Staff Software Engineer, GCS - Full Stack

Role: Staff Software Engineer, GCS - Full Stack

Location: San Diego, California / Dallas, Texas / Washington, D.C. / Boston, Massachusetts

Employment Type: Full-Time

Salary: $150000-$230,000 per year

About The AES Group

The AES Group is a premier technology and engineering consulting company that has been bringing businesses and talent together for over 20 years to deliver innovative solutions that have the greatest positive impact on society. AES has helped over 40 business enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies, engage their customers, empower their employees, and transform their business operations with the power of cloud, data, AI, engineering, and other emerging technologies.

About the Role

Our client is seeking GCS and C2 Software team develops mission-planning applications, real-time command-and-control interfaces, and post-mission debrief tools that enable operators to manage complex unmanned systems effectively.

As a Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer, you will design and deliver modern, web-based ground control applications and supporting backend services. You will build responsive, map-centric interfaces, integrate telemetry and video streams, develop reliable APIs, and ensure seamless communication between operator interfaces, ground services, and autonomous platforms.

Beyond hands-on development, you will own significant technical initiatives, establish interface contracts, mentor engineers, and serve as a technical point of contact for partner teams. You will also participate in field testing and operational support, translating real-world feedback into reliable, intuitive software capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Full-Stack Development and System Architecture

• Design, develop, and optimize responsive GCS/C2 applications using technologies such as React, TypeScript, Node.js, Go, C/C++, and Python.

• Build mission-planning interfaces, command-and-control workflows, telemetry dashboards, video streaming integrations, and post-mission playback tools.

• Define frontend and backend architectures, design robust APIs, and own the technical delivery of major software capabilities.

• Develop reliable data pipelines connecting user interfaces, ground systems, and vehicle-side components.

Technical Leadership and Collaboration

• Drive architectural decisions, technical reviews, and engineering best practices across assigned projects and subsystems.

• Collaborate with autonomy, perception, flight operations, and external partners to define and negotiate APIs, data schemas, and interface control documents (ICDs).

• Mentor mid-level engineers, support onboarding and professional development, and contribute to technical hiring and team growth.

• Document design decisions, interface specifications, development workflows, and operational procedures.

Reliability, Performance, and Deployment

• Diagnose and resolve performance and integration issues involving browser rendering, API latency, database queries, telemetry streams, radio links, and network connectivity.

• Develop automated testing, simulation tools, and deployment workflows that improve software quality and mission readiness.

• Own the build, configuration, integration, and validation of ground stations and C2 services before deployment.

• Support containerized releases and validate hardware/software compatibility across operational environments.

Field Integration and Mission Support

• Travel to test sites to support flight tests, range exercises, maritime trials, customer demonstrations, and system integration events.

• Work directly with operators and pilots to understand workflows, troubleshoot live systems, and improve usability.

• Develop post-mission utilities for parsing, replaying, and visualizing telemetry, logs, and payload data.

• Lead integration efforts involving relevant C2 standards and protocols, including A-GRA, UCI, OMS, STANAG 4586, and MAVLink, as applicable to the program.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Typically, 7+ years of relevant experience with a bachelor's degree, 6+ years with a master's degree, or 4+ years with a PhD, or equivalent experience.

• Strong experience building modern, interactive web applications using React, TypeScript, or comparable frontend technologies.

• Full-stack development experience or strong backend engineering experience with TypeScript, Go, C/C++, or Python.

• Experience developing APIs, service orchestration, command/status interfaces, and data pipelines across distributed software components.

• Deep understanding of networked and distributed systems, including TCP/UDP, custom binary protocols, reliable messaging, publish-subscribe patterns, IPC middleware, and serialization or interface-definition tooling.

• Experience with relational or NoSQL databases, including data modeling, query optimization, and integration with backend services.

• Demonstrated ownership of a significant software capability from system architecture through implementation, validation, and field delivery.

• Proven ability to mentor engineers and contribute to technical direction and engineering standards.

• Experience defining or negotiating API specifications, interface contracts, or ICDs with internal teams or external stakeholders.

• Strong debugging and profiling skills across frontend rendering, backend services, databases, and network communication.

• Experience using AI-assisted development tools for coding, debugging, testing, and code review, with appropriate validation and ownership of technical decisions.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. SECRET security clearance, subject to applicable eligibility requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with GIS, geospatial data, and web mapping frameworks such as MapLibre GL, Leaflet, CesiumJS, or OpenLayers.

• Familiarity with 2D/3D spatial visualization, geographic databases, or PostGIS.

• Experience with video streaming and multimedia technologies such as WebRTC, HLS, RTSP gateways, GStreamer, or FFmpeg.

• Experience building telemetry analysis, log-processing, mission replay, or post-mission debrief applications.

• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, k3s, or k3d and deploying applications to edge, local, or cloud environments.

• Experience integrating autonomous platforms, autopilot systems, or defense C2 standards such as MAVLink, STANAG 4586, A-GRA, UCI, or OMS.

• Experience collaborating with flight operators, pilots, military stakeholders, or other operational end users.

• Active U.S. SECRET or TOP SECRET security clearance.

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