Principal Full Stack Web Developer

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory•St. Petersburg, FL

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

Draper’s Full‑Stack Group builds mission‑critical web applications for military, government, and commercial customers. We operate like an incubator, giving engineers space to experiment, iterate, and deliver software that protects lives and advances the national interest. You’ll play a primary role in developing and executing the technical vision for complex, high‑impact web solutions that directly enable our customers’ missions. Your work will shape products that are deployed, operational, and trusted by governments and agencies worldwide.

Requirements

7+ years of full‑stack development experience, with at least 2 years leading architecture decisions.
Proven track record delivering production‑grade web applications at scale.
Strong proficiency in modern front‑end (React, TypeScript, CSS‑in‑JS) and back‑end (Node.js/Express, Python, Java) technologies.
Deep understanding of REST/GraphQL APIs, authentication/authorization (OAuth, OIDC), and cloud‑native patterns.
Experience with issue‑tracking and CI/CD tools (Jira, GitLab, GitHub Actions).
BA/BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience (Master’s a plus).
Curiosity-driven approach to solving complex, customer-driven problems as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
Demonstrate an ability to learn new programming languages and technologies quickly.
Collaborate and communicate effectively and openly with multi-disciplinary program team members, program leadership, and non-technical personnel.
A team player able to work in a fast-paced environment with the ability to balance multiple competing tasks and demands.
Demonstrate strong organization, planning, and time management skills to achieve program goals
Requires a bachelor's in Computer Science or other related field.
10+ years experience in Software Engineering or related field.

Nice To Haves

10+ years in the field is a bonus.
Hands‑on experience with Docker and Kubernetes (EKS, GKE, AKS).
Deployments on AWS, GCP, or Azure; familiarity with IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation).
Knowledge of serverless architectures and event‑driven designs.
Experience with high‑availability, multi‑tenant SaaS platforms.
Master's degree is preferred.
Secret clearance is desired, Top Secret clearance is preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead architecture decisions for new and existing web platforms (micro‑services, data pipelines, UI/UX).
Write production‑ready, test‑driven code in modern stacks (React + TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, etc.).
Mentor senior engineers and set engineering standards (code reviews, CI/CD, automated testing).
Partner with program officers, product owners, and other technical leads to define roadmaps and delivery milestones.
Represent the team in program reviews, weekly/quarterly stakeholder meetings, and client demos.
Drive continuous improvement: performance tuning, security hardening, and operational excellence.
Independently execute task assignments.
Designs algorithms using modern theory and proven techniques, adheres to software best practices.
Analyzes designs to demonstrate performance and functionality.
Develops and executes software tests to check compliance with requirements.
Prepares technical data, procedures, reports, drawings, manuals, and other required documentation.
Communicates with customers and stakeholders to establish requirements and describe the design and deliverables.
Independently drive solutions to complex problems, develop requirements, propose ways forward when customer requirements are unclear or incomplete, and adapt appropriately to changes in requirements.
Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in their discipline.
Identify program/system-level technical risks and develop and execute mitigation strategies.
Leads the design of system architecture, delegating tasks and collecting feedback on designs as needed.
Lead a medium size team of engineers across multiple disciplines.