Freelance Junior Mern Stack Developer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Description

What is VBG:

Veteran Benefits Guide has been proud to serve our nation's service members for more than 10 years. Founded by a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, VBG assists Veterans through the challenging VA claims process to efficiently secure their hard-earned benefits. Now operating with more than 250 team members nationwide, VBG has helped over 55,000 Veterans through the VA claims process. The company is dedicated to honoring service and supporting the Veteran community through ongoing advocacy, community partnerships, and meaningful opportunities within its workforce.

Who we're looking for:

Veterans Benefits Guide is seeking a skilled and motivated Full Stack Developer II to design, develop, and maintain scalable business applications that support organizational growth and operational excellence. This role is ideal for a developer who enjoys building high-quality software, solving complex problems, and collaborating across Product, Design, QA, and business teams.

As a member of the engineering team, you will participate in the full software development lifecycle, from solution design and development through testing, deployment, and support. You will help deliver secure, reliable, user-focused applications while contributing to engineering best practices and continuous improvement efforts.

What do we offer:

We invest in our people, supporting their growth through mentorship and professional development. We strive to offer a work-life balance, creating a culture that is people-focused and fun. Here are some of the benefits you can expect as part of our team:? 

• Work from home: Flexibility to work from home based on business needs and policies. 
• Work/life balance: We offer a Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. 
• Benefits: Choice of Medical, Vision, and Dental plans with company premium contributions, vacation and sick time, 8 paid holidays plus a floating holiday, 401k with company match after 90 days & other ancillary benefits.
• Growth and development: In-house training and on-the-job development prepare our employees for promotional advancement, leadership opportunities, and lateral transfer skill development. 

What You'll Do

Software Development

• Design, develop, test, and maintain full-stack web applications using the MERN stack.
• Build scalable, secure, and maintainable software solutions that support business objectives.
• Translate business and technical requirements into high-quality software solutions.
• Develop and maintain APIs, integrations, and backend services.
• Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve application issues across multiple system layers.
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to development standards and best practices.

Collaboration and Delivery

• Collaborate with Product, Design, QA, and business stakeholders throughout the development lifecycle.
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily standups, and other Agile ceremonies.
• Work closely with team members to deliver projects on schedule and within scope.
• Support user acceptance testing and production deployment activities.
• Assist with technical documentation, knowledge sharing, and application support.

Performance, Security, and Reliability

• Assist with requirements gathering and validation with internal stakeholders.
• Identify and address performance, scalability, and reliability issues.
• Follow secure coding practices and organizational security standards.
• Support application monitoring, troubleshooting, and operational support activities.
• Maintain technical documentation, including system architecture and deployment procedures.
• Ensure solutions meet performance, reliability, and maintainability expectations.

Continuous Improvement

• Stay current with emerging technologies, frameworks, and development tools.
• Identify opportunities to improve application performance and development processes.
• Participate in modernization, refactoring, and technical debt reduction initiatives.
• Support adoption of tools and technologies that improve team productivity and software quality.

What We're Looking For

• 4-7 years of full-stack software development experience.
• Strong experience developing applications using the MERN stack.
• Proficiency in JavaScript and modern front-end development practices.
• Experience with React, component-based architecture, state management, and responsive design.
• Strong experience developing RESTful APIs and backend services using Node.js and Express.js.
• Experience designing and working with MongoDB databases, data modeling, and query optimization.
• Experience with HTML5, CSS3, and modern UI development frameworks.
• Experience with TypeScript preferred.
• Experience integrating third-party APIs and services.
• Hands-on experience designing, deploying, and supporting applications within AWS environments.
• Experience with AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, EC2, S3, RDS, API Gateway, CloudWatch, IAM, or similar cloud-native services.
• Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker preferred.
• Experience with Kubernetes or other orchestration platforms is a plus.
• Strong understanding of software development best practices, Git, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing.
• Experience working in Agile development environments.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled development tools, AI-powered applications, large language models, prompt engineering, or related AI technologies is a strong plus.
• Experience in healthcare, benefits administration, or other regulated industries is a plus.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field preferred.
• Equivalent work experience will also be considered.
• Minimum of 4 years of professional software development experience.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• No direct supervisory responsibilities.
• Opportunity to collaborate closely with cross-functional teams and support knowledge sharing within the engineering organization.

Why VBG:

• VBG find meaning in their day-to-day work because every process, every project, and every decision connect back to real Veterans' lives.
• VBG fosters a culture that values service, integrity, and continuous improvement.
• When you work at VBG, you're not just advancing your career-you're honoring service, empowering Veterans, and helping to build a better system for those who gave so much.

EEO:

Veteran Benefits Guide provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including gender identity and gender expression) genetic characteristic, sexual orientation, registered domestic partner status, age, military or veteran status, hairstyle or hair texture, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.