Lead Software Engineer
•Backblaze· 2h
💻 Engineering⏰ Full-time🎯 Lead / Principal💰 $245k-265k🇺🇸 USA
2h ago
Kaizenlabs·about 5 hours ago
Government technology has failed the public for decades, and Americans have been conditioned to expect websites from the 90s for essential public services.
Kaizen exists to strengthen trust in American public services by building technology that residents and public servants are proud to use. We partner with local, state, and federal agencies to replace legacy systems with modern, AI-native software that is worthy of the people they serve. We started in outdoor recreation, and now we're building toward something much larger — the software layer that powers how Americans access any government service.
Our platform reaches 55 million Americans across 50+ agencies. Our goal: build technology that touches the lives of 100 million residents by the end of the year.
Founded in 2022 and based in New York City, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital. We're builders, designers, and operators who believe that beautifully designed software shouldn't be a luxury in government. It's how you earn trust back.
Authorization status gates what Kaizen can bid and deliver. We have active federal contracts across civilian and defense agencies, and every pursuit in our pipeline turns on it. We are standing up a dedicated compliance function to own the obligations, the paperwork of record, and the accuracy of everything we submit.
You will build and run that function, working directly with the engineering lead, the incoming security engineer, and the executive team.
New York, NY or Washington, D.C. (Hybrid). This is the permanent version of the role. We are also posting a contract equivalent for the same scope. The differences are that this one carries the authorization program long term, including the path from Moderate to High, and a path to holding the FSO designation yourself.
FedRAMP. We are pursuing certification under the current Certification Class framework in a government cloud region, built on the 20x pathway rather than a legacy Rev 5 program. The change-control side of an authorization matters here as much as the initial package. You own the operations side: control implementation status, the inherited-versus-owned split, POA&M currency, continuous monitoring, Key Security Indicators, the machine-readable package, marketplace status, and the evidence flow to our independent assessor. You also own the significant-change process, which is the mechanism that makes the model work.
DoD Impact Levels. Our work spans multiple impact levels and they do not all sit in the same place. Some run in environments we operate, others inside a customer's or a partner's. This role owns knowing the reciprocity map cold, reading a hosting platform's actual authorization coverage against the agency in front of us, and getting the control-responsibility matrix from whoever holds the boundary. Reciprocity is inconsistent, so it has to be verified per agency rather than assumed.
CMMC. A separate track from the product, and keeping the two separate is part of the job: 800-53 governs what we deliver to the government, 800-171 governs how Kaizen itself handles controlled information. You run the self-assessment against NIST 800-171 Rev 2, own a corporate CUI system security plan distinct from any product SSP, compute and maintain the SPRS score, keep the annual senior-official affirmation on schedule, and own the POA&M entries. You drive the scoping decision, which is the single biggest cost lever in the program. Familiarity with the DFARS safeguarding and incident-reporting clauses matters here.
Own the POA&M end to end: keep it current, submit it to our hosting partner on the contractual cadence, and make sure what gets signed is accurate
Run NIST 800-171 self-assessment workbooks to completion, maintain the SPRS score, and drive remediation items in priority order through to close
Manage all federal contract and agency paperwork: DD Form 254, DD Form 2345, JCP registration, PIEE and SPRS portal administration, SAM.gov, agency security questionnaires, and DFARS security clause flowdowns
Track every live contractual SLA, from incident notification through periodic reviews and annual affirmations, and prove we met them
Own the obligation register. Read every federal contract and subcontract for what it actually binds us to, including FAR and DFARS flowdowns, and run the register that tracks it. This reaches well past security into employee notices, required training, prohibited technology, EEO and labor reporting, OCI, and business ethics. Much of it gets executed by People Ops, legal or IT, but one person has to hold the map
Sit in on new federal contracts and subcontracts before signature and flag what we are agreeing to
Build and maintain the control-to-evidence mapping so any control's status is a two-minute answer instead of an archaeology dig through tickets
Own personnel security operations: US-person verification, background screening at federal-aligned tiers, onboarding and offboarding access controls, and quarterly access reviews
Lead FCL readiness: FSO vendor selection, key personnel clearance sequencing, SF 328 disclosures, and NISS submission when sponsorship lands, with a path to holding the FSO designation yourself
Direct experience submitting in federal portals, SPRS and PIEE specifically. "Supported" and "submitted" are different things
Has run a NIST 800-171 self-assessment or RMF package end to end, with personal accountability for the outcome
Has computed a SPRS score and can explain the mechanics without looking them up: the 110-control basis, the weighting, and what a POA&M entry does to it
Hands-on with NIST 800-53 Rev 5 inside a real SSP, not just reading one. Knows what a control implementation statement has to say to survive an assessor
Current on FedRAMP as it exists in 2026, and fluent in 20x specifically. Certification Classes, Key Security Indicators, machine-readable packages, continuous validation. We are building on 20x, so experience that stops at Rev 5 documentation will be working against the grain here
Knows where Rev 5 still binds. High remains a Rev 5 process and new Rev 5 certifications stop in June 2027. Knowing which parts of a roadmap that constrains is more useful to us than depth in either framework alone
Can reason about a shared authorization boundary: which controls are inherited, which are shared, which stay application-specific, and what kind of change triggers a significant-change request
Working knowledge of the DoD Cloud Computing SRG and how Impact Levels sit on FedRAMP baselines. The CSP and Mission Owner split matters here, and so does reading a hosting platform's ATO coverage against the agency doing the buying
Has worked opposite a 3PAO or independent assessor on evidence requests and knows what they accept in practice
Can read a contract for FAR and DFARS flowdowns and turn them into a tracked obligation register. If you have run a subcontract flowdown matrix, say so
Background in federal or defense contracting (agency-side, prime, or sub) where you owned a compliance function rather than a slice of one
Has been the only compliance person at an organization; you know how to close a loop without a team behind you
US person, eligible for a Tier 3 background investigation; DC-based or NYC-based with regular in-office presence
An active or recently held clearance is a meaningful accelerant. Existing investigations don't convert, and a Tier 3 takes roughly five months
Have owned a FedRAMP authorization through to completion, on the provider or the assessor side. This is the most valuable thing on this list and it moves our offer
Have written OSCAL by hand, or stood up a trust center against live control indicators
Bring a military background in security, intelligence, or information security (unit security manager, SSO, S2/G2, cyber operations, or similar)
Hold a CMMC CCP or RP, or have direct experience with eMASS, Xacta, Paramify, or equivalent GRC tools in a federal context
Know the GovRAMP reciprocity path into FedRAMP Class A
Come from a GovTech or SaaS company actively pursuing FedRAMP or CMMC, rather than one that already holds it
Your compliance background is in financial services, insurance, or telecom. Large-team GRC with no federal exposure doesn't transfer here
You've assessed federal compliance programs but never owned one. Assessing a program and being accountable for it are different jobs
Your first instinct when asked about our SPRS score is to open a platform and run a report rather than know the number and the story behind it
You need a clean program to walk into. Your first 90 days are inventory, triage, and unglamorous paperwork
Owning a high-side authorization end to end is what you want as your next move. The near-term scope here is the base authorization and the operating machinery around it
Accuracy under commercial pressure is negotiable for you. What we submit carries real legal exposure, and holding the truthful answer is the job
Health & Insurance
100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents.
$100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/7 virtual visits, and offices all over the city.
Fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match.
Family & Time Off
16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!)
Closed for all federal holidays.
Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
Company offsites throughout the year.
Office & Remote Setup
Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees.
$50/month commuter benefit (company contribution).
Expensed lunch while in the office.
Company-provided laptop of your choice.
Wellness
Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us. For remote employees, $100/month dedicated to gym or physical fitness reimbursement.
Stipends
$100/month utility stipend.
$500/year professional development.
$250/year recreation.
$300/quarter pet care stipend.