1327 - Lead Principal Software Engineer = Pos: 794 - Software Engineer (SWE) - Skill Level 2

1327 - Lead Principal Software Engineer = Pos: 794 - Software Engineer (SWE) - Skill Level 2
Forte Meade. MD (onsite)
5+ Years Contract

Client is seeking a Software Engineer (Level 2) to support a mission-critical program within the Intelligence Community in a classified on-site SCIF environment. This role focuses on implementing containerized application workflows and infrastructure automation using modern DevOps and cloud-native tooling. The ideal candidate will collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop deployment pipelines, integrate services, and support scalable Kubernetes-based applications while emphasizing automation, documentation, and code reusability.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design and development of deployment pipelines and Helm charts for containerized applications
• Implement and test deployment logic, including secrets management and ConfigMap lifecycle
• Support standardization and documentation of reusable deployment templates
• Work with Kubernetes tools (Helm, ArgoCD, Fleet, manifests) to enable scalable deployments
• Implement GitOps workflows and support CI/CD pipeline configuration and maintenance
• Collaborate with backend, frontend, and infrastructure teams to integrate microservices
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues in containerized environments using logs, events, and metrics
• Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code components using Docker, Kubernetes, and related tooling
• Support configuration management, environment consistency, and secrets injection across deployment tiers
• Document infrastructure configurations and deployment procedures
• Participate in code reviews, testing, sprint ceremonies, and technical discussions
• Collaborate with senior engineers to implement architectural patterns and team standards
• Identify and automate repetitive operational tasks to improve efficiency

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, IT, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 7+ years of software engineering experience with hands-on work in containerized applications or infrastructure automation
• Active TS/SCI clearance with Full Scope Polygraph (required prior to start)
• Proficiency in Go, Python, and/or TypeScript
• Experience with Kubernetes (pods, deployments, services, namespaces, ConfigMaps, Secrets, ingress), Helm, and Docker
• Experience with GitOps workflows and CI/CD tools such as ArgoCD or Fleet
• Working knowledge of infrastructure-as-code and Linux system operations
• Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills in containerized environments
• Ability to work across full stack and infrastructure boundaries
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to produce technical documentation
• Familiarity with two or more of the following: Kubernetes CRDs/operator patterns, event-driven architectures (Kafka, pub/sub), Terraform or Ansible, secrets management solutions, Rancher or OpenShift, observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK)
• Experience in classified DoD or Intelligence Community environments (preferred)
• DoD 8140/8570 IAT Level II compliance (preferred)