Software Engineer at State Affairs in San Francisco, CA

Summary: State Affairs is the nation’s leading news and policy intelligence platform focused on state governments. As a Software Engineer, you will own user-facing features end-to-end, working on React/Next JS interfaces, Node APIs, and data models to enhance the platform's capabilities. Responsibilities: - Ship vertical product slices (Figma wireframe, React component, Node handler, SQL/Mongo query, and deployed on AWS via Docker and GitHub Actions) - Design delightful data workflow such as instant search, real-time diffing, collaborative annotation, and hiding terabytes behind sub-200 ms interactions - Partner with the design and product management teams on thin-slice scoping, experiment flags, and measurable customer outcomes - Instrument and iterate on dashboards, structured logs, Feature-flag rollouts, and blameless post-mortems - Evangelize product craftsmanship through storybook-driven UI, shared design tokens, and code reviews that coach rather than gate-keep Required Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related field - 1+ years of professional work experience as a full stack software engineer - Professional work experience building product React/Next and Node/TypeScript applications - Ability to translate abstract user problems into specific milestone and negotiate scope - Ability to program in SQL and various scheme designs, such as Postgres, with the ability to utilize Mongo - Ability to operate CI/CD (Docker and GitHub Actions) and infrastructure as code, with appropriate collaboration with the infrastructure team (Terraform/CDK) - Ability to utilize LLM tools (Claude-Code, Cursor, Codex) to accelerate coding and debugging Preferred Qualifications: - Knowledge of search indexes or vector databases powering RAG/semantic workflows - Knowledge of SSR & ISR patterns in Next 14's app-router - Knowledge of AI/ML concepts and the development of AI-driven features and models - Professional work experience with data-viz (D3, Recharts) or rich-text editors (Slate, TipTap) - Prior professional work experience in a start-up organization Required Skills: React, Next.js, Node.js, TypeScript, SQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, CI/CD, Docker, GitHub Actions, Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, CDK, LLM tools, Semantic search, Vector databases, SSR & ISR patterns, AI/ML concepts, Data visualization, Rich-text editors, translate abstract user problems into specific milestones, Negotiation of scope Benefits: Comprehensive benefits package