Quick Summary
Full Stack Software Engineer
DataKind is seeking a values-driven, product-focused Full Stack Software Engineer to significantly impact student graduation rates. This role involves building the web application and API layer for our education data platform. If you excel in both frontend and backend development, value well-crafted data products, and are committed to advancing equity through data, we encourage you to apply.
Location
This is a remote position within the U.S., requiring the majority of working hours to fall between 8 AM and 6 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Salary Range
The annual salary range is $85,000 - $90,000. Actual salary will be determined by the candidate's experience and an internal salary equity review of active employees in similar roles.
About the Opportunity
As a Full Stack Software Engineer at DataKind, you will develop and enhance the UI and API layers of our education data platform. You will be responsible for software that transforms complex educational data into usable, insightful, and reliable information for institutions. Your time will primarily be spent on web application and API development, with regular contributions to supporting data engineering and infrastructure.
Reporting to the VP of Technology, you will collaborate closely with Data Engineering, Data Science, Product, and Customer Success teams to deliver features that directly improve student outcomes. You will serve as a senior technical voice, translating ambiguous product requirements into well-architected, shippable software.
What You'll Do
Product Engineering (60%)
- Design, build, and maintain the web application frontend and its powering APIs.
- Translate product and user requirements, often from direct partner feedback, into clean, maintainable, and well-tested code.
- Own features end-to-end: from technical design through implementation, testing, and deployment.
- Collaborate with Product and Customer Success to understand institutional user interaction with our education data platform, informing technical decisions.
- Contribute to frontend architecture, component design, and API design standards across the team.
Data Engineering and Infrastructure (25%)
- Contribute to data pipeline and integration work for the education data platform, in partnership with the Data Engineering team.
- Support infrastructure decisions related to application performance, scalability, and reliability.
- Ensure data flowing into the application layer is validated, well-structured, and secure, including implementing authentication/authorization (e.g., SSO, OAuth, role-based access control) for sensitive student data.
Collaborate and Contribute Across DataKind (15%)
- Partner with Data Engineering and Data Science to operationalize models and analytics into production-ready product features.
- Align work with DataKind's engineering standards, conduct timely code reviews for peers, and consistently contribute quality technical documentation.
- Contribute to the continuous improvement and maintenance of internal tooling, engineering process documentation, and workflow automation.
Qualifications
Required
- Deep alignment with DataKind's mission and values, demonstrating a commitment to educational equity and data-driven social impact.
- 3-5 years of professional full stack software engineering experience, with significant ownership of both frontend and backend systems.
- Advanced proficiency in a modern JavaScript/TypeScript framework (e.g., React) and backend API development.
- Working proficiency in GCP, Python, and SQL for infrastructure and data engineering pipelines.
- Experience designing and building RESTful or GraphQL APIs.
- Experience writing automated tests (unit, integration, and/or end-to-end) and working in a codebase with CI-enforced test coverage.
- Solid understanding of data modeling and the intersection of application design with data pipelines.
- Proven ability to collaborate across engineering, data science, and product functions.
- Excellent communication skills, including explaining technical tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders.
Preferred
- Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience with PHP, Laravel, OpenAI API, and Anthropic API.
- Experience with Git-based collaborative workflows (e.g., pull requests, code reviews) and CI/CD tooling (e.g., GitHub Actions).
- Experience building or integrating AI-powered features into a product (e.g., LLM integration, recommendation systems, applied ML).
- Experience implementing authentication and authorization patterns (e.g., SSO, OAuth, role-based access control) in a production web application.
- Experience building dashboards or data visualization tools for varied end users.
- Familiarity with education data systems (e.g., SIS, LMS, or student outcome data).
- Experience building systems that comply with SOC2 and/or FERPA.
- Familiarity with civic tech, social impact, or nonprofit data ecosystems.
About DataKind
Since 2012, DataKind has been a leader in leveraging data science and AI to address global challenges in areas like health, humanitarian action, climate, economic opportunity, and education. We design scalable, data-driven tools, setting new standards in the social sector by empowering organizations to harness data science and AI while prioritizing communities.
Why Work with DataKind
DataKind is a people-first remote organization committed to employee well-being and growth:
- Flexibility and Time Off: Enjoy genuine flexibility, including shared time off, organization-wide recharge days, bi-weekly meeting-free days, and flexible PTO (minimum 20 vacation days encouraged annually).
- Comprehensive Wellness Support: We offer 100% employer-paid medical, vision, and dental benefits for employees (72% for dependents), a wellness reimbursement program, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
- A Culture of Growth: Every team member receives annual professional development funding, mentorship, and advancement opportunities. We invest in your future with a 401(k) plan featuring a 5% employer match.
- Meaningful Connection: Despite being distributed, we value in-person gatherings for conferences, strategic planning, and our annual staff retreat.
- Living Our Values: DataKind is dedicated to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment through daily practices and initiatives driven by our DEI Steering Committee.
DataKind is an Equal Opportunity Employer
DataKind is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages candidates from underrepresented groups in tech to apply. We do not discriminate based on race, color, gender, disability, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected category.
Applicants must have a U.S.-based permanent address and be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis indefinitely without employer visa sponsorship.