Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Lead (HHS)

Skylight•Columbia, WA

12d•$170,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Skylight, lead software engineers combine hands-on development with technical leadership to guide strategy and delivery. They raise the engineering bar while ensuring systems are secure, resilient, and scalable. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching one of the most ambitious transformations in government — and this is a rare chance to be part of it. You’ll join a high-impact team of product managers, researchers, designers, engineers, and security experts working side-by-side with HHS leadership to modernize the systems people rely on to access healthcare, strengthen cybersecurity that protects personal data, launch digital services used by tens of millions every day, and integrate data and AI responsibly into daily work across the department so teams at every level can make smarter, safer decisions. As a lead software engineer on this project, you’ll provide direction while staying hands-on, designing and building services with an emphasis on reliability, security, and simplicity. You’ll help standardize engineering practices, improve observability, and embed security and compliance into delivery from the start. Just as importantly, you’ll prepare federal teams to sustain these improvements by sharing knowledge and practices that last — from training and enablement to reusable tools like templates, playbooks, and decision records.

Requirements

Experience leading engineering for complex, production systems and delivering measurable outcomes
Strong hands-on skills building services and APIs in a modern language and runtime, with clean, reliable, reusable code
Familiarity with modern delivery practices — CI/CD, automated testing, code review, and operating services in cloud environments
Proficiency with IaC and environment automation
Understanding of secure software practices and how to integrate compliance into delivery
Knowledge of data persistence and patterns for building resilient, observable services
Clear communication skills with executives and cross-functional teams
Commitment to equipping federal teams with documentation, training, and mentoring so improvements last beyond the contract
Ability to work effectively in a professional services environment
Passion for improving public outcomes through great government services
A mindset and work approach that align with Skylight’s core values
Ability to spend time on‑site at HHS in Washington, DC — either by being based locally or by traveling regularly for in‑person work when it’s important

Nice To Haves

Experience with containers and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) or platform engineering
Background in cloud and application modernization, integrations, or shared services at enterprise scale
Familiarity with compliance and security environments such as ATO, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), or the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)
Experience guiding cost, performance, and reliability tradeoffs across multiple teams
Track record of mentoring engineers and raising engineering practices across organizations
Experience working effectively on hybrid or distributed teams

Responsibilities

Lead technical direction for one or more products and platforms, from discovery through production operations
Design and build services with an emphasis on reliability, security, and iterative releases
Apply modern delivery practices — including continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), trunk-based development, code review, and automated testing
Standardize environments with infrastructure as code (IaC) and policy as code for secure, repeatable delivery
Improve observability and service health with metrics, logs, and traces, guided by service level objectives (SLOs)
Embed security and compliance from day one, supporting evidence automation and continuous Authority to Operate (ATO) practices
Mentor engineers, facilitate technical design reviews, and model pragmatic, high-quality engineering practices
Help federal teams sustain improvements by delivering training and enablement, and by leaving behind reusable resources such as templates, playbooks, and decision records

Benefits

Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
Short-term and long-term disability insurance
Life and AD&D insurance
Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
Flexible paid time-off-policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
Business development / sales bonuses
Referral bonuses
Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
Flexible, remote-friendly work environment