Location: New York, United States
The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-partisan non-profit that equips the next generation of Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across lines of difference. It works with U.S. colleges and universities, offering co-curricular programming for students, professional development for faculty and staff, and strategic guidance to leadership. CDI was co-founded by psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
CDI is seeking an early-career Software Engineer to help build the technology behind its learning programs, including the Perspectives online learning platform and an AI-powered dialogue practice experience. You will be mentored by the Senior Technical Lead and work closely with the Product team. You will start with clearly scoped work, get regular guidance and code review, and take on more responsibility, including production support, as your skills grow. AI coding agents are part of the everyday workflow. The stack includes TypeScript, React and Next.js; Java and Spring Boot; Python; and AWS. You do not need to know all of it on arrival.
Responsibilities:
- Build and improve features for students, instructors and CDI staff, such as learning activities, progress displays and course and learner management tools.
- Work with the Senior Technical Lead and Product team to break product needs into clear tasks and deliver small, well-tested changes.
- Use AI coding agents to implement features, investigate bugs and explore unfamiliar code, and review and test their output before treating it as finished.
- Diagnose problems by reproducing them, tracing application behavior, and using logs and tests.
- Write and maintain automated tests and take part in code reviews, with attention to accessibility, reliability and protecting learner data.
- Help monitor and support production systems, building toward taking part in incident response.
- Contribute to the tools and practices that make AI-assisted development effective at CDI.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- At least one hands-on engineering project beyond coursework (internship, co-op, job, freelance or sustained open-source work) in a shared codebase with code review.
- A working foundation in at least one programming language, and a project you can explain.
- Understanding of web application basics, including how a user interface communicates with an API and how data is stored and retrieved.
- Thoughtful use of AI development tools, clear communication, and motivation for CDI's mission.
- Preferred: experience with JavaScript or TypeScript and React, Next.js or a similar framework, or exposure to Java, Spring Boot or Python; familiarity with automated testing or SQL; interest in accessible design or education technology.
Details: Salary $72,000-$82,000 per year. Full-time, remote, must be based in the U.S., with flexible hours within U.S. time zones. Reports to the Senior Technical Lead. Target start date 12/01/2026. Benefits include unlimited PTO plus 13 company holidays, health, vision and dental coverage, a 401(k) match of up to 3%, a professional development budget, and remote-work reimbursements.
HOW TO APPLY:
Apply online through the Constructive Dialogue Institute Recruitee page. The form asks for your name, email, phone number and CV/resume, plus short written answers about CDI's mission, a software problem you solved, and your experience with AI development tools. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. without current or future sponsorship. CDI cannot sponsor employment visas.
https://constructivedialogue.recruitee.com/o/software-engineer-early-career