About Mighty Acorn

At Mighty Acorn, we make it easier for governments to deliver world-class digital services. From renewing a fishing license to applying for unemployment benefits, we build digital services that enhance public trust and satisfaction.

Our vision is a world where “good enough for government work” returns to its pedestal: fast, reliable, and frustration-free. We achieve this by empowering people, increasing transparency, breaking down silos, and moving together toward a shared goal.

Specializing in modern software development, DevSecOps, and scalable infrastructure, we focus on leveraging automation to manage complexity, accelerate transformation, shorten feedback loops, and reduce risk to build a world where government programs run reliably, smoothly, and efficiently.

While our team averages 10+ years of experience in the industry, we are a relatively new (formed in 2023) professional services company. Our government clients engage us to improve their digital products and services in a way that ensures better outcomes for their users and stakeholders. That means our clients hire us for our expertise, which we bill our time for.

Technical Architects at Mighty Acorn

This Position Is Contingent, Pending Contract Award.

At Mighty Acorn, our work sits at the intersection of technology and public service. We partner with government agencies to design, launch, and modernize digital services that directly impact millions of people. Technical Architects at Mighty Acorn play a critical role in navigating this intersection. As cross-functional engineering leaders, they help shape the technical foundations and delivery approach for services the public depends on. Their work directly contributes to increasing public trust and satisfaction by building systems that are reliable, accessible, secure, and responsive to the needs of the people they serve.

They bring a proven track record of using their technical expertise and leadership skills to earn trust and influence within large, often complex government agencies. They guide technical and non-technical stakeholders in breaking down ambitious goals into smaller pieces and lead a team of engineers through a successful iterative delivery process. In this capacity their consultative and adaptable approach helps them confidently navigate both the business and the technical needs as new information or requirements emerge.

While the technology, size, and nature of the projects can vary wildly, each project serves a specific constituent need. Technical Architects are responsible for understanding that need, responsibly managing the tension between dreaming big and being realistic, given hard requirements and constraints, and guiding the implementation to launch.

Technical Architects have a track record of solving challenging technical problems in interesting ways due to their curiosity, willingness to try new things, and the courage to think outside the box. Their leadership and communication skills enable them to dive deep on a problem, see and account for the potential pitfalls, and bring people together around an idea and communicate it effectively.

The ideal candidate will be a polyglot, comfortable working across application code (Javascript, Typescript, and sometimes Python), infrastructure (Terraform and AWS), CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions) and automated testing (multiple frameworks). They should also be comfortable working with humans, whether that be clients, team members, or partner organizations.

On a day to day basis, you will be responsible for:

• Working directly, and at times independently, with technical and non-technical government stakeholders and other vendors to understand requirements, facilitate alignment on a technical approach, and clearly communicate the needs and solutions to the team while incorporating the team’s feedback.

• Collaborating with product managers, designers, and other engineers to plan and build the work while tactfully navigating objections and feedback to ensure decisions and progress are made.

• Planning for and participating in scrum team ceremonies (standup, planning, retro).

• Choosing a technical approach that solves the problem at hand (which may be novel), but is also possible to implement using a team that knows a specific set of tools.

• Having strong, loosely held opinions, influenced by data, research, and experience on complex technical matters related to the work.

• Designing processes and standards to codify decisions, ensure integrity, and improve long term sustainability of the application.

• Writing excellent code and providing specific, constructive code review feedback to others on the team.

• Planning, roadmapping, and architecting new work with minimal oversight (this might vary from full applications to infrastructure, to automated tests, based on your experience and the project).

• Actively coaching and mentoring others.

• Interacting with teams and systems where you don’t have full visibility or direct control.

Must have technical skills:

• 7+ years of engineering experience

• 2+ years of experience working in or with government agencies. 

• 2+ years of experience translating stakeholder requirements into architectural plans for development teams to build.

• Experience architecting infrastructure hosted on AWS.

• Experience building CI/CD workflows for automated testing and deployment.

• Experience architecting, maintaining and debugging web applications.

Must have nontechnical skills:

• Experience leading engineering teams in complex government environments.

• Experience balancing leadership with writing code (this job requires both).

• Effective technical communication skills, such as writing Architectural Decision Records or other methods of communicating decisions and rationale.

• Curiosity, patience, and resilience in solving problems.

• Comfortable delivering results in ambiguous client environments.

Nice to haves:

• 2+ years of Typescript/Javascript experience in a professional setting.

• Experience using infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform or Cloudformation

• AWS Certified Solution Architect or similar certification

• Experience working in professional services or government digital services.

• Experience building products and services for all users, regardless of ability, backed by knowledge of accessibility standards (Section 508 Refresh/WCAG 2.0 A and AA).

• Familiarity with popular web development technologies, third-party applications, and platforms.

• Experience or an interest in sharing your knowledge and experience at industry conferences.

• Familiarity with popular productivity tools, such as Google Workspace, Slack, and Notion.

Other requirements:

• An ability to work efficiently, sometimes under tight deadlines.

• A preference for transparency and an ability to be direct and transparent in your own communication.

• An ability to adapt quickly and cope with temporarily ambiguous situations as requirements change.

• This role requires work be performed from within the contiguous United States.

• Candidates must either hold active US citizenship or a green card, and should possess work authorization that does not require any present or future visa sponsorship by Mighty Acorn Digital.

• Candidates selected for the role must pass a criminal background check prior to their start date.

• Candidates must have a fast (>100Mbps) and reliable internet connection and have a dedicated workspace with background noise at an appropriate level for audio calls.

• Candidates must possess at least a Bachelor's degree.

If you don’t meet every requirement but believe you’d be great in this role, we’d love to hear from you! We’re committed to building diverse teams, and research shows that women and underrepresented groups often hesitate to apply unless they meet every qualification. Don't let that hold you back—let’s talk!

Please only submit through this application.

Please apply only through this application process. Direct emails regarding this position will be ignored, unless you're seeking a reasonable accommodation. Further, we are not seeking partnerships with recruiters or agencies for this role, and unsolicited resumes will not be considered. Only candidates that apply through this application will be considered and please do not also send your application materials directly in a follow up email.

Mighty Acorn Digital is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to fostering workplace diversity and inclusion. We firmly reject discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, age, gender, religious or political beliefs, national origin or heritage, marital status, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, genetic information, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran or any characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Mighty Acorn participates in the E-Verify program. Upon hire, we'll share your Form I-9 details with the U.S. federal government to validate your eligibility to work in the U.S.

Please contact recruiting@mightyacorn.com if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.