Software Engineer L1 Jobs in Missouri (NOW HIRING)

CarePortal is Care-Sharing technology that drives action for local kids and families in crisis. We believe that through the Church and Community, there can be More Than Enough care for every child, through the power of Care-Sharing and the love of Jesus. Our goal is to scale meaningful connections through the local church, making a lasting impact on the lives of everyone involved. We mobilize robust Care-Sharing Networks and lead with Courage, Humility, and Excellence.

We do this through the local Church and in collaboration with child-serving organizations, businesses, and people who care—that’s where you come in.

Position Summary

The Product Engineer is the engineering member of a cross-functional, durable product team (the trio: a Product Manager, a Product Designer, and a Product Engineer), embedded on a vertical and participating in discovery and solution direction as a trio peer. They build CarePortal across the surfaces and systems where the product reaches users: desktop, mobile browser, native app, partner integrations, and the backend services that connect them. They write production code, design within established patterns, write tests first, bring engineering judgment into discovery early enough to change what the trio chooses to build, and use AI tools to find leverage. They carry delivery accountability for the trio's engineering work whether they ship it themselves or use Services capacity.

The role is not measured by ticket volume. It is measured by what reliably ships, the quality of what gets built, whether engineering judgment changed what the trio built for the better, and whether the system stays maintainable and predictable as it changes. At Level 3, the Product Engineer owns initiatives end to end including cross-cutting and integration work, sets the pattern and testing bar in the area they own, is deep enough in at least one area that the team relies on their judgment, coaches L1 and L2 engineers, and is a peer with the PM and Designer in figuring out what to build, not just how. Level 3 is the top of the IC Engineer track; it does not require people-management responsibility.

Core responsibilities

Engineering foundation (Level 3 bar)

The full Engineer Level 3 responsibilities and success measures apply in their entirety; the Product Engineer carries the complete Engineer L3 IC bar, covered here by dimension, in addition to the Product engineering craft below.

• Scope of accountability. Own initiatives end to end, including cross-cutting and integration work, advancing them without engineering leadership in the day-to-day loop.
• Independence and judgment. Operate with minimal direction; take ownership of ambiguous problems and return with proposals; resolve cross-team dependencies without escalating every time.
• Code quality and pattern stewardship. Set the bar for code patterns in the area you own: reuse high-quality patterns, distinguish current from deprecated ones, and introduce new patterns when justified, with the decision documented before the change lands.
• Test-Driven Development and test leadership. Set the testing bar and default to TDD reflexively; improve coverage patterns and test infrastructure in your area, and coach L1 and L2 engineers on TDD discipline through substantive review.
• Technical depth and area of expertise. Be deep enough in at least one area that other engineers rely on your judgment, and make that judgment accessible through artifacts, written guidance, and substantive PR reviews. Use AI tools fluently, including shared tooling intended for team use, treating AI output as a starting point and owning what ships regardless of how it was drafted.
• Refinement and feasibility framing. Act as the engineering partner on cross-cutting initiatives and integration work, bringing feasibility framing during refinement and integration design before code starts, captured in artifacts the team can reference. (Discovery participation as a trio peer is part of the Product engineering craft below and is graded there, not in this base bar.)
• System-level thinking. Reason about blast radius as a system property across the codebase, drive resolution of systemic issues rather than individual bugs, and produce framings the team can use to reason about a problem area.
• Delivery throughput, predictability, and flow risk. Deliver predictably across initiatives, including cross-cutting work; estimate with integration risk, dependencies, and blast radius in mind; and surface flow risk early.
• Communication, mentorship, and engineering-wide influence. Make engineering decisions visible to product, design, and leadership; coach L1 and L2 engineers; keep PR reviews and design conversations substantive; and contribute to engineering-wide standards and discussion.

Product engineering craft (specialization)

• Engineer inside the discovery loop, not after it. Run technical assumption tests, build throwaway prototypes that change framing, and price solution options in feasibility terms during framing rather than during refinement. Write the smallest thing that proves a suspicion before the trio commits.
• Use prototypes as a discovery tool. Decide when a disposable prototype is the right artifact to de-risk an assumption, what to keep, and what to throw away. Most engineering work prefers durable code; Product Engineering deliberately uses disposable code to learn.
• Shape the solution, not just judge its feasibility. Propose what to build, articulate tradeoffs across speed, quality, reliability, and scale, and surface hidden cost or hidden simplicity so the trio makes informed decisions. Engineering is a source of innovation in the trio, not just a feasibility check.
• Translate trio context. Carry product, customer, and business context back to Services engineers and other contributors to the vertical's work so they understand the why behind technical decisions, and keep the customer and business reasoning intact in what they build.
• Treat delivery as a learning loop. Ensure shipped work generates the data the trio needs to learn from, build operational soundness in rather than bolt it on, and remain accountable for the technical quality of what the trio ships whether you wrote it or Services capacity did.

Required qualifications

• Professional experience building production software in an object-oriented language (PHP, Java, C#, Python, or comparable), with demonstrated senior-level ownership.
• Experience developing and supporting REST API integrations against third-party systems, plus hands-on experience with SQL schema design, SOLID principles, and REST API design.
• Working comfort with unit and integration testing frameworks (PHPUnit, Pest, Dusk, or comparable) and a default of writing tests first.
• Ability to read an unfamiliar codebase and identify the patterns it is already using before adding to it.
• Direct experience bringing engineering judgment into product discovery: technical assumption testing, prototype-based learning, and shaping solution direction alongside product and design peers.
• Clear written communication. This role produces code, tests, documentation, PR descriptions, and discovery framings that others build and operate against.
• Comfort using AI tools to accelerate routine work without abdicating responsibility for what ships.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience working on empowered product teams or in outcome-oriented product organizations, as the engineering member of a product trio.
• Experience in Laravel or a comparable mature PHP framework, with CI/CD experience.
• Experience with native mobile development or cross-surface web and native delivery.
• Experience with payment, identity, or healthcare-adjacent integration patterns.
• Demonstrated depth in at least one area of expertise (integrations, performance, AI-accelerated workflows, or similar).

The above description is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather a focused list of priorities. Success provides the opportunity to not only build a career but also bring much-needed support and care to local children and families in crisis across the United States. Successful candidates, like all CarePortal, LLC employees, are expected to live and work consistent with CarePortal’s vision, mission, and values.

 CarePortal, LLC, a subsidiary of the nonprofit organization The Global Orphan Project (GO Project), is Care-Sharing technology that drives action for local kids and families in crisis.

This platform, which brings Christian churches to the point of care for each request made on behalf of children and families, can be used to connect a diverse network of churches, child-serving agencies, businesses, and individuals who care. Learn more at www.careportal.org.

CarePortal, LLC offers a competitive benefits package for full-time positions (30+ hours per week) including health, dental, vision and employer paid life insurance, retirement savings and generous PTO plan and a highly competitive, market-indexed compensation when compared to similar non-profit roles. Compensation is commensurate with relevant skills and experience.

The Global Orphan Project is a 501c3 nonprofit located at 3161 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO 64111.

CarePortal LLC associates are at-will employees.

www.goproject.org     www.careportal.org