Senior Software Engineer

Job Title : Senior Software Engineer

Team : Systems

Location : Hybrid in Chicago (IL) or Newark (NJ)

Employment Type : Full-time

FLSA Classification Exempt

Start Date : ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs .

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of the platform, tools, and automation that power Braven’s programs. On the Systems team, we prioritize impact, ship the simplest thing that works, and iterate as we learn, balancing the agility to move quickly with the discipline of strong engineering practices and keeping real impact on students’ lives ahead of elegant code. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will take ownership of complex, end-to-end full-stack initiatives across our learning platform, data systems, and the AI and automation that scale our programs, raising the technical bar through architecture and code reviews and mentoring engineers as the team grows.

This role is on the Systems team and reports directly to the Sr Dir, Software Engineering.

What You’ll Do

Design and ship complex features (60%)

• Scope and lead full-stack initiatives in Python and/or Ruby on Rails across our platform, data pipelines, and program automation, from ambiguous problems to production.
• Make pragmatic architecture and technical design decisions that keep our systems robust, performant, secure, and maintainable.

Raise the team’s technical bar (25%)

• Review code and architecture proposals, and mentor engineers to help them grow.
• Champion testing, observability, and engineering best practices, and improve our processes and documentation.

Collaborate and stay current (15%)

• Partner across technical and non-technical teams, participate in scrum and sprints, and integrate the systems our programs rely on.
• Stay informed on industry trends, security, data privacy, and emerging AI tooling, and bring them to the team.
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field, completion of a technical training program, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of software engineering experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong full-stack proficiency across backend, frontend, and database design, with experience in technologies such as Ruby on Rails, Python, React, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, and Git.
• Strong mentoring and communication skills, able to manage stakeholders and bridge technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience applying AI and automation to ship faster or scale operations, such as LLM-assisted development or workflow automation.
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values.
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with or for Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Chicago (IL) or Newark (NJ) 3 days per week
• Travel 2-3 times per year

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits

Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking.

Starting salary within the range is determined by role scope and qualifications, with new hires starting at the lower end to allow for growth with performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The salary ranges, by geographic market, for this role are set forth as $111,300 - $139,000 in Chicago and $122,500 - $153,100 in Newark. This is based on a 50-hour work week at an hourly rate. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Please note that Braven is firm in its compensation philosophy; therefore, only candidates who believe our total rewards package aligns with what they are looking for in their next opportunity are encouraged to apply. 

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Chicago or Newark. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor. We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.