Senior Software Engineer

Holly • San Francisco, CA

72d • Hybrid

About The Position

We're hiring a Senior Software Engineer to join Holly as we scale the AI-powered platform helping local governments design and manage their workforce. You’ll be the fifth engineer on the team and will own major parts of our product and technical foundation. This is a hands-on building role: you’ll design and ship end-to-end features in our Next.js + TypeScript stack, model complex government workforce data in Postgres, and build reliable pipelines that turn messy external inputs into trustworthy, usable product experiences. You’ll make pragmatic architecture decisions, raise the quality bar, and help us move fast without breaking things. If you’re a senior engineer who wants real ownership - shipping end-to-end, making architecture calls, and setting the engineering bar as one of the earliest engineers - this role is for you. You’ll work directly with the founders, build core systems that will define the product for years, and have the autonomy to move fast while still building things the “right” way. If you’re excited by ambiguous problems, real-world workflows, and turning messy inputs into a product people rely on, we’d love to talk.

Requirements

• ~4–6+ years building and shipping production software (or equivalent experience)
• A proven track record owning systems used by real customers (building, operating, and improving them over time)
• Strength in full-stack fundamentals: backend design + clean APIs, data modeling, and pragmatic architecture decisions
• Experience shipping modern React/Next.js (or can ramp quickly); care for performance, DX, and maintainability
• Experience building data-heavy product surfaces before (search/filter/pagination) and comfort working with imperfect real-world data when needed
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership and move fast - you work independently, ship often, and thrive in early-stage ambiguity
• A growth mindset - you learn quickly, and raise the bar through code review and collaboration
• Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without requiring sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in government, public sector, or civic tech
• Prior early-stage startup experience
• Interest in being a founder someday - this role is a true “early team” seat: you’ll work directly with founders, own major product/technical decisions, and learn how the startup actually runs from the inside

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end features from idea → production (data model, backend, frontend, rollout)
• Partner closely with product and customers to scope work, make tradeoffs, and drive delivery
• Lead high-impact projects that directly unlock customer value and revenue
• Drive technical direction for major initiatives (tradeoffs, sequencing, quality bar)
• Build and maintain production features across the stack: Next.js (App Router, Server Actions, Edge) on Vercel, TypeScript, Postgres (Supabase) + Drizzle, Background jobs / async workflows (Redis + BullMQ), Tailwind + design system, Sentry
• Set strong defaults via code review, reliability/monitoring, and CI/CD improvements
• Establish pragmatic standards that keep us shipping fast without breaking things (testing where it matters, clean interfaces, lightweight docs)

Benefits

• Foundational ownership – Architect and build core systems that will define our product and data model for years.
• Real technical influence – Make high-leverage decisions on architecture, standards, and how we scale (not just “tickets”).
• High-impact scope – Ship features that customers urgently need and see them used in production quickly.
• Mission with real stakes – Your work improves how local governments operate, helping millions of Americans access public-service careers.
• Competitive package – $170K - $220K base, 0.25–0.5% equity (depending on experience), comprehensive health benefits (platinum plan, vision, dental), 401(k) benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed