Engineering Practice Lead (U.S Air Force)

About Skylight

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.

About the job

For the past several years, Skylight’s been supporting one of the U.S. Air Force’s premier software factories — Business Enterprise Systems Product INnovation (BESPIN). BESPIN’s mission is to deliver modern web and mobile solutions to Defense and non-Defense programs throughout the federal government. To that end, BESPIN currently features over 100 airmen and over 120 government contractors working together in cross-functional teams to deliver dozens of products and services to over 30 customers.

One of BESPIN’s highest organizational priorities, as well as the Department of Defense at large, is to equip service members with modern digital, data, and technology skills, such as human-centered design, lean-agile engineering, and artificial intelligence.

As an Engineering Practice Lead in support of BESPIN, you’ll play a hands-on leadership role in driving measurable improvements to its engineering capabilities at both the enterprise and team level. Your efforts will elevate the ability of BESPIN’s teams and individuals to deliver software with ever-greater speed and quality.

What you’ll do

• Continually assess the strength and performance of BESPIN’s engineering capabilities using a mix of qualitative and quantitative techniques
• Translate insights gained from the assessments into executable plans for change, and create the conditions necessary for those changes to materialize (e.g., strategic communications, training)
• Provide “player-coach” support to implement the necessary improvements to BESPIN’s engineering capabilities, such as pairing, customized training, coaching, mentoring, expert advice, hands-on delivery, or toolkits

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Experience driving a large organization with multiple product teams toward achieving technical excellence in web and mobile through adherence to modern engineering principles and practices, such as API-first design, simple design, version control, automated testing, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure
• Experience building out robust DevSecOps infrastructure in a cloud-based environment, including CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with multiple programming languages and/or full-stack development
• Experience working in a mixed web (e.g., React, Go, Node.js) and mobile (e.g., Flutter, SwiftUI) tech stack environment
• Experience as an engineering leader supporting multiple product teams, including training, pairing, and coaching
• Understand the different pieces of software systems and how to fit them together, while keeping performance, reliability, and availability in mind
• Familiar with how to build secure, compliant software and defend against common vulnerabilities
• Ability to communicate and operate at multiple levels of the organization, from senior leaders to junior engineers
• Understand the importance of always putting users at the center of your work, including thinking through the impact and implications of any code that’s written
• Ability to travel frequently to Montgomery, Alabama
• Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
• Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values
• Ability to travel for work from time to time

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Experience working as a Defense contractor
• Experience with AWS
• Experience with CloudOne
• Experience implementing secure systems in compliance with NIST RMF
• Certified at IAT II or IAT III as defined by DoD 8570.01
• Prior experience working in the civic tech space
• Experience working in a remote-team environment

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• As a government contractor, you may be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance.
• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Care package

Salary

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 Software Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate Software Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
• Software Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
• Software Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior Software Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff Software Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal Software Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• 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
• Paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 11 federal holidays, and flexible sick leave
• 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
• Access up to $1,000 before payday to cover emergency expenses
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

We want you to have a great interview experience with us! Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• 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're an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.