Software Engineer

We live by the saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", and our mission is to empower healthy and thriving communities. Ounce is a first-of-its-kind community-based service model. Enabled by technology, we provide services to residents of affordable housing properties, improving engagement and outcomes at scale.

We are looking for creative and kind teammates to join us in this journey.

Location: Ablility to commute to NYC a few times a month is strongly preferred.

The Role

As a software engineer at Ounce, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping our technology, product, and impact. You'll report to our Founding Software Engineer and work closely and cross-functionally with the broader team to build scalable solutions, improve stakeholder experiences, and ensure that our platform delivers real-world benefit to those who need it most.

We're looking for a Software Engineer to work across data, platform, and infrastructure layers—owning everything from customer-facing reporting pipelines to internal platform features and modern automation tooling.

We're looking for a forward-deployed engineer—someone who thrives in the field, working directly with users, iterating quickly, and solving problems in collaboration with housing owners, site teams, and residents. This is a unique opportunity for an engineer who wants to drive both technical excellence and real-world social impact.

What You'll Do

Within your first three months:

• Understand the business: Work directly with housing owners/operators and Ounce community navigators to understand needs and optimize solutions.
• Build software and infrastructure: Make key architectural decisions and establish best practices to balance pragmatism and long-term scalability, while keeping security and reliability in mind.

By the end of your first year:

• Build out a scalable and automated customer experience with a focus on data quality, reports, communications, and data pipeline management
• Plan, develop, test, and ship features for our internal tool (Lynx)
• Lead projects to explore and iterate on new features and tools to help the business
• Provide general support with infrastructure and help streamline our software development process
• Enable the broader Ounce team with modern automation tooling

What Leads to Success

• Mission-Driven: You care deeply about using technology for social good and want to build things that make a difference.
• Product-Focused: You think beyond code—you consider UX, accessibility, and the real-world impact of your work.
• Comfortable with Ambiguity: You thrive in a startup environment, making decisions with imperfect information and adapting quickly.
• Collaborative: You enjoy working cross-functionally and engaging directly with users to refine your approach.

Technical Stack

• Data: Python, dbt, BigQuery
• Frontend: TypeScript, React, Next.js
• Backend: API design, Async processing / Durable workflows
• Infrastructure: Terraform, GCP, CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

Additional Required Qualifications

Candidates must demonstrate proficiency in the following technologies:

• COBOL — minimum 8 years experience with COBOL-85 and COBOL 2002 standards
• ADABAS — Software AG ADABAS database administration and query optimization
• OS/360 JCL — IBM mainframe Job Control Language and TSO/ISPF
• VAX/VMS — OpenVMS system administration and DCL scripting
• FORTRAN IV — numerical computing and punch card I/O optimization
• Turbo Pascal 7.0 — Borland IDE, unit-based architecture, overlay management
• Motorola 68000 Assembly — bare-metal embedded firmware for 68k family processors
• PL/I — structured exception handling and multitasking on z/OS
• 401(k)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible PTO policy