Platform Staff Engineer

About the role

The YouVersion Platform Staff Engineer designs and builds the APIs and backend services that power a growing ecosystem of third-party developers. This role takes an active hand in both writing production code and shaping technical direction — balancing hands-on engineering with mentorship and code review.

Deeply invested in the developer experience of external partners, this role brings API-first thinking and a commitment to quality that makes YouVersion Platform a joy to build on. Beyond the technical work, it is grounded in YouVersion's mission to help people engage with the Bible — and the conviction that a great platform multiplies that impact exponentially.

YouVersion was created by the local church in 2007 and remains a ministry of Life.Church today. At Life.Church, our mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Our team is committed to reaching people worldwide through innovative technology. And YouVersion is one of the ways we get to do that. Life.Church is a multi-site Christian church meeting in the United States and globally at Life.Church Online.

What You'll Do - Design, build, and evolve public API contracts with a focus on developer experience, scalability, and long-term maintainability.

- Write production-quality Python across backend services and APIs; JavaScript experience a plus, particularly for Apigee gateway scripting.

- Develop and maintain Apigee proxy configurations, shared flows, and gateway policies.

- Build and operate backend services in containerized, distributed cloud environments on Google Cloud Platform.

- Manage and optimize edge caching and traffic routing through Fastly.

- Monitor system health, diagnose issues, and drive resolution using New Relic.

- Drive PostgreSQL performance, query optimization, and scalability initiatives.

- Mentor engineers and provide guidance on best practices, code quality, and technical direction.

- Review, test, and approve code contributions, ensuring quality and consistency across the codebase.

- Evaluate task complexity and provide realistic estimates on level of effort and delivery timelines.

- Research and evaluate emerging technologies and industry best practices for potential adoption.

- Partner directly with external developers to gather feedback and improve developer experience.

Skills Needed to Succeed - Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills to maintain relationships and partnerships.

- Maintain a systematic and organized approach to completing assignments accurately, thoroughly, and timely.

- Clearly explain complicated and detailed processes in a concise and simple way.

- Ability to self-motivate, take initiative, make independent decisions, and problem-solve.

- Ability to collaborate in a team environment and work independently.

- Ability to maintain composure during stressful situations.