Staff Software Engineer, Vanta for Government
About The Position
As a Staff Software Engineer on the Vanta for Government team, you'll set the technical foundation for Vanta's expansion into the public sector. This role involves designing the systems, patterns, and architecture that will power compliance programs from the ground up for government vendors and agencies. The Vanta for Government team is building and evolving Vanta's AI-powered platform for government vendors, federal agencies, and State, Local, and Education (SLED) organizations. The mission is to make government compliance easier by helping organizations automate complex frameworks like FedRAMP, CMMC, and NIST, strengthen their security posture, and support mission-critical work with greater confidence. You’ll work directly alongside early design partners to shape new capabilities in real time. As the most senior engineer on the team, you'll be the technical anchor through a critical build phase, making architectural decisions, establishing engineering patterns, and driving multi-quarter initiatives that will define how Vanta serves government customers at scale.
Requirements
- 10+ years of deep backend engineering experience with a track record of leading complex, multi-quarter technical initiatives in fast-paced, product-focused environments.
- Strong systems thinking and platform architecture skills: you design for reuse, scalability, and long-term maintainability, and naturally think in terms of abstractions and patterns.
- Experience in highly regulated industries such as fintech or healthcare; FedRAMP or government domain experience is a plus, but not required.
- Comfortable operating in early-stage, 0→1 environments where requirements evolve as you learn from customers and technical decisions carry real business consequences.
- A strong product mindset: you understand that shipping matters, can prioritize against real deadlines, and balance technical rigor with delivery velocity.
- Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence technical direction across engineering and bridge technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Proven ability to mentor and develop engineers, with a track record of raising team-wide technical quality and building strong engineering culture.
- Open to using AI to amplify your skills and strengthen your work - demonstrating curiosity, a willingness to learn, and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly to improve efficiency and impact.
- Must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship.
Nice To Haves
- FedRAMP or government domain experience
Responsibilities
- Own the technical strategy and architecture for Vanta's government product line, designing systems that adapt Vanta's core compliance platform to meet the demands of federal agencies, government vendors, and SLED organizations.
- Lead the design and build of net-new product capabilities — including core compliance workflow features that don't yet exist in Vanta's product today — working alongside early design partners to validate and iterate as requirements evolve.
- Define reusable abstractions and platform patterns that prevent technical debt as the team scales from its first government customers to a broader portfolio of agencies and vendors.
- Partner with adjacent engineering teams on shared infrastructure and tagging systems that underpin government-specific compliance workflows, building on existing platform investments rather than starting from scratch.
- Drive multi-quarter technical initiatives across engineering, product, and go-to-market, translating ambiguous early-stage requirements into durable, scalable solutions.
- Raise the technical bar for a team of mid-level and senior engineers through mentorship, code review, engineering practice-setting, and high-quality technical decision-making.
Benefits
- Industry-competitive salary and equity
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of employee-only benefit premiums covered for most medical plans
- 16 weeks paid Parental Leave for all new parents
- Health & wellness stipend
- Remote workspace, internet, and cellphone stipend
- Commuter benefits for team members who report to the SF and NYC office
- Family planning benefits
- Matching 401(k) contribution with immediate vesting
- Flexible PTO policy, plus 80 hours of Sick Time
- 11 company-paid holidays
- Virtual team building activities, lunch and learns, and other company-wide events!
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
