Principal Full Stack Engineer

The engineering decisions you make will determine whether millions of Americans can access college. You’ll help rebuild the system that serves 17M+ applicants annually, distributes $120 billion in federal aid each year, and manages $1.6T in student loans.

You’ll architect and ship StudentAid.gov, taking on:

Massive traffic spikes, with 10M+ applications hitting the system in a short window

Complex eligibility logic, with thousands of rules across federal, state, and school programs

Real-time data exchanges with the IRS, SSA, and other federal agencies

Accessibility requirements that directly impact students with disabilities

Always-on availability during peak deadlines when uptime is critical

High-stakes releases with no soft rollouts — changes go live for everyone at once

This is a hands-on technical leadership role — you won’t code every day, but when it matters, you’ll dive in to unblock teams and de-risk critical changes. The specific tech stack doesn’t matter — we need engineers who can work with and improve whatever technology serves the mission. Tasks may include:

Transform legacy systems into modern services while keeping critical systems online

Set technical standards across federal and contractor teams

Make architectural decisions that will shape FAFSA systems for the next decade

Review PRs across multiple codebases, spotting failure modes and simplifying changes

Debug complex production issues and guide teams through root-cause analysis

Unblock teams by writing code when the mission demands it

We’re looking for engineers who’ve built at scale in complex environments — typically Staff+ at a strong engineering organization, with experience in most of the following:

Built or operated systems serving millions of users in production

Led cross-team technical initiatives over multiple quarters

Migrated or decomposed legacy systems while keeping critical workflows available

Stayed hands-on with code — you can still read a diff, trace a request, and ship a fix

Prioritized outcomes over process — you know when to push back on bureaucracy that slows delivery without adding value

Our interview process is fully remote, consisting of 3-5 conversations that assess work experience, fit, and technical skills.