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Software Engineer Job Description Template

Engineering · Hybrid · Exempt · Full-Time

A free, editable software engineer job description template — job summary, essential functions, required and preferred qualifications, and a pay-range example to replace with your own. Use it to prefill the generator, tailor it to your organization, and download a formatted Word doc or PDF.

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Job Summary

Designs, builds, and maintains the software systems behind the organization's products and services. Works as part of an engineering team to ship reliable, well-tested code and keep existing systems running smoothly.

Essential Functions

  1. Design, develop, and maintain backend services and APIs that support the organization's products
  2. Write clean, well-tested code and participate in peer code reviews to uphold quality standards
  3. Troubleshoot and resolve production issues, including participation in an on-call rotation
  4. Collaborate with product managers and designers to scope features and estimate delivery timelines
  5. Refactor legacy code and improve system performance, reliability, and security over time
  6. Contribute to technical documentation, including architecture decisions and runbooks
  7. Mentor junior engineers through pairing, code review feedback, and technical guidance

Qualifications

Required:

  • 3+ years of professional software development experience
  • Proficiency in at least one modern programming language such as TypeScript, Python, Java, or Go
  • Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs
  • Working knowledge of relational databases and SQL
  • Familiarity with version control workflows (e.g., Git) and CI/CD pipelines

Preferred:

  • Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
  • Familiarity with containerization tools such as Docker and Kubernetes

Education & Certifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Pay range example: $120,000–$165,000 per year (adjust to your market and level)

Before you post this template

If this role is remote or hybrid, the posting may need to satisfy the rules of each state where applicants are located — not just where the company is headquartered. Posting requirements vary by state and change over time: 15 of the jurisdictions in our state-by-state coverage require a pay range in job postings. This template ships with a pay-range example placeholder — replace it with your actual range, then run the finished posting through the free pay-transparency checker for each state you're hiring in.

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Pay transparency requirements differ from state to state. Browse the requirements for every state we cover, or paste your finished posting into the pay-transparency checker for an instant read.

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