Full Stack Software Engineer

About the Role
Empowerly helps students and families navigate college admissions, pairing data-driven technology with counselors who are former Admissions Officers. As a Full Stack Software Engineer, you will work closely with counselors, operations, and product partners to understand what slows them down, then build the software that fixes it, from React front-end to backend services, APIs, and AI features. A senior engineer will review your work and coach your decisions, and you will own real problems from your first month. We care more about what you have built and how you think than how many years you have been doing it. We hire for strong computer science fundamentals and the ability to go deep. When we ask how something works, we want you to be able to explain it all the way down.

What you'll do

• Solve the real problem behind a request from counselors, operations, or product
• Ship tested, full-stack features end to end: React, backend services, APIs, and the database underneath
• Build and improve AI-powered features using LLMs and AI APIs, and check whether they help the people using them
• Turn ambiguous requests into a scoped plan and a working first version quickly, then iterate on feedback
• Debug production issues across the stack, with a senior engineer at first and on your own over time

What you'll bring

• Experience shipping software that other people use, from a job, internship, freelance work, open source, or a substantial project of your own. We care about what you built and your role in it, not how long you have been doing it
• Strong computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, networking, and how the web works. This usually means a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, EECS, or a related field, or equivalent depth you can show us
• The ability to sketch a simple system design for a feature, explain the tradeoffs, and go into detail when asked
• Solid React and TypeScript, with strong HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fundamentals
• Working knowledge of the backend: APIs, databases, and third-party integrations
• Hands-on experience using AI APIs or LLMs inside an application, beyond using AI coding assistants to write code
• Comfort with Git, code review, and writing tests
• A methodical approach to debugging: you find the root cause instead of guessing
• Clear communication: you can explain technical decisions to people who are not engineers, and you follow problems through to done

Nice to have

• Experience building Agentic AI workflows
• Experience building internal tools or working directly with non-engineering teammates or customers
• Exposure to a cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and CI/CD
• Time at a startup or in a fast-moving environment