Principal Software Developer

Curtiss-Wright Corporation•Frederick, MD

17h•$110,000 - $135,000•Onsite

About The Position

As our Principal Software Developer, you will be our senior technical authority responsible for defining software architecture, guiding development strategy, and ensuring the delivery of scalable, secure, and high-quality software across major programs. This role drives enterprise engineering standards, resolves complex cross-functional technical challenges, mentors senior engineers, and aligns long-term software direction with business, product, and platform objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
12–15+ years of software engineering experience with leadership responsibility across large programs or enterprise platforms.
Recognized subject matter expert in software architecture, systems integration, design patterns, and large-scale application development.
Demonstrated success resolving complex technical challenges across distributed systems, embedded platforms, or multi-layered software environments.
Strong fluency in modern programming languages, software development methodologies, and lifecycle management practices.
Experience defining software engineering strategy, technical standards, roadmaps, and organizational improvements.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including executive-level and customer-facing interactions.
Knowledge of regulatory, cybersecurity, safety, or compliance standards relevant to software-intensive systems.
Proven mentor and coach to senior and lead-level software engineers.
High degree of professional maturity, accountability, and business acumen.

Responsibilities

Lead enterprise-level software architecture, design strategy, and long-term platform planning to support complex product and system initiatives (25%).
Direct development, integration, testing, and optimization of advanced software solutions while ensuring alignment with functional, performance, security, and reliability requirements (20%).
Identify and resolve system-wide software risks, drive modernization, automation, and tooling improvements, and guide adoption of new technologies and engineering frameworks (20%).
Oversee cross-functional collaboration with hardware, systems, and product teams to translate program objectives into technical roadmaps and cohesive implementation plans (20%).
Mentor senior technical staff, support customer and regulatory engagements, and inform organizational strategy with forward-looking software engineering insight (15%).