Forward-Deployed Software Engineer

Recidiviz•Oakland, NY

1d•Remote

About The Position

Recidiviz is hiring a Forward-Deployed Software Engineer to serve as a technical bridge between its core engineering team and state partners. The role works directly with state Departments of Corrections, government IT staff, and justice-impacted individuals to scope, adapt, and integrate Recidiviz’s data platform and products into existing government environments. The engineer partners with state leadership to understand goals and constraints, define technical solutions, and work with complex real-world data systems to deliver deployments. The position also provides a feedback loop to Recidiviz’s product, design, and engineering teams by sharing firsthand insights about deployment challenges and contributing improvements to the platform and products. Success calls for strong engineering fundamentals, problem-solving in ambiguous environments, patience, customer savvy, empathy, and clear communication. The role is full-time and may be performed remotely in the United States or from Recidiviz’s Oakland or New York City offices. Occasional travel to state partners is expected, approximately 10%.

Requirements

High empathy and kindness.
At least 3 years of practical experience building, customizing, and deploying software in a collaborative environment.
Experience scoping technical projects, defining product requirements, or translating business or policy needs into technical solutions.
Experience in a customer-facing and/or cross-functional role, with the ability to communicate technical concepts to engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong proficiency in SQL and relational databases, and an appetite for working with large-scale, messy data.
Experience writing code and scripts in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, or similar languages.
High tolerance for ambiguity and the grit to explore, experiment, and document solutions in complex legacy environments.
Willingness to travel occasionally to partner states.
Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with government technology, legacy enterprise systems, or highly regulated data such as CJIS or HIPAA.
Experience building and managing data pipelines or using ETL tools.
Comfort working in cloud infrastructure environments such as GCP, AWS, or Azure.
Experience with React and full-stack application development.
Familiarity with AI tools such as Claude, Cursor, or Copilot.
Willingness to travel to state partners.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with state agency leadership and IT staff to understand policy objectives and system constraints, and translate needs into technical approaches and deployment roadmaps.
Untangle messy data and legacy systems, write scripts, and develop technical solutions for deployments in customer environments.
Translate deployment challenges into actionable insights for product and engineering teams, and contribute code to make Recidiviz’s platform and products more scalable and configurable.
Build trust with customer stakeholders, including database administrators and agency executives, through technical rigor, empathy, and clear communication.
Travel occasionally to state partners to scope projects, build relationships, resolve technical hurdles, and support effective use of Recidiviz’s tools.

Benefits

90% medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage for employees and dependents.
Flexible time off, including 20 days of PTO, 3 days of paid volunteering time, and 13 paid holidays.
12 weeks of paid parental leave.
401(k) retirement plan with a 5% company match and no vesting period.
Complimentary One Medical membership, depending on location.
Partnership with Carrot for fertility and family-forming benefits, plus some hormonal health and gender-affirming care benefits.
Monthly ClassPass credit for personal wellness.
Free mental health support via Talkspace.
Flexibility to work remotely or from the Oakland or Manhattan office.
Annual company offsite and other ad-hoc gatherings.