Job Description

Location: Remote within the US

About our organization:

At Democracy Works, we help Americans vote, no matter what!  Our vision is to make voting a simple, seamless experience for all Americans so that no one misses an election, and our team works to help make this happen. Democracy Works is committed to diversity and inclusion in everything we do and aspires to have a team that's representative of the voters we serve. 

Salary Range: $104,400-$124,000 (Offers will vary based on experience and location-based cost-of-living calculations.)

• Level: 3
• Supervisory role: N

The impact you’ll make:

Our teams work closely together to build the tools for both voters and election administrators.  Our suite of tools include TurboVote, the Voting Information Project (VIP), How To Vote, and Ballot Scout. To power these tools we use a variety of languages such as; JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Clojure, and ClojureScript + re-frame (a framework built atop React).  We employ a microservices architecture where deployments are managed using containers (Docker) orchestrated by Kubernetes and running in the AWS cloud. Services primarily communicate using RabbitMQ and store their data in Datomic and PostgreSQL.

As a Software Engineer on the team, you will:

• Join a collaborative team of engineers, product and design folks building useful, reliable software throughout the agile development cycle from planning to retro and beyond
• Collaboratively solve problems, by researching solutions, writing high quality, supportable code that fulfills the requirements laid out by your Product team
• Work on projects of moderate scope which will require navigating ambiguity by researching and discussing solutions with the team
• Collaborate with your team to make progress and highlight blockers for you or other team members
• Investigate issues reported by users, team members and stakeholders to reproduce, isolate and track bugs, advocating their timely resolution
• Participate in pair programming
• Be part of an on-call rotation with your team to ensure your product is always performing reliably (when you’re all ramped up and have the knowledge to be successful)
• Craft clear and thorough documentation
• Give and receive feedback to grow yourself and your team

You are someone with:

• At least two years working on or with a team shipping software
• An understanding of best practices and ability to provide insight to others on the team
• An ability to communicate technical concepts to an audience with a variety of technical backgrounds
• An ability to communicate with empathy and are an active listener, understanding that software is created by and for people
• Experience with or desire to learn one of the following programming languages:
• JavaScript
• TypeScript
• Ruby
• Python
• Clojure/ClojureScript
• Experience with relational databases and relational data modeling
• Experience with or desire to join a remote, distributed team
• Familiarity with a distributed version control system (such as Git or Mercurial)
• An ability to learn, navigate ambiguity, make tradeoffs, and think critically about software systems
• Curiosity to explore new tools, techniques, and perspectives on building software
• Experience with or a desire to automate repetitive or manual tasks
• A commitment to being detail-oriented and thorough in your work

It’s a plus if:

• You’ve previously worked on a remote, distributed team
• You have experience with or a desire to work with service-oriented or microservices architectures
• You have experience working with Amazon Web Services
• You have experience with or an understanding of accessibility in software development
• You have a knowledge of testing practices including test automation

How we work

Because elections take place everywhere, our employees work from practically every state in the union. We embrace working remotely as the default. Our positions require regular, daily use of a computer (including the use of G-Suite and Slack) to conduct work and communicate with colleagues. You’ll participate in weekly check ins with the team, individual check ins with manager, and other team meetings as needed. We also have regular operating hours (10 am to 6 pm Eastern, Monday to Friday).

For those who prefer to work from an office, we are headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, and we provide support for co-working spaces around the country. We are happy to share more details about the office, including accessibility information, as on-site visits are planned.

Benefits

We have an engaging, remote-forward workplace and as a member of the team, some of the benefits you’ll enjoy include:

• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision option for you and your dependents
• 12 floating holidays and 25 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• $1000 towards professional development activities

We also offer a 403(b) retirement plan, stipends for equipment and internet reimbursement, and annual Calm or Headspace subscription reimbursements.

To Apply

Attach your resume and answers to the following questions:

• How did you find this job listing?
• Why are you interested in this role and working at Democracy Works?
• Describe a bug you had a primary role in fixing. How did you troubleshoot and resolve the issue?
• Are you authorized to work lawfully in the United States for Democracy Works?

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in Hiring

Democracy Works is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants based on race, religion, color, disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity or expression, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), age, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics. 

As part of our application, you’ll see an optional form used to collect U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) demographic information. Please note the categories used in this survey are set by the EEOC and may not reflect all existing categories.The data collected in this form is anonymized and is used in our EEOC reporting and in ongoing assessment of our recruitment practices. 

Democracy Works follows the I-9 requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position, and you must possess your own work authorization in the U.S. now and in the future to continue working in this position.

Please reach out to hr@democracy.works if you have any questions about our process or if you need an accommodation for a medical condition during the hiring process.