Senior Full Stack Engineer
About Us
Propel builds technology that strengthens the social safety net in America. We envision a future where every American has the tools and resources they need to thrive.
The safety net’s strength depends not just on funding, but delivery. Propel exists to dramatically improve how government benefits are delivered. Managing SNAP benefits, picking a D-SNP plan, or protecting against EBT theft should feel as seamless as Apple Pay or Netflix.
Governments struggle to build modern, scalable user experiences. We don’t.
Over 5.5 million Americans trust Propel today. We’ve grown revenue 35% YoY and are reinventing entire benefit categories, including Medicare, around the real needs of low-income Americans. We’re building a high-growth, high-ceiling, sustainable for-profit company where impact drives revenue.
About the Role
We’re hiring a Senior Fullstack Engineer who wants to build consumer products at meaningful scale with real ownership.
This is not a ticket-taking role. You’ll work across mobile apps, backend systems, internal tools, and new product lines. You’ll help identify problems, shape solutions, and ship iteratively in a space shaped by policy changes, evolving technology, and real-world constraints.
The technology landscape is evolving quickly, including the growing role of AI in how products are built and how users interact with technology. We don’t adopt trends blindly, but we do expect engineers to stay curious, experiment thoughtfully, and continuously evolve their craft as the world changes.
We are not meeting-heavy. Engineers have meaningful heads-down time. Product, Design, and Engineering operate with shared values, curious, empathetic, user-first, which reduces friction and accelerates execution.
Comfort with ambiguity, strong product instincts, and a bias toward action are essential.
What You’ll Do
Build and ship features across our mobile apps (Vue + TypeScript + Capacitor)
Develop scalable backend systems (Python, Flask, Postgres, Redis, AWS)
Contribute to architecture and technical direction
Partner closely with Product and Design to scope and execute solutions
Break ambiguous problems into iterative, shippable components
Balance speed with long-term maintainability
Participate in on-call rotation
Contribute through design reviews, code reviews, and mentorship
You will build systems used daily by millions of Americans to access food, healthcare, and financial stability.
What You Have
Experience
5+ years building and maintaining complex full-stack systems
Experience in startup or high-ambiguity environments
Strong system design and product engineering fundamentals
Fluency in Python and JavaScript (or willingness to ramp quickly)
Clear written and verbal communication skills
Mindset
Ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes
Product Sense: You focus on solving the right problems
Grit: You persist through ambiguity and setbacks
Curiosity: You think from first principles
Urgency & Accountability: You ask “why not now?”
Low Ego: You step in where needed
Strong Judgment: You prioritize effectively
Iterative Mindset: You ship, learn, and improve
Nice to have:
Experience building consumer-scale applications
Familiarity with safety net programs (SNAP, WIC, TANF, SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, Section 8)
What We Offer
$170,000 - $240,000 salary + meaningful equity (Location-independent compensation)
20 Days PTO
4% 401K match
$10k lifetime Carrot Fertility benefit
Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
Remote-first culture (NYC HQ)
Monthly co-working stipend outside NYC
We benchmark compensation around the 75th percentile and want your equity stake to matter long-term.
More About Propel and Our Engineering Team
Technology is not a support function at Propel - it is the company.
We believe great tech companies:
Solve user problems first
Build for scale and iteration
Invest in quality and infrastructure
Stay curious about new technologies while exercising strong judgment
We operate lean and transparently. You’ll understand our revenue drivers and big bets. Millions of users trust us and that responsibility is earned through consistently strong judgment.
We’ve backed our mission with action:
Seeded emergency funds during government shutdowns
Committed 1% of company equity into a user trust
Partnered carefully when sunsetting products to protect users
Why This Role Might Not Be For You
We’re building in the complex intersection of people, policy, and government systems. That work requires strong partnerships and comes with unique challenges.
We operate lean, and priorities can shift as policy, partners, or user needs evolve. Our environment isn’t highly structured with rigid swimlanes or long, predictable planning cycles.
Engineers move across product surfaces and problem spaces. This isn’t a narrowly scoped role focused on a single technical domain.
We’re building in an era where AI is reshaping team boundaries. Engineers here are comfortable contributing to product and design conversations, not just writing code.
We ship quickly while holding a high bar for quality and user trust. Balancing speed with thoughtful tradeoffs is part of the job.
Our roadmap is influenced by legislation, regulatory changes, and evolving government systems. A certain level of external uncertainty is inherent to the space.
Career growth tends to come through ownership, impact, and stepping into stretch work rather than predefined ladders or timelines.
Technology evolves quickly, including AI. Staying curious and continuously evolving your craft is part of building a modern tech company.
We value low-ego teammates who step in to help when something needs fixing, even if it falls outside a traditional lane.
We are building a category-defining company in a complex space. That requires resilience, urgency, strong judgment, and a genuine desire to serve our users well.
If that energizes you - you’ll likely thrive here.
Additional Considerations:
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team, and welcome applicants from all backgrounds and abilities.
We're currently accepting applications from the states we have an established entity in, which includes California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
Background Check Requirement: For roles with access to confidential employee or customer information, a background check may be conducted following a conditional offer. All background checks are handled in accordance with applicable laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Learn more about our impact from the press
Fintech Company Propel Announces $10 Million Fund For Food Stamp
How hunger relief groups say you can help feed your neighbors during the shutdown and beyond
Join us, and let's build something amazing together!