Staff Software Engineer

Staff Software Engineer Remote (US-based) Salary: Starting at $145K Tech Stack: Frontend: Next.js, React Backend: Node.js, TypeScript, Payload CMS Cloud Infrastructure: AWS, Vercel, Neon, Cloudflare Workers Data & Analytics: BigQuery, Dataform, dbt, Python AI: Custom TypeScript LLM service ABOUT US Come Near is a group of people moved to raise the public conversation about Jesus. They create, curate, and connect people to authentic Jesus stories and experiences. Most widely recognized is the group’s “He Gets Us” campaign, which invites people to reconsider Jesus and has reached millions of Americans since launching in 2021. To learn more, visit comenear.org. Candidates for this role are required to sign the organization’s Statement of Faith, which closely aligns with Come Near’s mission-driven focus of inviting all people one step closer to the authentic Jesus from wherever they are. POSITION SUMMARY Come Near is a lean, fully distributed nonprofit behind the He Gets Us campaign, reaching hundreds of millions of people across the world’s largest media moments. We’re hiring a Staff Engineer to own the technical design of our highest-priority initiative: a personalized digital engagement platform. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Design and document end-to-end architecture spanning products, data platforms, and cloud infrastructure. Define technical standards, API patterns, and integration contracts for both internal and vendor engineering teams. Architect systems for reliability, scalability, observability, and operational resilience, including support for high-impact, high-traffic events and traffic spikes. Review vendor designs, implementations, and code contributions for architectural quality, security, performance, and long-term maintainability. Collaborate with the AI and data teams on personalization logic, event tracking, and pipeline architecture, with specific attention to how personal/sensitive user data is collected, stored, and used. Set and enforce a practical security and data privacy baseline appropriate to handling sensitive personal data at scale. Identify and mitigate architectural, security, operational, and vendor-related risks before they become delivery, reliability, or business issues. Remain an active technical contributor by shipping critical code, prototyping architectural decisions before standardizing them, and leading through implementation rather than direction alone. Make build-vs-buy and build-vs-vendor recommendations that balance technical quality, delivery speed, operational complexity, and cost. Set the standard for technical documentation across the organization, including architecture decision records (ADRs), design documents, technical standards, and operational runbooks. Advise the Sr. Engineering Manager and VP of Engineering and Analytics on architecture strategy, technical risk, platform evolution, and major technical investment decisions. COMPETENCIES Able to influence internal engineers and external vendor teams without formal authority through technical expertise, sound judgment, and credibility. Async-fluent and self-directed, capable of driving complex, multi-week technical initiatives with minimal oversight. Strong technical writing skills, producing clear architecture decisions, design documents, implementation guidance, and review feedback. Comfortable holding a technical line under pressure, pushing back when shortcuts introduce unacceptable long-term risk. Pragmatic about tradeoffs, balancing engineering rigor with delivery realities in a lean, mission-driven environment. Comfortable operating with ambiguity and incomplete requirements, bringing structure and clarity to loosely defined problems. Demonstrates strong systems thinking, understanding how technical decisions affect reliability, security, maintainability, cost, scalability, and team effectiveness. EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including meaningful experience operating at the Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Architect, or equivalent level; education - at minimum a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field required. Deep expertise in modern web platform architecture, including frameworks such as Next.js or comparable technologies, API design, content platforms, and edge/CDN architecture, plus working knowledge of mobile platform architecture. Strong cloud infrastructure expertise (AWS preferred), including identity and access management, resiliency patterns, autoscaling, observability, and cost optimization. Experience owning infrastructure-as-code practices (Terraform or equivalent) and CI/CD systems, not merely consuming them. Experience defining, improving, or scaling testing and quality strategies across unit, integration, and end-to-end testing. Experience working alongside external agencies, vendors, or contractors in shared codebases and architectural environments, including reviewing and challenging technical decisions when necessary. Experience designing, building, and operating highly scalable distributed systems with demanding reliability and performance requirements. BONUS SKILLS Experience architecting or operating large-scale data platforms, analytics infrastructure, or data-intensive systems. Experience building, integrating, or shipping AI/ML-powered products and capabilities. Familiarity with MLOps practices, including deploying, monitoring, and operating machine learning systems in production. PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES A personal relationship with Jesus and a passion for Come Near’s mission. A heart for service, humility, and collaborative leadership. An initiative-taking, meticulous approach to planning and execution BENEFITS Competitive base salary Annual performance bonus (based on organizational performance) 80% employer-paid health and wellness coverage 403(b) retirement plan with 7% employer match Very generous PTO Three annual company rest weeks (around July 4 and between Christmas and New Years) Flourishing Fund stipend Education Reimbursement stipend annually Much more! So, if you're interested in joining a faith-based start-up in the nonprofit space, with a mission and a vision to see lives changed, apply today!