Back to jobs
New

Senior Software Engineer - Backend

Remote, New York City, or Oakland, CA

Location: Remote, New York City, or Oakland, CA

Role Type: Full-time

Compensation: $159,650

Visa sponsorship: Not available

Hires remotely in: United States

Experience: 4+ years

FOR WELLFOUND CANDIDATES ONLY: Please do not apply via Wellfound - you will miss the application questions. Instead, please apply directly here: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/recidiviz/jobs/4605359006

Recidiviz is thrilled to be hiring a Senior Software Engineer - Backend to join our team! We’re a small, fast-moving group that develops and maintains the data platform that powers Recidiviz’s work and impact among criminal justice agencies. That’s where you come in. We’re looking for someone with strong technical design instincts, comfort working on features that span across multiple sub-systems, a willingness to dive into tough problems and diverse data, and a collaborative and kind nature.

About us

Recidiviz is creating safer, healthier communities by improving outcomes for people in the criminal justice system. We build technology to reduce the number of people in prison and to help criminal justice leaders embrace data-driven decision-making. 

Using software tools and thoughtful product design, we’ve been able to safely and permanently reduce incarceration and improve outcomes. We work side-by-side with leaders of the criminal justice system, people in prison and on supervision, and ecosystem partners to build a better path forward. In addition to the revenue we earn from state partners, some of the most respected philanthropists and foundations support our work.

People who succeed at Recidiviz lead with kindness and humility, assume good intent, learn from failure, and fix problems when they see them. They are excited to work arm in arm with government leadership and staff to improve outcomes. They are great listeners. They build deep relationships with and empathy for the people we work with and the people who our mission serves, even when those two groups feel at odds. 

About the role

As a Senior Software Engineer - Backend on our team, you will help develop and maintain the data platform that powers our work among corrections and supervision agencies. This person will work with the rest of our engineering team to understand where the limitations of our existing infrastructure are holding us back, and where there are opportunities for drastically accelerating the rest of the organization. This person will need to have a solid grasp of engineering practices, a willingness to dive into arduous problems and diverse data, and a collaborative and kind nature to add to our culture.

Core responsibilities

  • Expand our data platform, empowering us to scale across the entire country, in all phases of the criminal justice system
  • Work with our engineering and data team members to build testable and maintainable features from end to end
  • Collaborate with teammates in our state-facing roles to ensure our work is scalable across all states
  • Ensure the long-term health of our engineering organization by maintaining high bars for security, privacy, operations, quality, documentation, and testing

Wild success

Here are a few things you might accomplish in your first year at Recidiviz that would demonstrate wild success in this role:

  • Accelerating the work of state teams - Your work on the data platform, and your role in supporting the state teams have significantly increased the amount that those teams can accomplish.
  • Uplevel the engineering team - Your contributions to our engineering culture and processes, as well as your support for your teammates, has helped set our team up to achieve more impact sooner.

Minimum qualifications

  • 4+ years of practical experience building production software in a collaborative environment
  • Experience in a cross-functional setting, capable of working closely with Product Management, Design, and Data Science
  • Professional work experience writing code in Python, or in another general purpose language and are excited to learn Python
  • A desire to “wear many hats” and make contributions across our technical stack, in many areas of our organization
  • Comfort working directly with deployed systems to ensure high uptime, secure configuration, and rapid development

Preferred qualifications

  • Experience developing large-scale data processing systems, working closely with a data model representing some real-world domain
  • Familiarity with our technical stack would be a plus, including Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, Apache AIrflow, Apache Beam

Compensation

Compensation is standardized based on roles and responsibilities. This ensures equitable compensation and responsible stewardship of our resources. As such, we do not negotiate compensation offers. 

The compensation for this role is: $159,650.

What we offer

  • Effective, extremely thoughtful colleagues, working together on a mission that matters
  • 90% medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage for you and your dependents
  • Flexible time off, including 20 days of PTO, 3 days of paid volunteering time, and 13 paid holidays per year
  • 401(k) retirement plan with 5% company match and no vesting period
  • 12 weeks of paid parental leave
  • Complimentary One Medical membership (availability based on location)
  • Partnership with Carrot to provide employees with inclusive fertility and family-forming benefits, as well as a small but growing number of hormonal health and gender-affirming care benefits
  • Monthly ClassPass credit for personal wellness
  • Free mental health support via Talkspace
  • Well-located offices in Oakland and Manhattan, with the flexibility to work remotely or go into either office as you choose
  • An annual company offsite and other ad-hoc gatherings
  • All the exhilarating challenges and stretch opportunities of a tech startup, combined with the mission-driven heart of a nonprofit

More about Recidiviz

Recidiviz was an all-volunteer effort until early 2019, when Clementine, Andrew, and Joshua founded the organization. Since then, we’ve built an A-team of software engineers, designers, product managers and domain experts, from companies like Google, Apple, Dropbox, Opower, and Sidewalk Labs. Recidiviz was part of Y-Combinator’s 2019 class and has received support from some of the most respected philanthropists and foundations, including Ford Foundation, Mackenzie Scott, Schmidt Futures, Arnold Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the Mozilla Foundation.

Today, Recidiviz works with (and earns revenue from) over 18 state partners – big and small, red and blue – and covers more than 40% of the US incarcerated population. We have helped to get tens of thousands of people out of the criminal justice system, safely and equitably, and saved states nearly $1 billion. In the next five years, Recidiviz plans to partner with 40 states and help 250,000 people who are stuck in the system to get out and stay out. In addition to partnering with state Departments of Corrections, Recidiviz collaborates with and learns from partners – from organizations like the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA) to community based organizations and justice-impacted individuals, whose perspectives guide our work.

To learn more about how we do what we do, check out our 2024 Year in Review, read some press coverage, or watch our TED Talk. And if you’re really keen to see our work, you can dive into our Github :).

An important note

Lasting change is always built on diversity. Recidiviz recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, gender identity and all protected status as required by applicable law. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a special need that requires accommodation, please let us know in your application. Even if you don't think you meet all the criteria above, drop your resume, and we'll take a look – you might be great for another role or another time!

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Recidiviz? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...

**Please note**: Our hiring team reads all application question responses.

If you choose to use AI to help craft your responses, please ensure that your unique experiences, perspectives, and skills are showcased in each response. 

We want to ensure your application stands out & is the strongest representation of your background when being considered for this role. 

Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Recidiviz’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.