Software Engineer

Company Description

The Office of Innovation & Technology (OIT) is the central IT agency for the City of Philadelphia

headed by the Chief Information Officer. This position is within the OIT and assigned to the Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) IT unit, which is responsible for the creation of spatial data and online web applications and tools to support community planning and housing strategies. DPD regularly engages with the public, city officials and a wide array of stakeholders using geospatial data and web applications to obtain input on the formulation of neighborhood, district and housing plans and to communicate the work of the department with the public. The Department of Planning and Development is made of up multiple divisions including Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Philadelphia Historical Commission, Art Commission, ZBA, Division of Housing and Community Development, and partners with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation.

The primary responsibility of this position is web-based application development for the divisions of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) and its partner PHDC using industry-standard technologies and tools. This role involves working closely with the Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT), DPD stakeholders, and other City departments as required, overseeing the full software development lifecycle—from requirements gathering and design to development, implementation, and post-implementation support.

As a Software Engineer, you will work on both critical business systems and resident-facing applications, ensuring solutions are reliable, secure, and user-friendly. You will be primarily responsible for building APIs and UIs using our core technologies (.NET Core and Vue.js), while adhering to established City development standards and best practices. The role also requires contributing to technical documentation, testing, code reviews, and the maintenance of high-quality, scalable applications.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to solve complex problems, modernize legacy systems, and integrate with external data sources and services. Emphasis is placed on security, accessibility, and performance to support the City’s commitment to delivering efficient digital services for residents.

This is an opportunity to join a City government that operates the largest GitHub organization among municipalities (github.com / CityOfPhiladelphia), values open-source collaboration, and leverages modern cloud infrastructure to improve how residents and businesses interact with city government online. The position offers the chance to work in a mission-driven environment where your technical expertise directly contributes to the public good.

Job Description

Essential Functions

This role is primarily focused on backend development, with opportunities to work across the full stack to support project needs. You will lead and mentor a team of associate software engineers, ensuring adherence to development best practices, City standards, and secure coding guidelines. Responsibilities include reviewing code in our Git-based workflow, writing unit and integration tests, monitoring applications after launch, and providing ongoing support for applications built by you and your team. You will also collaborate with stakeholders at OIT and other departments as part of our agile development process.

Core Technical Requirements :

• Strong experience designing and building APIs for modern JavaScript and mobile clients, with clear opinions on API interfaces and implementation.
• Proficiency with .NET Core (3.x or greater).
• Deep experience collaborating with developers using Git / GitHub and participating in structured code review processes.
• Experience with Vue.js preferred; experience in React or Angular will also be considered.
• Strong belief in test-driven development : “if it isn’t tested, it isn’t done.”
• Comfort with troubleshooting, debugging, and researching complex or obscure issues.
• Ability to interpret incomplete requirements, ask clarifying questions, and deliver effective solutions.
• A holistic perspective on projects, with the ability to anticipate challenges, remove blockers, and take ownership of outcomes.

Application Design & Development

Collaboration

Providing Expertise

Other Duties

Qualifications

Experience in Web or software development, or design a plus

Experience working in a large governmental, or non-profit agency is a plus; in particular, knowledge of Planning or Housing operations and / or the City of Philadelphia.

Knowledge of and Skills in :

Experience with the following technologies is a plus :

Ability to :

Additional Information

Salary Range : $70,000-$85,000

Salary Range cannot exceed $85,000

All applications must include a cover letter. Applications without a cover letter will be considered incomplete.

Did you know?

Effective May 22, 2023, vaccinations are  no longer required  for new employees that work in non-medical, non-emergency or patient facing positions with the City of Philadelphia. As a result, only employees in positions providing services that are patient-facing medical care (ex : Nurses, doctors, emergency medical personnel), must be fully vaccinated.

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race,

ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to faqpchr @phila.gov. For more information, go to : Human Relations Website :

http : / / www.phila.gov / humanrelations / Pages / default.aspx