Software Engineer - 6 to 12 month contract

Unify America•Chicago, IL

1d•$50 - $75

About The Position

We're looking for a mid-level Software Engineer on a contract basis to help build and extend the platforms that power our programs. You'll work alongside our senior engineers on well-scoped features across the stack, contributing production-quality code from early on and working with a high degree of independence as you ramp up. About Unify America We’re on a mission to replace political fighting with collaborative problem-solving. Yeah, we know it sounds audacious. It is. But we’re doing it—by creating civic experiences that reduce polarization, teaching essential civic skills, and inviting Americans to use their differences to better solve common problems together. Where we work: Higher Education (Civic Gym): Over 50,000 college students have engaged in meaningful cross-partisan conversations. Think of it as training for democracy—reps, sweat, and all. Cities (Democracy Leagues): We partner with communities to run Civic Assemblies, where residents—across the ideological spectrum—solve shared problems together. Our first pilot is in Akron, with more locations to come. We're a small, mission-driven team of about 30 people, and our engineering team is small enough that every engineer has a real voice in how we build. Civic Gym has a more mature technical product that our existing Dev Team is in the process of re-factoring. Democracy Leagues is just at the beginning of building a product suite to prepare us to scale our deliberative democracy work in Ohio and beyond. That’s why this is a 6 to 12 month contract gig - we’ve got a lot of immediate needs, but still have a lot to learn about what our future needs will be. About the Role You'll ship features end to end, shape technical decisions, set a high bar for code quality, and mentor other engineers. You'll work closely with our CTO, product manager, and program teams to turn real-world civic engagement needs into reliable, thoughtfully designed software. More specifically, you’ll: Build and maintain features across our TypeScript/Node.js backend and Vue.js front end Design and update data models for your features in MongoDB and PostgreSQL, with review from senior engineers Work with AWS services such as Lambda, S3, Aurora, DynamoDB, and IAM in developing and deploying your work Write clean, tested, maintainable code, and participate constructively in code review Help build out our new civic assembly platform, including modules within a plugin-based architecture Communicate progress, blockers, and questions clearly and proactively

Requirements

3+ years of professional software engineering experience
Solid experience with TypeScript and NodeJS
Experience with Django and Python
Experience with VueJS (preferred) or React
Working experience with PostgreSQL and MongoDB, including the ability to design sensible schemas for well-scoped features without relying on AI tools
Experience working with AWS services such as Lambda, S3, Aurora, DynamoDB, and IAM
Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT) judiciously. You treat them as helpers, not substitutes for your own understanding, and you verify what they produce
Clear communication skills and comfort working asynchronously on a distributed team
Initiative, reliability, and a commitment to quality over volume
A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field is preferred. Relevant certifications, bootcamp credentials, or equivalent professional experience are also welcome.

Nice To Haves

Experience with NestJS
Familiarity with Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code tools
Experience in nonprofit, civic tech, or education technology
We hire for character and collaboration as much as technical skill. We look for people who communicate openly, treat colleagues with respect, take initiative without waiting to be told, and care about doing things well rather than doing things fast. Given our mission, we especially value people who can engage respectfully with a wide range of perspectives.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain features across our TypeScript/Node.js backend and Vue.js front end
Design and update data models for your features in MongoDB and PostgreSQL, with review from senior engineers
Work with AWS services such as Lambda, S3, Aurora, DynamoDB, and IAM in developing and deploying your work
Write clean, tested, maintainable code, and participate constructively in code review
Help build out our new civic assembly platform, including modules within a plugin-based architecture
Communicate progress, blockers, and questions clearly and proactively

Benefits

$50-75/hour, depending on relevant experience
This is not an employee role, and therefore does not include employee benefits like medical insurance, 401(k), etc. but it does give you the chance to work in a healthy, appreciative, feedback-driven workplace

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