Lead Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer

Sterling, VA

TS/SCI + CI Poly

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What Impact You'll Have

We are seeking a Lead Software Engineer to guide a high-performing development team on a mission-enabling program with high impact on National Security. This role blends hands-on engineering, technical leadership, and cross-functional coordination. You will serve as the developer point of contact for design discussions, customer engagements, and Chief Engineer reviews while continuing to contribute directly to architecture, development, and delivery.

This position is ideal for a senior engineer/developer ready to step into broader ownership - leading by example, mentoring teammates, and shaping the technical direction of a rapidly evolving product line.

What You'll be Owning

• Serve as the development team's POC for engineering, design, and architecture meetings; represent the team in cross functional technical discussions.
• Design, implement, test, and deploy full stack features using modern frameworks and cloud-native patterns.
• Develop CONOPs, user guides, release notes, and technical artifacts supporting software delivery and stakeholder adoption
• Guide junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and structured skill development.
• Partner with test engineering teams to ensure functionality, usability, performance, and reliability meet product expectations.
• Collaborate with Chief Engineers, Product Owners, and customer stakeholders to align feature development with organizational goals and delivery schedules.
• Assist with staffing, onboarding, and team structure decisions; help maintain a healthy engineering culture.
• Produce monthly summaries highlighting progress, risks, mitigations, and upcoming milestones.
• Host stakeholder demos, present product designs, and communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Identify opportunities to improve development workflows, CI/CD pipelines, documentation, and team efficiency.
• Contribute to long-term architecture planning, technology selection, and product evolution strategies.

What You Must Have

• Active TS/SCI w/polygraph
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including full-stack development
• Strong proficiency in modern web frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, Vue), backend languages (e.g., Node.js, Python, Java, Django), and RESTful API design
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical discussions, drive consensus, and make architectural decisions
• Growth mindset - ability to tackle complex technical issues with patience, positivity, and a forward-looking perspective that keeps the team focused and productive
• Proven experience mentoring engineers and improving team capability
• Familiarity with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevSecOps practices
• Excellent communication skills - able to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences
• Ability to work in fast-paced, customer-facing environments with evolving requirements

What Would be Nice to Have

• Experience with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience working with government or defense customers
• Background in distributed systems, microservices, or event-driven architectures
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
• Prior involvement in staffing, interviewing, or team-building activities
• Experience hosting demos, conducting design reviews, or presenting to executive stakeholders
• Knowledge of telecommunications protocols, packet capture tools and methodologies

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