Senior Software Engineer

Full Stack Software Engineers own user‑facing features end‑to‑end: slick React/Next JS interfaces, performant Node APIs, and Postgres‑centric data models that keep up with petabyte‑scale content. One sprint you’ll prototype a semantic‑search UI backed by vector embeddings; the next you’ll build a real‑time collaboration layer that lets policy analysts co‑author annotations and compare version histories without ever refreshing the page.

As the Full Stack Software Engineer, you will

• Ship vertical product slices (Figma wireframe, React component, Node handler, SQL/Mongo query,  and deployed on AWS via Docker and GitHub Actions).
• Design delightful data workflow such as instant search, real‑time diffing, collaborative annotation, and hiding terabytes behind sub‑200 ms interactions.
• Partner with the design and product management teams on thin‑slice scoping, experiment flags, and measurable customer outcomes.
• Instrument and iterate on dashboards, structured logs, Feature‑flag rollouts, and blameless post‑mortems.
• Evangelize product craftsmanship through storybook‑driven UI, shared design tokens, and code reviews that coach rather than gate‑keep.

Essential Qualifications for this position include:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or related field
• 5+ years of professional work experience as a full stack software engineer
• Professional work experience building product React/Next and Node/TypeScript applications
• Ability to translate abstract user problems into specific milestone and negotiate scope
• Ability to program in SQL and various scheme designs, such as Postgres, with the ability to utilize Mongo
• Ability to operate CI/CD (Docker and GitHub Actions) and infrastructure as code, with appropriate collaboration with the infrastructure team (Terraform/CDK)
• Ability to utilize LLM tools (Claude-Code, Cursor, Codex) to accelerate coding and debugging 

Preferred Qualifications for this position include: 

• Knowledge of search indexes or vector databases powering RAG/semantic workflows.
• Knowledge of SSR & ISR patterns in Next 14’s app‑router
• Knowledge of AI/ML concepts and the development of AI-driven features and models
• Professional work experience with data‑viz (D3, Recharts) or rich‑text editors (Slate, TipTap)
• Prior professional work experience in a start-up organization 

This is an onsite work opportunity and our teams operate from the Washington, DC office (located at L and 15th St. NW). State Affairs offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package to employees.