Senior Software Engineer

About Project Liberty

Project Liberty is leading the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age by ensuring they have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Started in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt and supported by a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty includes the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty's activities include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is stewarded by the Institute and freely available as a piece of digital public infrastructure. DSNP serves as the bedrock of a more equitable web enabling a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.

About The Role

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build and enhance our Frequency Access product. This role is ideal for someone with deep JVM ecosystem expertise, strong backend development skills, and experience with distributed systems. While our backend is written in Kotlin, prior Kotlin experience is not required—a strong grasp of Spring, JVM technologies, and modern backend development will set you up for success. You’ll work on high-performance backend systems, optimizing APIs, managing data pipelines, and ensuring scalability. If you're passionate about solving complex challenges in a high-availability environment, we'd love to talk.

Tech Stack

• Primary Language: Kotlin (but prior Kotlin experience is optional)
• Frameworks & Tools: Spring (Spring Boot, Spring Data), Thymeleaf
• Databases: PostgreSQL, Redis
• Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes (optional but a plus)
• Build & CI/CD: Gradle, GitHub Actions (or similar)

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop & Maintain: Design and implement backend features, APIs, and services for our Frequency Access product.
• Optimize Performance: Ensure high availability, scalability, and efficiency of our services.
• Collaborate: Work closely with frontend engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.
• Enhance Data Flow: Optimize how we store and retrieve data using Postgres and Redis.
• Improve Developer Experience: Contribute to best practices, tooling, and automation to improve our development process.

Required Skills and Experience:

• 5+ years of backend development experience in the JVM ecosystem (Java, Kotlin, Scala, or similar).
• Deep knowledge of Spring (Spring Boot, Spring Data, etc.).
• Strong database experience with PostgreSQL (query optimization, indexing, etc.).
• Experience with Redis for caching and data storage.
• Proficiency in designing scalable APIs and distributed systems.
• Solid understanding of concurrency, multithreading, and JVM performance tuning.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure is a plus.’

The expected salary range for this position is $160,000 - $190,000 annually. The actual salary offer will be determined on factors including the qualifications, experience, skills, and abilities of the applicant. This role is also eligible for an incentive bonus. You’ll find a competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits package here at Project Liberty.

Project Liberty is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetics, disability, age, familial, caregiver or veteran status, or any other status protected under applicable law.