue our mission of amplifying the power of civic engagement: Murmuration Research Institute, a 501(c)(3) that conducts research to identify, design, and create the data, tools, and insights that build healthier and more equitable communities; and Murmuration, Inc., a 501(c)(4) that supports organizations working across the country on the nation’s most challenging issues with access to data, tools, and research that build healthier and more equitable communities.