Software Engineer (Full-Stack)

Company: The Clearing House
Location: Herndon
Posted on: April 12, 2025

Job Description:

Are you looking for more than just a job and do you want to make a difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today!We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work - performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment - provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouse's unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making.About the Role:We are seeking a Java full-stack developer that is willing and able to learn other technologies, new, existing, and old. In this role, you conduct analysis, design, development, testing, and debugging of Clearinghouse database-driven application programs. You will assist the development team in providing comprehensive support for existing and new applications, and offer expertise regarding methods, standards and technical considerations for software applications.The Clearinghouse is planning on modernizing its application portfolio to be hosted in a hybrid cloud environment from its current on-premise environment. This modernization effort will also include migrating to an open source technology stack. This position works in an Agile/Scrum environment where the focus is on the teamwork and ownership of each project. The ideal incumbent has a drive for learning new things and is passionate about engineering end-to-end technical solutions. A commitment to collaborative problem solving, sophisticated design, and product quality are essential.Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.How You Contribute:

• Demonstrate NSC's competencies, which align with our corporate values. Manager will provide more detail to candidates as needed.
  • Core Competencies include: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.Customer Focus:
    • Analyze, design, develop, test, and debug web and/or cloud based multi-tier database-driven Java applications and components to support business requirements. Testing is inclusive of automated testing as part of an automated test suite which has been adopted by the development team.
    • Support production issues as required.
    • Diagnose problems, troubleshoot, and develop technical solutions.
    • Create and maintain technical and knowledgebase documentation.
    • Solve problems independently with minimal technical or managerial guidance.
    • Develop code that conforms to defensive coding practices that supports the OWASP Top 10 and is evaluated for security (e.g., cross site scripting, SQL injection) and improper coding practices by tools such as BURP Suite, JaCoCo, SonarQube and Fortify.
    • Build reusable code and libraries for future use.
    • Develop and optimize applications for maximum speed and scalability. Applications may have performance SLAs that must be met.
    • Participate in the creation and maintenance of technical and knowledgebase documentation.
    • Collaborate with project team members to deliver technical solutions.Communicates Effectively:
      • Communicate clearly and effectively across IT, business process owners, and customers.
      • Communicate progress and challenges to management.Be Open and Authentic:
        • Demonstrate openness to new perspectives and ideas.
        • Build trust with internal and external stakeholders by demonstrating consistency between words and actions.Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.What You Bring to the Table:
          • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. A combination of education and experience, including through military service will also be considered.
          • Proficiency with a combination of the following (typically acquired by 4-7 years of experience):
            • Strong Java programming and/or legacy programming language, hands-on professional software development, hands-on SQL, and experience with building end-to-end solutions with front-end frameworks and integration with backend data services using API Web/REST Services.
            • Demonstrated experience with Spring Boot and Spring framework.
            • Experience building Web Service application development, Cloud native application development, MVC Frameworks and/or multi-tier architectures.
            • Experience working in large data centric application environment and detailed understanding of business tier modeling, data flows, data architecture and real-time/batch-based processing.
            • Experience developing cloud-based applications using open-source technology, containers, and microservices.
            • Experience with AWS services EC2, S3, CloudFront, API Gateway, Lambda, RDS, Postgres, IAM Roles and Policies, CloudFormation Templates, Terraform, Kubernetes etc.
            • Experience with building component-based Single-Page Application (SPA) using Angular with Typescript or similar JavaScript frameworks.
            • Experience with frontend technologies like Angular and associated unit testing frameworks like Jasmine, KARMA and others.
            • Experience with CI/CD tools like Gitlab and DevSecOps practices and tools.
            • Agile/Scrum procedures and processes.
            • Analyzing, troubleshooting, and debugging issues in a Production environment.
            • Certification as an AWS Developer/AWS Solutions Architect preferred.
            • Experience with accessibility and/or section 508 or WCAG 2.0 AA compliance.
            • Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
            • Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of working effectively both in a team environment and independently.
            • Demonstrates the Clearinghouse's core competencies: customer focus, optimizes work processes, communicates effectively, collaborates, and is open and authentic.
            • Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. We do not intend to sponsor external applicants for work visas, and may consider sponsorship only if no qualified candidates can be found who are authorized to work without sponsorship.
            • Must be at least 18 years old.Physical Demands:
              • Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
              • Use of a copy machine and telephone.
              • Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day in close proximity to others in an open office environment.
              • Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
              • Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
              • Travel via car, train and airplane when needed.
              • Occasional overtime and work on weekends may be necessary to support production deployment.Benefits and Related InformationThe National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account, are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays, up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period, and up to 5 days of paid military leave per calendar year. Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 11 paid holidays per year.Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health and well-being benefits. To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!This job announcement was posted to the National Student Clearinghouse's Careers site at www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers on 2/26/2025 and the online application period will be open for at least 3 days. A completed online application is required to be considered for this opportunity.Internal Candidates: If you feel that you qualify and meet the requirements of the job, we highly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Once the final candidates are selected, they can anticipate a review of the compensation prior to any offer made.Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor 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. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)
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Keywords: The Clearing House, Washington DC , Software Engineer (Full-Stack), IT / Software / Systems , Herndon, DC