Senior/Software Engineer (Tech Modernization)

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.

As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.

Position summary

As a Legacy Lockpicks Engineer, you will help define and build innovative approaches to legacy system modernization. You will work across the modernization lifecycle, from understanding complex legacy applications to designing migration strategies, validating replacement systems, and developing tools that accelerate modernization efforts.

This role is ideal for a full-stack engineer who enjoys solving difficult technical problems, rapidly prototyping new ideas, and exploring how emerging technologies can be applied to real-world modernization challenges. You do not need to be a generative AI expert, but you should be excited to learn and experiment in a fast-moving space.

What you'll do

• Survey the technical landscape to identify the right tools, platforms, and technologies to accomplish modernization objectives
• Develop solutions that leverage generative AI and traditional engineering approaches to understand legacy systems and their business rules
• Build proofs of concept, prototypes, and demonstration applications that showcase modernization capabilities
• Design and implement approaches for translating legacy systems into modern architectures and technology stacks
• Develop solutions that reduce modernization risk by validating replacement applications and ensuring functional parity
• Brainstorm and evaluate multiple approaches to complex technical problems, identifying trade-offs and risks
• Experiment with new technologies and methodologies to rapidly identify successful patterns and limitations
• Collaborate with engineering teams, subject matter experts, and government stakeholders to understand constraints and build support for modernization strategies
• Create reusable patterns, playbooks, and processes that help teams modernize legacy systems more effectively
• Support modernization efforts by applying tools and approaches to real-world client challenges

Required skills

• Ability to quickly learn new technologies, patterns, and concepts
• Strong knowledge of legacy system modernization and migration patterns
• Experience integrating with, modernizing, or migrating legacy systems
• Experience refactoring, maintaining, or extending complex full-stack applications using a variety of frameworks and technologies
• Proven ability to rapidly prototype concepts to validate technical feasibility and identify implementation risks
• Ability to work independently and tu