Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Fullstack (ACF)

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services. We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists. The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, software engineers design, implement, and maintain software systems that improve government services for users. Frontend engineers go further by shaping how those systems are experienced — creating intuitive, accessible, and reliable interfaces that help people navigate complex information and complete critical tasks with confidence.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is expanding its Digital Services team during an exciting period of growth, focused on delivering modern, user-centered digital products, exploring AI-enablement opportunities, and building long-term technical capacity.

In this role, you'll hit the ground running in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment — coordinating immediately with researchers, designers, engineers, and government stakeholders to deliver against an ambitious vision from day one. This role sits at the intersection of product strategy, change management, enablement, and service delivery, and demands someone who can orient quickly, build trust across teams, and ensure new digital capabilities are not only built, but understood, usable, and sustained.

What you’ll do

• Build and maintain modern web applications that help ACF deliver high-impact digital services
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams — including designers, researchers, and product managers — to translate user and business needs into scalable technical solutions
• Develop robust backend systems and APIs while delivering dynamic, accessible, and performant frontend interfaces
• Integrate AI and ML capabilities where they enhance usability or automation
• Apply lean-agile engineering principles such as API-first design, version control, automated testing, and continuous integration
• Identify and address technical debt, performance issues, and opportunities for improvement
• Choose the right tools, frameworks, and technologies for the job, with a preference for open-source solutions
• Support maintainable, secure, and compliant development practices through documentation, code review, and knowledge sharing

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Experience building modern web applications using React, Vue, or Svelte, applying component-driven design principles
• Experience building backend data systems using Python, .NET, Java, or Ruby
• Experience integrating with backend APIs (REST or GraphQL) and enterprise-wide tools
• Experience working in cloud environments such as AWS (e.g., S3, CloudFront, API Gateway)
• Ability to write clean, reusable, and maintainable code
• Familiarity with building secure, compliant software and defending against common vulnerabilities
• Foundational understanding of data engineering, including how to use various datastores to handle persistent data in software systems
• Understanding of how different components of software systems fit together while maintaining performance, reliability, and availability
• Understanding of the importance of putting users at the center of your work, including thinking through the impact and implications of any code you write
• Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)