Staff Software Engineer – Trust Service Team

Company Overview ID.me is the next-generation digital identity wallet that simplifies how individuals securely prove their identity online. Consumers can verify their identity with ID.me once and seamlessly login across websites without having to create a new login and verify their identity again. Over 152 million users experience streamlined login and identity verification with ID.me at 20 federal agencies, 45 state government agencies, and 70+ healthcare organizations. More than 600+ consumer brands use ID.me to verify communities and user segments to honor service and build more authentic relationships. ID.me’s technology meets the federal standards for consumer authentication set by the Commerce Department and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is committed to “No Identity Left Behind” to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. To learn more, visit https://network.id.me/ . ID.me is a full-time, in-office culture. Unless a specific job description explicitly states otherwise, all roles are on-site five days per week at one of our offices in McLean, VA; Mountain View, CA; New York City, NY; or Tampa, FL. Certain roles — such as field-based sales or other remote-by-design positions — may have different work arrangements as noted in their individual postings. At ID.me, we embrace the thoughtful use of AI tools in our daily work and there are even occasions where we leverage AI in our hiring process. However, during the interview process, we want to understand your individual skills and experiences. Therefore, we have guidelines on how AI can be appropriately used during your application and interviews which can be found here . Role Overview ID.me is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Trust Service team, where we build and operate the core infrastructure that decides how much trust to extend to every identity claim made by over 152 million members. The Trust Service owns the Trust Graph, a structured, queryable record of identity inspections that captures what was verified and how reliably it was verified. Every downstream access decision at federal agencies, state governments, healthcare organizations, and consumer brands depends on the trust data our service produces. The Trust Service is a foundational platform API: its correctness, availability, and contract stability directly affect every team that builds on top of it. As a Staff Engineer, you will be the technical anchor for this service. You will drive architectural decisions, set the standard for correctness and reliability on a system where errors have real identity and access consequences, and lead complex cross-team initiatives that span the identity and authentication platform. You will shape how the trust data model evolves, own the API contracts that downstream teams bind to, and raise the bar for engineering quality, security, and operational excellence across the team. Key Responsibilities Architect & Lead Trust Graph Systems : Own the technical vision and architecture for the Trust Service — the data model, the API surface, the query and write patterns, and the operational characteristics of the service at scale. Drive architectural decisions with a long view: make the system more correct, more observable, and easier to evolve without breaking consumers. API Contract & Data Model Stewardship : Own the REST API contracts and inspection data model that downstream services, identity workflows, and product teams depend on. Lead decisions about versioning strategy, backwards compatibility, and the principles that govern how new inspection types and identity providers are introduced safely. Hold the line on contract integrity across teams. Technical Leadership & Mentorship : Serve as the technical anchor for the team. Setting the standard for code quality, system design, and engineering best practices. Mentor senior and mid-level engineers through code reviews, design discus…