Senior Software Engineer

 We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our Navy Programs team. In this role, you will provide hands-on technical leadership for the design, development, integration, and fielding of mission-critical software systems supporting U.S. Navy submarines, aircraft carriers, and shore-based platforms. You will guide architecture and technical direction while staying directly involved in development, debugging, testing, and integration.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in modern C++ on Linux, a track record of designing and troubleshooting distributed systems, and the judgment to make sound design decisions across application, middleware, interface, and deployment layers. This position is well suited for an engineer with eight or more years of experience who has served as a technical lead, can take complex efforts from requirements through lab integration, formal test, and deployment, and enjoys mentoring other engineers. The work involves building and modernizing applications for a Kubernetes-based platform and directly supports U.S. Navy submarine combat systems.

This is a full-time position based in Manassas, VA. The position requires U.S. citizenship and an active DoD Secret Clearance. The annual base salary is $154,000 – $184,000, with final compensation based on experience and skills. 

In addition to a competitive base salary, this position is eligible for a sign-on bonus and a comprehensive benefits package including healthcare benefits (medical, dental, and vision), Flexible Spending Accounts, Life Insurance, 401(k) plan with matching company contributions, paid time off, holidays, and tuition and training reimbursement.

You'll be responsible for:

•   Leading the architecture, design, development, and integration of complex C++ (C++11 and newer) software systems supporting U.S. Navy submarine combat systems.
• Setting technical direction and making design decisions across application, middleware, interface, and deployment layers, including the migration of legacy applications to a Kubernetes-based platform.
• Designing and integrating distributed applications using APIs, gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and messaging middleware such as DDS or AMQP.
• Leading the integration of COTS, open-source, and custom-developed software components.
• Diagnosing and resolving complex software, networking, concurrency, performance, and system integration problems in lab and Navy platform environments.
• Defining unit, component, integration, and system-level test strategies, and making sure the team's code meets them.
• Leading code and design reviews, mentoring software engineers, and communicating technical status, risk and recommendations to program leadership and promoting secure coding, configuration management, and engineering best practices across the team.

Required Skills:

•   U.S. citizenship and an active DoD Secret clearance at time of hire.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, plus 8+ years of progressively responsible professional software development experience.
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead on a complex software product or integration effort.
• Advanced proficiency in modern C++ (C++11 and newer), including multithreading, asynchronous design, and performance tuning.
• Strong Linux experience, preferably with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or a derivative.
• Experience designing and troubleshooting distributed, event-driven, or service-oriented systems.
• Practical experience with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and networking fundamentals.
• Experience defining test strategies and building automated testing into CI/CD pipelines, with Git-based configuration management.
• Ability to translate system-level requirements and interface definitions into maintainable software designs.
• Strong communication skills, including briefing technical status and risk to leadership and customers.

Preferred Skills:

•   Experience deploying and operating containerized applications on Kubernetes, including Helm, operators, or custom controllers.
• Experience with DDS (e.g., RTI Connext), AMQP, or other real-time messaging middleware.
• Experience integrating software with tactical, combat, weapon-control, or other mission-critical systems.
• Experience with observability tooling such as Prometheus, Grafana, or Loki.
• Scripting experience in Python or bash for automation and tooling.
• Experience with DevSecOps practices and CI/CD tools such as GitLab, Jenkins, or Bamboo.
• Experience supporting integration or test events at Navy or customer sites.