Software Engineer I / Software Engineer II

What To Expect In This Position:

• Ship features that surface what matters. You'll build web application functionality in Python/FastAPI and React/Next.js—but the work goes beyond code. PolicyNote's value is in helping users cut through massive volumes of government data to find what's relevant. You'll contribute to intelligent search and discovery experiences that don't just return results, but surface context and significance.
• Work across a high-volume data pipeline. From ingestion and scraping through ML-powered enrichment to search indexing, our platform processes government data at scale. You'll help validate, optimize, and extend this infrastructure—strengthening the foundation that makes everything else possible.
• Integrate and apply Generative AI. You'll work hands-on with LLMs and GenAI technologies to enhance how users interact with policy information—whether that's summarization, semantic search, or surfacing connections to create valuable insights for our customers..
• Connect systems across our product suite. PolicyNote is part of a broader ecosystem of services. You'll find integration opportunities, build shared capabilities, and help us deliver a cohesive end-to-end experience for customers navigating the policy landscape.
• Collaborate across disciplines. You'll partner closely with Product, Design, QA, Data Engineering, and Customer Success to understand user needs and translate them into production-ready solutions. When support requests come in, you'll help troubleshoot and resolve issues with the same care you bring to new development.
• Own outcomes, not just tickets. We value engineers who think beyond their immediate task—understanding the user problem, considering edge cases, and advocating for the best solution even when it's not the one people asked for.

What Sets You Apart:

• Software Engineer I - 1-2 years of applied experience or equivalent in the software development industry using a modern tech stack. Software Engineer II - 2-4+ years of applied experience or equivalent in the software development industry using a modern tech stack.
• You're eager to work across the stack. You are excited by the opportunity to contribute to our frontend (React/Next.js), backend (Python/FastAPI), and data layers (MongoDB, Postgres). You don't need to be a specialist in every technology, but you should be ready to learn and jump in wherever the team needs you.
• Problem solving with a customer-driven mindset. You focus your analytical and debugging skills to cut through complexity and deliver simple, viable solutions for our users.
• You have strong communication and collaboration skills. This is especially critical in a fully remote, distributed timezone team. You can explain technical work and decisions clearly to groups ranging from your engineering peers to product and business partners.
• Ready to develop knowledge in production and Cloud environments. You know shipping code is more than just writing it. This role offers the opportunity to gain experience with our cloud infrastructure (AWS) and key environments like Linux/Unix, Bash, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• You can work with data at rest. You understand the fundamentals of how applications interact with data and have familiarity with different database types (relational and no-SQL). Any experience in MongoDB or Elasticsearch is a plus.
• You're curious about Generative AI. You have already experimented with LLMs beyond just prompting. Perhaps you've integrated an API, built a RAG pipeline, or explored fine-tuning a model. You don't need to be an expert, but you are excited to apply these tools.
• You learn by doing. New technologies, unfamiliar codebases, open-ended requirements—you're energized rather than paralyzed by them. You ask questions first, dig in, and figure things out after you have a firm understanding of the need.