Technical Solutions Engineer

State Affairs is the nation’s leading news and policy intelligence platform focused on state governments. We combine nonpartisan coverage of Statehouses across the country alongside state government data and AI-native tools into a singular platform. We inform and empower decision makers, policy professionals and citizens through our award-winning journalism and data – delivering profound insights to help our customers decode and act on state politics and policy. We’re building a category-defining business that will reshape America as we strengthen visibility into what’s happening and why at the state level.

We are hiring a Technical Solutions Engineer to join our team located in Washington, DC. As the Technical Solutions Engineer you will:

• Partner with Account Executives to close enterprise deals. Join discovery and demo calls, qualify technical fit, and own the technical win from the first meeting through signature.
• Run tailored demos and proofs of concept. Build custom demos, prototypes and POCs in React/Next.js and Node/TypeScript that show a prospect's own policy issues, states and workflows.
• Speak the tech, in plain language. Explain our data, APIs, AI features, security posture and architecture to CIOs, engineers, government affairs leads and procurement teams alike.
• Own security reviews and RFPs. Answer technical questionnaires, security and compliance reviews, and the technical sections of RFPs.
• Build integrations and AI workflows. Scope and build lightweight integrations (APIs, data feeds, SSO, CRM and internal tools) and LLM-powered workflows that get customers to value fast.
• Be the voice of the customer to Product and Engineering. Turn what you hear in deals into clear feature requests, scoped milestones and the occasional pull request of your own.
• Make the sales team sharper. Create reusable demo environments, technical one-pagers, integration guides and objection answers, and train AEs on the technical story.
• Hand off cleanly. Partner with Customer Success on onboarding so technical commitments made in the sale are delivered after it.

Essential Qualifications for this position include:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or related field
• 2+ years of prior professional work experience as a full-stack software engineer.
• Prior professional work experience with React/Next.js and Node/TypeScript. You can build a working prototype in days, not weeks.
• Prior professional work experience in closing deals: you've supported a sales cycle, run demos for senior audiences, and enjoy the win.
• Solid SQL and schema design skills (Postgres).
• Ability to work with REST APIs, webhooks, authentication/SSO and common enterprise integration patterns.
• Ability to use LLM coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) to move faster on prototypes and debugging.
• Working knowledge of AWS, Docker and CI/CD (GitHub Actions), and enough security and compliance fluency to handle an enterprise security review.
• Excellent communication skills. You can whiteboard an architecture for engineers, then explain the same thing to a non-technical executive in two minutes.
• Willingness to do occasional travel to customer sites for meetings, as needed.

Preferred Qualifications for this position include:

• Prior professional work experience in a start-up organization
• 2+ years in a customer-facing role such as solutions engineering, sales engineering, forward-deployed engineering or technical consulting.
• Prior professional work experience selling into enterprises, trade associations, government affairs teams or the public sector.

This is an onsite work opportunity and our teams operate from the State Affairs office in Washington, DC (located at L and 15th St. NW)/ State Affairs offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package to employees. The annual salary range for this role as it is posted is $120,000 - $210,000 for candidates working from the State Affairs office in Washington, DC. The final job level and annual salary will be determined based on the education, qualification, knowledge, skills, ability, and experience of the final candidate(s), and calibrated against relevant market data and internal team equity. Benefits listed in this posting may vary depending on the nature of your employment with State Affairs. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future company sponsorship. State Affairs is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit and business needs. State Affairs does not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic in accordance with federal, state, and local law. State Affairs is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as they go through our job application and interview process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected] By submitting your application, you affirm the content contained therein is true and accurate in all respects. Please note that prior to employment, State Affairs will obtain background checks for employment purposes that may include, where permitted by law, the following: identify verification, prior employment verification, personal and professional references, educational verification, and criminal history. For certain roles, further background checks covering additional information and activities may be initiated. "By clicking "Submit Application" you are consenting to the use and retention of the information you have provided as set forth in the State Affairs Privacy Policy.