API Technical Lead - Ruby

Founded in 2007, Initiate Government Solutions (IGS) is a Woman-Owned Small Business and a fully remote IT services provider supporting federal partners nationwide. We deliver innovative Enterprise IT and Health Services solutions with a strong focus on data analytics, health informatics, cloud migration, AI, and the modernization of federal information systems.

Our vision is to be a health IT trendsetter, continuing to solve the nation's most challenging healthcare IT issues by conceiving, designing, and building solid, creative, and innovative open-source solutions.


Our mission is to innovate, design, and deliver tailored solutions that balance technical advancement with cost-awareness while providing exceptional service.

IGS is currently recruiting for a remote API Technical Lead Ruby to support our work with the our federal customer.


Assignment of Work and Travel:

This is a remote access assignment. The Candidate will work remotely daily and will remotely access customer systems and therein use approved customer provided communications systems. Travel is not required; however, the candidate may be required to attend onsite client meetings as requested.

The ideal candidate is a strong Ruby engineer and technical leader who can balance hands-on development with team leadership. They are responsible for leading the technical team of 3-4 developers through design, development, and maintenance of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that enable communication between different software systems.

Responsibilities and Duties (Included but not limited to):

• Lead the design and development of APIs, including specifications, endpoints, data models, and protocols such as REST and GraphQL.
• Provide technical leadership to a team of 3-4 developers, guiding design decisions and engineering best practices.
• Remain hands-on in the codebase, contributing production-grade code for core services.
• Conduct code reviews to ensure code quality, maintainability, and security.
• Partner closely with the Engineering Crew Lead and API Architect to review solution design and deliver robust, scalable solutions.
• Ensure seamless integration of APIs with internal systems, external applications, and third-party services.
• Promote the effective use of AI-enabled tools in the API development lifecycle to improve productivity and code quality.
• Create and maintain clear, comprehensive API documentation for consumers, including usage guidance and best practices.
• Implement and uphold security best practices, including authentication, authorization, and encryption.
• Interface with external engineering teams to ensure alignment on technical standards, governance requirements, compliance obligations, and ongoing CATO maintenance.
• Monitor and optimize API performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Manage API versioning and support backward compatibility as services evolve.
• Provide ongoing support, troubleshoot production issues, and implement enhancements based on stakeholder feedback.
• Participate in Tier 1 and Tier 2 on-call operations.

Requirements

• 6+ years of strong Ruby on Rails experience
• Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL or MySQL.
• Experience with the RSpec testing framework.
• Strong experience designing, building, and maintaining APIs.
• Ability to lead engineering teams while remaining hands-on with development.
• US Citizenship required due to clearance requirement

Preferred Qualifications and Core Competencies:

• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm.
• Familiarity with application security principles and secure development practices.
• Familiarity with Git version control.
• Familiarity with OAuth.
• Experience with async job processing (e.g., Sidekiq).
• Experience with Spring Boot / Java.
• Experience with Spring Boot / Java.
• Active VA Public Trust
• Prior experience supporting federal agencies
• Certifications in cloud technologies, API development, or secure software engineering.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.
• Prior, successful experience working in a remote environment

Successful IGS employees embody the following Core Values:

• Integrity, Honesty, and Ethics: We conduct our business with the highest level of ethics. Doing things like being accountable for mistakes, accepting helpful criticism, and following through on commitments to ourselves, each other, and our customers.
• Empathy, Emotional Intelligence : How we interact with others including peers, colleagues, stakeholders, and customers' matters. We take collective responsibility to create an environment where colleagues and customers feel valued, included, and respected. We work within a diverse, integrated, and collaborative team to drive towards accomplishing the larger mission. We conscientiously and meticulously learn about our customers' and end-users' business drivers and challenges to ensure solutions meet not only technical needs but also support their mission.
• Strong Work Ethic (Reliability, Dedication, Productivity): We are driven by a strong, self-motivated, and results-driven work ethic. We are reliable, accountable, proactive, and tenacious and will do what it takes to get the job done.
• Life-Long Learner (Curious, Perspective, Goal Oriented): We challenge ourselves to continually learn and improve ourselves. We strive to be an expert in our field, continuously honing our craft, and finding solutions where others see problems.

Compensation: There are a host of factors that can influence final salary, including, but not limited to, geographic location, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, specific skills and competencies, education, and certifications.

Benefits: Initiate Government Solutions offers competitive compensation and a robust benefits package, including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision care, matching 401K and profit sharing, paid time off, training time for personal development, flexible spending accounts, employer-paid life insurance, employer-paid short and long term disability coverage, an education assistance program with potential merit increases for obtaining a work-related certification, employee recognition, and referral programs, spot bonuses, and other benefits that help provide financial protection for the employee and their family.

Initiate Government Solutions participates in the Electronic Employment Verification Program.