Staff Engineer

Staff Engineer

As Staff Engineer you will guide the technical architecture, implementation, and delivery of a variety of digital products. You will work closely with stakeholders, product managers, and internal and external engineering partners to ensure scalable, secure, and high-quality solutions. This role combines hands-on technical expertise with architectural leadership and vendor oversight across a portfolio of Scripture-centered platforms, and web and mobile apps. This is an individual-contributor role; it carries no direct reports but includes mentorship responsibilities.

Minimum Spiritual and Personal Commitment:

• Demonstrate a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.
• Identify with and participate in a Christian church and proactively seek to grow in their Christian faith.
• Actively participate in organizational prayer, devotional times, and organization-wide events.
• Maintain an exemplary standard of Christian ethics, behavior, and conduct within ABS and in their public and private life outside of ABS and always seek to uphold ABS’ Standards of Conduct and Affirmation of Biblical Community.
• Demonstrate Christian maturity in all interactions as displayed by good judgment based on biblical values and principles.
• Actively incorporate their faith in all aspects of their daily work.
• Demonstrate desire and ability to support organizational biblical and religious goals and participate in regular work-related spiritual activities without reservation.
• Have a personal passion for and belief in the Word of God, its ability to transform lives, and the mission of American Bible Society.
• Demonstrate alignment with the vision, mission, and values of American Bible Society.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Lead system architecture design across multiple products and platforms.
• Define and communicate a shared technical vision that aligns with ABS’s long-term strategy.
• Make key decisions on frameworks, services, and technical approaches that reduce complexity and promote reuse in coordination with the CTO.
• Write and review code as needed, with development responsibilities ranging from minimal coding to heavily focused development of high-impact components, integrations, or prototypes based on project phases and demands.

Product Collaboration

• Partner with product managers and ministry leaders to explore early-stage concepts and shape technical feasibility.
• Translate product ideas into clear technical plans, identifying constraints, risks, and delivery strategies.
• Provide technical consultation across the product development lifecycle-from ideation through launch and iteration.

Vendor Oversight & Quality Assurance

• Provide architectural and code review for work delivered by external development teams.
• Ensure adherence to internal quality standards, security best practices, and maintainability expectations.
• Onboard vendors into our workflows and tech stack; maintain clear communication and delivery checkpoints.

Continuous Improvement and Agentic Engineering

• Design and document annual and quarterly objectives and measurable key results.
• Partner with engineering leaders to champion AI adoption, technical direction, and best practices across engineering to continuously accelerate product design, development, and delivery.
• Proactively learn and deepen skills, technologies, and platforms, modeling for other engineers.

Mentorship & Team Culture

• Mentor junior and mid-level developers, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning.
• Promote best practices in software development, DevOps, testing, and documentation.
• Lead by example in engineering excellence, curiosity, and servant leadership.

Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science related field, equivalent experience (coding bootcamp may be part of this experience)

• Experience: 8+ years of full-stack software engineering experience, including demonstrated experience as a technical leader on cross-functional projects.
• Tech Stack and Tools:

The preferred candidate will have mature experience in our team’s primary tools, listed below, as an individual contributor and as a leader/mentor.

• Agentic Product Development: Claude Code
• Languages: TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL
• Frameworks: React, Next.js
• DevOps: AWS CDK (preferred), Serverless Framework, or Cloud Formation
• Infrastructure: Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, API Gateway, PostgreSQL
• Testing: Jest, Cypress, Chromatic, Playwright
• Process: Agile (Scrum), CICD (GitHub Actions, AWS Amplify)

Key Competencies:

All ABS staff must demonstrate the following skills:

• Demonstrate desire and ability to support organizational biblical and religious goals and participate in regular work-related spiritual activities without reservation.
• Have a personal passion for and belief in the Word of God, its ability to transform lives, and the mission of American Bible Society.
• Demonstrate alignment with the vision, mission, and values of American Bible Society.

The Staff Engineer must demonstrate:

• Proven ability to architect, design, and ship scalable web applications
• Strong proficiency with JavaScript/TypeScript, React, and AWS serverless (Lambda, S3, API Gateway, DynamoDB)
• Proficiency with relational databases such as PostgreSQL or MySQL; confident writing SQL
• Experience designing and consuming REST or GraphQL APIs
• Demonstrated experience overseeing external or outsourced development teams
• Effective communicator, able to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical collaborators
• Experience mentoring engineers, conducting code reviews, and leading engineering discussions
• Passion for technology that serves a higher purpose and alignment with the mission of American Bible Society

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working across multiple products, teams, or product lines
• Familiarity with offline-first, cross-platform, or mobile web app development
• Understanding of internationalization/localization and accessibility best practices
• Familiarity with tools like Jira, Confluence, Figma, or Notion
• Exposure to other languages (Python, Go, C#, etc.) or platforms (Azure, Firebase, etc.)
• Experience in a non-profit, faith-based, or ministry tech environment

All staff must demonstrate the following skills at a level fitting their role:

• Communication Skills:
  • Complex Communication: Proficient in communicating complex ideas to various stakeholders, both verbally and in writing.
• Teamwork and Collaboration:
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Leads teams effectively, builds strong team dynamics, and fosters a collaborative organizational culture.
• Cultural Competence and Inclusion:
  • Inclusive Leadership: Promotes inclusivity and addresses biases within the team.
• Service Orientation:
  • Service Strategy: Develops service-centric strategies, drives service recipient satisfaction, and ensures organizational alignment with service expectations.
• Adaptability and Flexibility:
  • Strategic Change Management: Leads change initiatives, drives innovation, and helps the organization navigate through significant changes.
• Time Management and Organization:
  • Strategic Optimization: Develops time management strategies for the organization, optimizes productivity, and aligns team efforts with organizational goals.
• Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking:
  • Strategic Organizational Solutions: Anticipates potential problems, creates strategic solutions and guides the organization through complex challenges.
• Leadership and Initiative:
  • Team Leadership: Guides, supports and leads team members to achieve goals, engage in cross-company collaboration and pivot when needed to achieve strategic change.

Physical Demands: This position is primarily computer-based and generally involves sitting for extended periods; frequent use of hands for keyboarding and mouse work. Ability to communicate effectively (verbal and written) and participate in virtual meetings. Ability to use standard office technology and software tools. American Bible Society is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities and ensuring a workplace free from discrimination. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable laws, we will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to participate in the application process and perform the essential functions of their job.

Office Location: Remote - Must be based in United States.

CoreHours: 8:30am-5:00pm, EST; If based outside of Eastern time zone, must overlap at least 6 hours within this window.

Travel Required: Occasional domestic travel.

Additional Information:

• Background Check: Candidates must pass a background check as a condition of employment. This may include criminal history, credit check, and verification of employment and education history.
• Reference Checks: Employment is contingent upon satisfactory reference checks.
• Eligibility to Work: Candidates must provide proof of eligibility to work in the United States.
• Affirmation of Biblical Community: Candidates must sign and agree to uphold the ABS Affirmation of Biblical Community as a condition of employment.
• American Bible Society is a Christian nonprofit whose mission is to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format they can understand and afford, so that all people may experience its life-changing message. Rooted in the vision of Habakkuk 2:14-"that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"-we develop Scripture-centered digital tools to support Bible translation, engagement, and distribution worldwide.

  The Ministry Technology team delivers ministry platforms and programs through the Product Studio and Bible Platforms. From translation platforms to Bible engagement tools, these departments support rapid ideation, architectural oversight, and lean product development-often working with our in-house team and external vendors-to meet the diverse digital needs of our mission.

American Bible Society is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees, in accordance with federal, state, and local laws. We believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, created in the image of God, and strive to reflect Christ’s love and justice in our employment practices.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected status. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is rooted in our Christian faith and values, which call us to love and respect all people.

As a faith-based organization, we require employees to affirm and uphold our Christian beliefs as a condition of employment. This requirement is consistent with our mission and ensures that our work environment aligns with our core values and deeply held religious principles.