---
title: 'Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Consulting (U. S. Air Force) at Skylight'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-principal-software-engineer-consulting-u-s-air-force-skylight-united-7jnmx05ymzpv'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-17'
---

# Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Consulting (U. S. Air Force) at Skylight

- **Company:** Skylight
- **Location:** United States
- **Posted:** 2026-09-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-17
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skylighthq/jobs/4733006005

## Job description

## About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

## About the job

At Skylight, software engineers design, implement, and maintain software systems to improve government services for users. This software is built to meet the needs of regular users of government services as well as Skylight’s partners in government.

A consulting software engineer focuses on advisory engagements where the deliverable is guidance, assessment, or technical strategy rather than delivering code.

Skylight has partnered with the U.S. Air Force across multiple legacy modernization efforts. The work spans modernization of legacy systems, new capability development in multi-vendor environments, iteration on established platforms, all inside an agile transformation and broader organizational change.

You’ll assess legacy systems, shape the technical strategy for modernizing them, and pair directly with government engineers to raise the bar on how software gets built. Expect to spend your time in architecture reviews, working sessions with vendors and Air Force teams, and hands-on demonstrations of modern, AI-assisted engineering practices.

What to know going in

Your first 30 days are about working with the Skylight team and government personnel, learning the client’s domain and organization, and enabling your government partners. Access to users varies from team to team, so you’ll need to get creative about how you reach them. The client is early- to mid-transformation, so expect organizational and operational change along the way.

This role is contingent on Skylight being awarded the underlying contract. If we’re not awarded the contract, we’ll let you know promptly and discuss whether there are other opportunities that fit.

## What you’ll do

- Assess legacy applications and their technical environments to identify technical debt, instability, and other opportunities for improvement, then design, document, and communicate solutions
- Own the modernization strategy, technical direction, architectural decisions, and test strategy for the modernization, in collaboration with government engineers and partner vendors but accountable for the result
- Advocate for and model lean-agile engineering practices such as API-first design, simple design, continuous integration, version control, and automated testing
- Guide teams toward secure, compliant software that meets federal security standards and defends against common vulnerabilities
- Pair with and coach government engineers so modern practices, including AI-assisted development, stick after you’ve moved on
- Collaborate with product managers, researchers, and designers so technical recommendations serve user and mission needs

## What we’re looking for

## Basic qualifications

- Ability to write clean, working, and reusable code
- Understand the different pieces of software systems and how to fit them together, while keeping performance, reliability, and availability in mind
- Familiar with how to build secure, compliant software and defend against common vulnerabilities
- Experience evaluating existing systems and communicating technical findings and recommendations to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
- Comfort holding architectural decision rights on a multi-vendor engagement, and making the tradeoffs legible to non-technical stakeholders
- Experience working in agile software development
- Interest in mentoring, coaching, and pairing with government partners so they can carry the work forward
- Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery
- A mindset and work approach that aligns with our [core values](https://skylight.digital/company/values/)

Nice-to-haves

- Military or government experience
- Experience leading legacy modernization efforts or reverse-engineering legacy applications where the code, the documentation, and stakeholder knowledge don't agree
- Experience with web-based tech stacks (e.g., Java/React) and cloud infrastructure
- Experience coaching other engineers on the failure modes of AI-assisted development
- Experience delivering technology in government, regulated industries, or other public-benefit settings
- A track record of staying aligned and accountable on remote teams

Don’t meet every qualification but think you can do the job? We’d still love to hear from you. If you’re excited about the role, apply. We consider candidates with a range of backgrounds and experiences.

Other requirements

- Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.
- All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories.
- This contract requires U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
- You must be able to obtain and maintain a Common Access Card (CAC), which requires a favorable background check.
- You must complete a company background check successfully.

Logistics

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Travel

Expect occasional travel to Air Force bases across the U.S., quarterly at most.

Expected start date

November 2026

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Software Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

- Associate Software Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
- Software Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
- Software Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
- Senior Software Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
- Staff Software Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
- Principal Software Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

## Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

- Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance
- Life and AD&D insurance
- Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
- Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
- Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
- Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
- Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
- Business development / sales bonuses
- Referral bonuses
- Annual $2000 allowance for professional development
- Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
- Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
- Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
- An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

Our process includes a preliminary screen, a skills interview, a behavioral interview, and a reverse interview where you meet your potential team — usually four conversations across two to three weeks. Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

- Visit our [join page](https://skylight.digital/careers/join/#interview-process) to learn more about how our interview process works.
- Check out our [Career Pathways framework](https://skylight.digital/careers/career-pathways/) to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
- Browse our [case studies](https://skylight.digital/work/experience/) to learn more about our work.

If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at recruiting@skylight.digital.

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.

## About Skylight

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Skylight is a digital consultancy that helps government agencies deliver better public services through human-centered design, lean-agile engineering, and digital transformation.
- **Entity Type**: Private (startup stage; offers stock options)
- **Headquarters**: Sarasota, Florida, USA (distributed/remote team across 34 states)
- **Founded**: June 2017
- **Founders**: Chris Cairns (President, co-founder of 18F and Technology Transformation Services)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Digital government consulting; public sector digital transformation
- **Target customers**: U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies (e.g., Veterans Affairs, immigration services)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Make government work in a digital world” – helping agencies become digital-first through culture change, modern practices, and empowered talent.

## Products & Services
Skylight offers professional services, not packaged products. Key service areas:
- **Digital Strategy & Transformation**: Roadmaps, operating model design, and organizational change management.
- **Human-Centered Design & Research**: User research, service design, and accessible interface design.
- **Lean-Agile Engineering**: Custom software development, DevOps, cloud migration, and modern infrastructure.
- **Data Science & Engineering**: Data pipelines, analytics, and machine learning for public-sector use cases.
- **Security & Compliance**: Security engineering, FedRAMP readiness, and zero-trust architecture.
- **Procurement & Acquisition**: Helping agencies buy digital services effectively using modern contracting methods.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Team size of 164 people (as of latest update); no public revenue or funding data
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Co-founded the **Digital Services Coalition**; no external investors disclosed (appears bootstrapped)
- **Growth Signals**: Growing headcount (164 people across 34 states), expanding client base to include Canadian government (Ottawa), active hiring for multiple senior/staff roles

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep government DNA**: Leadership and many team members came from 18F, U.S. Digital Service, and Presidential Innovation Fellows – giving them insider knowledge of how government works.
- **Culture-first approach**: Openly shares knowledge, treats every interaction as a teaching opportunity, and prioritizes culture change as a core part of transformation.
- **Distributed & remote-native**: Built as a remote-first company from the start, allowing them to attract top talent nationwide.
- **Public-service mission**: Employees are driven by impact, not profit – creating strong alignment with government clients.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling digital mastery**: Helping agencies institutionalize modern practices (human-centered design, lean-agile) rather than just delivering projects.
- **Expanding into defense & security**: Actively hiring a Vice President of Defense & Security, indicating a push into national security clients.
- **Building the talent pipeline**: Offering paid internships and apprenticeships to grow the next generation of civic tech practitioners.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work**: Directly improve public services for veterans, immigrants, and millions of other citizens.
- **Remote-friendly & flexible**: Distributed team across 34 states; decide when, where, and how to work.
- **Competitive compensation**: Salary, stock options (stake in company), performance rewards, referral bonuses.
- **Benefits**: 401(k) match up to 10% of salary; up to $2,000/year professional development budget; up to 12 weeks paid parental leave; medical/dental/vision with significant premium coverage; life insurance; HSA/FSA.
- **Time off**: Flexible PTO (≈25 days/year) plus 11 paid federal holidays.
- **Tech & swag**: Annual tech budget up to $750; $100 swag budget.
- **Culture**: Strong emphasis on growth mindset, inclusivity, and continuous improvement; code of conduct; community involvement (charitable donation match up to $500/year).
- **Hiring process**: All interviews via video; focuses on getting to know you, not trick questions; accommodations available.

## Sources
1. [skylight.digital - Home](https://skylight.digital/)
2. [skylight.digital - Join Us](https://skylight.digital/careers/join/)
3. [skylight.digital - Team](https://skylight.digital/company/about/)
4. [Greenhouse - Jobs at Skylight](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skylighthq)

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