Forward Deployed Software Engineer

️ About GovWell

We the people (and the taxpayers) deserve good government — but today, interacting with government services is often frustrating and inefficient. GovWell is building the AI-powered platform that transforms how governments serve communities, starting with local agencies.

Our first product helps municipal and county governments modernize complex services like permitting and licensing. GovWell combines a highly configurable SaaS system of record with generative AI that automates work for staff, guides residents through services, and is radically simple to deploy.

Founded in 2023, GovWell powers 3,000+ critical processes for agencies in 29 states serving millions of residents. We’ve raised $9.5M in seed funding from Work-Bench and Bienville Capital, and work in person at our HQ in New York City. Read more about our founding story in TechCrunch .

☀️ Why GovWell?

• A mission that matters: Building AI-powered products to fix outdated government systems isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a historic opportunity to improve our foundational relationship with government and ensure trillions of tax dollars result in high quality services. WATCH: Mission & Vision with CEO & Co-Founder Troy LeCaire

• Real-world impact: GovWell’s product is the system of record for government services that affect millions of Americans. From streamlining permitting for small businesses to accelerating affordable housing development, your work will make an immediate difference.

• Join a startup in hyper-growth: We’ve found product-market fit and are scaling the business very quickly (4X ARR growth in the last year). As an early team member, you’ll learn what it takes to build a successful startup. You’ll work closely with the founders while enjoying exceptional autonomy and ownership over your work.

Role overview

GovWell is hiring a Forward Deployed Software Engineer to operate at the frontier of our most complex enterprise customers.

As we close larger municipal deals with legacy systems, bespoke workflows, and high expectations, we need senior engineers who can engage directly with customers, unblock technical obstacles, and ensure enterprise growth strengthens rather than fragments the core platform.

This role sits at the intersection of product, deployment, and revenue. You will work directly with complex municipalities, diagnose real-world constraints, build targeted solutions when appropriate, and translate recurring enterprise requirements into reusable product capabilities.

This is a hands-on, high-ownership engineering role based in NYC (3+ days per week in office), with travel as needed for key customers.

What you’ll do

• Unblock complex enterprise deployments by diagnosing and resolving technical and workflow blockers during high-stakes launches.

• Partner with Sales and Deployment Strategy on late-stage deals, providing technical feasibility judgment and credibility with senior municipal stakeholders.

• Translate bespoke customer requirements into scalable abstractions and propose productizable solutions.

• Build targeted code or configuration when necessary, while avoiding long-term product fragmentation or debt.

• Travel to complex or high-value municipalities to understand constraints firsthand and accelerate execution.

• Escalate durable product opportunities back to core teams and help shape roadmap decisions.

• Protect product coherence by ensuring enterprise work aligns with long-term platform strategy.

Who you are

• 5+ years of experience as a full-stack or forward deployed engineer in a production SaaS environment.

• Strong product judgment with a track record of deciding when to build, abstract, configure, or push back.

• Experience working on customer-facing deployments, integrations, or migration-heavy environments.

• Effective communicator with executive-facing credibility.

• Comfortable operating under ambiguity and owning high-impact, revenue-sensitive problems.

• Strong coding ability in TypeScript/Node or similar

• Startup-oriented operator who moves quickly without over-engineering.

• Able to recognize recurring enterprise patterns and convert them into reusable systems.

• You align closely with our Core Values .
  

️ Our tech stack

• React

• TypeScript

• Node.js

• GraphQL

• PostgreSQL

• RedwoodJS

• AWS

• OpenAI API

Meet the team

• Ben Cohen, Co-Founder and CTO.

  • Ex Uber, Amazon, UIPath.

  • BA summa cum laude CS, Princeton

• Richard Le , Full-stack Eng

  • Ex Microsoft

  • BA summa cum laude CS, UNC Chapel Hill

• Zach Stecker , Mobile Eng

  • Prev Senior Eng at TodayTix

  • CS, Princeton

• Michael Sosnick , Fullstack Eng

  • Ex Meta SWE, Product at UMG

  • CS & Econ, UPenn

• Ethan Fuld , Fullstack Eng

  • Ex Amazon, PwC

  • Info Science, Cornell

• Portia Wilson Data Scientist

  • Prev CompStak, Vitech Systems

  • BA Math & Econ, Lafayette & MS Data Science, Stevens

• Noah Bell , Fullstack Eng

  • Ex Biodock (YC W21)

  • BA summa cum laude , UNC Chapel Hill

Compensation and benefits

Compensation within the posted salary band will be commensurate with experience. All offers will include:

• Competitive base salary.

• Equity / stock options.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• 401(k) program.

• Flexible PTO.