Remote
US
$172K–$262K
🔧Solutions & Consulting
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Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.
We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world.
If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.
The work we do matters.
At Skylight, software engineers design, implement, and maintain software systems to improve government services for users. This software is built to meet the needs of regular users of government services as well as Skylight’s partners in government. In this role, you’ll work across the stack, moving between frontend, backend, and infrastructure as the work requires.
We work with a team at CDC that builds and maintains an integrated disease surveillance system used by state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) health departments across the country. It gives jurisdictions case management for a wide range of conditions, and a secure path for moving epidemiologic, laboratory, and clinical data to CDC. Our role is to modernize it — a cloud-based platform designed to improve scalability, security, and adaptability to evolving public health needs.
The modernized platform is deliberately built as one shared system rather than a bespoke build per jurisdiction, which is what keeps it maintainable over the long run. But every health department arrives with its own legacy systems, data quirks, and technical maturity, and someone has to own the gap between the platform as built and a given jurisdiction’s reality. That gap is your full-time job: going deep with a jurisdiction, working out what’s actually blocking them, and building the targeted piece that unblocks them without turning into a permanent fork.
You may be the main point of contact for a health department, so communication carries as much weight here as technical range. The judgment that matters most is knowing when something needs a quick script and when it needs a conversation with the product team — and asking what this particular jurisdiction actually needs before reaching for a generic fix. If you’d rather be in the weeds with a real customer than removed from one, this is that role.
This role is contingent on Skylight being awarded the underlying contract. If we’re not awarded the contract, we’ll let you know promptly and discuss whether there are other opportunities that fit.
Important: Don’t meet every qualification but think you can do the job? We’d still love to hear from you. If you’re excited about the role, apply. We consider candidates with a range of backgrounds and experiences.
This is a full-time, exempt position.
This is a fully remote position.
This role may require occasional or regular travel based on company, client, or contract needs.
We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Forward Deployed Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:
These ranges apply if the contract is awarded. Compensation begins on your first day of work.
Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:
Our process includes a preliminary screen, a skills interview, a behavioral interview, and a reverse interview where you meet your potential team — usually four conversations across two to three weeks. Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:
If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at recruiting@skylight.digital.
We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.
USD 150,000 - 185,000
Annually
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
Health Savings Account (HSA)
401(k) / Retirement Plan
401(k) Match
Stock Options
Performance Bonus
PTO / Vacation
Paid Holidays
Flexible Schedule
Home Office Stipend
Parental Leave
Learning & Development Budget
Defined Career Pathways
Employee Referral Bonus
Employee Recognition Awards
Charity Matching
Nearly all of them. Skylight is remote-first, and its current openings are almost entirely remote positions open across the United States. The exception is occasional client-site work: one current product role is based in Washington, DC to be near a federal client.
Yes, and unusually thoroughly. Job postings include the full salary ladder by career level rather than a single range. The published software engineering ladder runs from $90,000 at the Associate level to $230,000 at Principal, and your level is determined through the company's public Career Pathways framework.
No. All open roles are listed in the United States, and postings require U.S. citizenship for employment, a standard requirement for Skylight's federal government contracting work.
A dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of salary with no vesting period, flexible paid time off (generally around 25 days per year) plus 11 paid federal holidays, up to 12 weeks of paid leave for new birth, adoption, or foster parents, a $2,000 annual professional development budget, and a $750 annual tech budget.
People motivated by public service and civic tech, since the work centers on government programs. In hiring, Skylight says it looks for a growth mindset, excellent communication skills, adaptability, and comfort with ambiguity rather than perfection. All screenings and interviews happen via videoconference.
Yes. Skylight runs paid internships lasting 2 to 3 months and paid apprenticeships lasting 12 months or more, and both can lead to full-time roles.
Pay Transparency
