Backend Software Engineer I/II (55745)
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy· enterprise· Oct 19, 2026 · 9d ago
Washington DC - Washington, DC 20005
Hybrid
Full-time
Mid
$100K–$158K est.
2+ years exp
Job description
Who We Are
The Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) is a self-sustaining nonprofit enterprise. Founded to help bridge the gap between policy and practice, our mission is to enable people and the planet to meet the pace of change by expanding access to new technologies that power more sustainable and equitable outcomes.
We are a fully remote team of award-winning professionals with decades of applied expertise and end-to-end GIS capabilities. By embracing whole-system thinking and state-of-the-art technology, we enable partners across public, private, and nonprofit sectors to tackle complex, real-world challenges—like housing affordability, ecosystem conservation, water management, and sustainable infrastructure—with greater clarity.
Our work liberates and connects key information, creates nuanced pictures of complex situations, and makes data easier to use, understand, and act on. We use tools like satellite data and artificial intelligence to deliver insights for impact.
At CGS, we believe that technology can be a tool for positive change. We are dedicated to building a diverse team that represents the communities and systems we live and work in. If you’re excited about this role but don’t meet every listed qualification, we encourage you to apply. We value potential, curiosity, and lived experiences, and know a more inclusive team makes us a stronger organization.
About the Lincoln Institute
CGS was established in 2020 at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, which seeks to improve quality of life through effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Through education, training, publications, and events, the Lincoln Institute integrates theory and practice to inform public policy decisions worldwide and has office locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Washington, DC; Phoenix, Arizona; and Beijing, China.
Position Overview
The Software Developer 1 position reports to the Associate Director for Technology for the Internet of Water. You will provide scripting, software development, and development-to-operations (DevOps) services. This is a backend/hybrid development role focused on building and maintaining the infrastructure that powers our water data systems.
We expect the Software Developer to have strong foundations in software design and an eagerness to learn and solve challenging problems. You will work across a diverse technology landscape that includes conventional relational databases, Esri and open-source geospatial platforms, cloud-optimized data stores, and increasingly, knowledge graph and semantic web technologies. You will conceptualize, design, build, and deploy new and innovative products and applications for our infrastructure to facilitate the wide offerings, capabilities, and feedback loops for water data management. We have high standards for code quality, all forms of testing, and intelligent architecture. Experience with JavaScript, Python, APIs, Linux, relational databases, Docker, and public cloud providers is desired.
This is a fixed-term full-time position at 37.5 hours/week reporting to the Associate Director, Data Engineering in Washington D.C., Cambridge, MA, Phoenix, AZ; or remotely. Occasional domestic and international travel up to 10% may be required. We expect the Software Developer to have strong foundations in software design and an eagerness to learn and solve challenging problems.
What You'll Do
Software Development
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Develop and modify internal and external-facing software as part of engineering teams that may include internal team staff and external collaborators and/or contractors.
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Focus on developing backend software components and services that interact with upstream and downstream components (including front-end user interfaces and back-end data management and transformation processes and APIs).
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Develop reusable tools, libraries, and frameworks for data integration, analysis, and visualization that can be applied across multiple projects and initiatives.
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Produce high-quality code and software for data management, publication, aggregation, and visualization with appropriate documentation.
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Ensure reproducibility, accessibility, and sustainability of Center-developed software and data systems.
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Participate in all aspects of the application development life cycle, including specifications, prototypes, development, quality assurance, deployment, and operations and maintenance.
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Design, develop, and maintain efficient data pipelines that extract data from various data sources, transform it into a unified data model, and push it to a destination data store through strong collaboration with water, land, and housing domain experts to understand data sources and requirements.
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Develop end-to-end systems for data harmonization, geocoding, and integration of large, heterogeneous datasets from diverse sources.
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Implement data validation and cleansing processes to ensure high data quality and integrity.
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Identify and integrate new technologies and tools to improve data processing and storage.
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Work closely with water domain experts to translate domain-specific needs into technical requirements.
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Create and maintain documentation for data pipelines, including data models, ETL processes, and data flow diagrams.
DevOps and Infrastructure
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Assume principal responsibility for CI/CD of web services as well as software and data releases.
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Support research, development, and operations by troubleshooting and resolving issues that arise.
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Take technical responsibility for systems and be on the lookout for opportunities for new systems, improvement of existing systems, and work with the team to keep systems scaling and performing optimally.
Collaboration and Growth
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Participate in team code reviews, present your work for feedback, and provide constructive feedback to others.
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Clearly communicate technical capabilities, limitations, issues, and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences, including stakeholders, partners, and domain experts.
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Work collegially and successfully in interdisciplinary teams with colleagues from various topical backgrounds and different skill levels and communication levels.
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Contribute to grant proposals, technical documentation, and reports that support CGS and Internet of Water initiatives.
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Participate in training, workshops, and outreach activities to promote best practices in water data management and geospatial solutions.
Logistical and/or Technical Skills
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Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field or equivalent practical experience
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2-4 years of API development and documentation experience, including complying with OpenAPI 3.0 or other standards-based APIs
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Experience building data pipelines for large, heterogeneous datasets from diverse sources
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Fluency in Python
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Proficiency in relational databases and SQL
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Experience with designing, developing, deploying and monitoring data systems (such as PostgreSQL, DuckDB, Snowflake, Apache Spark)
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Proficiency with Docker
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Experience contributing to open-source projects and using open standards
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Demonstrated application of reproducible software development practices including testing, documentation, and version control
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Experience with git or other source code control systems
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U.S. Citizen, or legally authorized to work in the United States with no need for future sponsorship.
Knowledge, Skills, Capabilities
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Collegial and able to work successfully in interdisciplinary teams with colleagues from various topical backgrounds and different skill levels and communication levels
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Exceptional critical thinking skills with the ability to deconstruct complex problems, prioritize issues, and implement sensible solutions
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Strong ability to communicate technical and computational concepts clearly to non-technical audiences, including domain experts, stakeholders, and partners
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Self-motivated and goal-oriented with the ability to take an innovative, strategic, and analytical approach to research and collaboration
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Desire to learn new skills and solve problems
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Willingness and ability to learn new frameworks, data structures, and infrastructure
Desired
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Understanding of large, high performance, highly scalable, highly resilient server-based architectures including replication/failover, distributed architectures, caches, auto scaling, sharding, rate limiting, and security
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Familiarity with geospatial data structures and infrastructure, with emphasis on vector data (e.g., GeoPandas, GDAL, PostGIS, GeoJSON, Geoparquet), raster data management experience is a plus
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Familiarity with environmental, social, administrative data
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Familiarity with RDF, knowledge graphs, and JSON-LD
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Familiarity with ETL orchestration tools and frameworks (e.g. Airflow, Airbyte, Dagster)
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Experience with CI/CD tools and methods
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Experience with public cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and DigitalOcean, including networking and serverless infrastructure
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Familiarity with the ActivityPub protocol
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Familiarity with JavaScript and at least one web framework such as Rails, Django, Vue, React
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Familiarity with geospatial front-end frameworks (e.g. leaflet, openlayers)
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Experience with data visualization and dashboard frameworks (e.g., D3.js, Plotly, Dash, Observable)
Compensation Overview
The salary market range for this role is $76,000-85,000 or up to $96,000 depending on the level of education and years of experience. Please review our benefits as the total compensation for this position is between $103,000-$130,000 with no dental plan premiums, the Institute paying 95% of medical plan premiums, four-day workweeks and a 15% retirement contribution.
Our Benefits
Include but are not limited to (a) 3x employer contribution towards retirement matching your employee contribution up to 15%, (b) health insurance, (c) dental insurance, (d) vision insurance, (e) health reimbursement account, (f) short-term disability coverage, (g) long term disability coverage, (h) paid parental leave, (i) voluntary insurances such as accident insurance, (j) health care flexible spending, (k) dependent care flexible spending, (l) paid time off for holidays, vacation, personal, sick, bereavement, and jury duty, (m) office closure between December 24 – Jan 1 each calendar year, (n) flexible schedule and option for a compressed 4 day workweek, (o) tuition and staff development reimbursement, (p) pet insurance, and (q) Employee Assistance Program.
Our Values
Cooperation and Teamwork, Forthright Feedback, Initiative, Acceptance of Responsibility, Multicultural Sensitivity
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is dedicated to creating an inclusive work environment by hiring, training, promoting, and carrying out personnel procedures with respect to compensation, benefits, transfers, layoffs, or terminations, on the basis of individual merit, experience, and ability without regard to race (including traits historically associated with race such as hair texture, length of hair, protective hairstyles or cultural or religious headdresses), color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), ancestry, citizenship status, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, military service, serious medical condition, expunged juvenile record, personal appearance, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, status as a victim, credit information, homelessness status, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by law or otherwise.
Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.
Non-Smoking Organization
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a Non-Smoking organization. Smoking and the use of tobacco products are prohibited at all times and on all property owned, leased, or under the control of Lincoln Institute of Land Policy at all times, including, but not limited to, indoor and outdoor grounds, walkways and sidewalks, parking lots, company vehicles, and private vehicles parked on Lincoln Institute of Land Policy property.
MA Polygraph Statement
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
Paid Time Off
Parental Leave