Principal Software Engineer – AI & Software Factory Engineering
About The Position
We're looking for a software engineer who likes building platform products — the tooling, automation, and AI capabilities other engineering teams build on top of. You'll write production code daily on a small, senior team delivering software factories, security automation, and AI-enabled development environments for Department of War and Federal customers. If your instinct when you see a manual process is to write code that eliminates it, this role is built for you. MEANINGFUL WORK AND PERSONAL IMPACT You'll work across multiple concurrent R&D and customer delivery efforts rather than a single narrow program, with the option to engage in proposals and customer demos if you want to build business acumen alongside technical depth Build agentic AI capabilities — tool orchestration, LLM application development, and workflow automation — using AI-assisted development daily Develop software that automates continuous Authority to Operate (cATO): evidence collection, compliance reporting, and policy-as-code enforcement Build secure-by-default CI/CD pipeline products — hardening templates, integrated security scanning (SAST, SCA, container, SBOM), and supply chain controls (signing, provenance, attestation) — that development teams across our portfolio consume Extend the platform with self-service capabilities: developer onboarding automation, reusable deployment patterns, and AI development tools (code assistants, model serving) — including for air-gapped environments Ship to and support production on hardened Kubernetes (Big Bang / Iron Bank) in CUI/IL5 environments — we run what we build
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree and 8+ years experience. In lieu of degree 12+ years of hands-on experience
- 5+ years of related experience in Software Engineering, DevOps / DevSecOps technologies
- 3+ years of hands on experience with Kubernetes
- Strong development skills in Python, Go, or similar
- Daily use of AI-powered development tools (code assistants, LLM-based tooling)
- CI/CD pipeline development — GitLab CI strongly preferred; Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar accepted
- Security scanning integration in automated pipelines (SAST, DAST, SCA, container scanning)
- Containerization (Docker, Helm, OCI artifacts) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and/or Ansible)
- Git-based workflows, GitOps deployment patterns, and solid Linux fundamentals
- Experience working in or deploying to classified or air-gapped environments
- Strong written and verbal communication; comfort juggling multiple projects with shifting priorities
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance
- US Citizenship
Nice To Haves
- Hands-on experience with agentic AI frameworks or LLM APIs (tool-use patterns, orchestration, RAG)
- Platform One / Big Bang, Iron Bank, or DoW-hardened Kubernetes distributions
- DoW security and authorization frameworks (NIST 800-53, RMF, cATO)
- Software supply chain security practices (Sigstore/Cosign, Syft, in-toto)
- AI/ML infrastructure in enterprise or air-gapped environments (model serving, GPU scheduling on K8s)
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) certification
- Supporting proposals, RFI responses, or customer engagements as a technical SME
Responsibilities
- Write production code daily on a small, senior team delivering software factories, security automation, and AI-enabled development environments.
- Build agentic AI capabilities — tool orchestration, LLM application development, and workflow automation — using AI-assisted development daily.
- Develop software that automates continuous Authority to Operate (cATO): evidence collection, compliance reporting, and policy-as-code enforcement.
- Build secure-by-default CI/CD pipeline products — hardening templates, integrated security scanning (SAST, SCA, container, SBOM), and supply chain controls (signing, provenance, attestation) — that development teams across our portfolio consume.
- Extend the platform with self-service capabilities: developer onboarding automation, reusable deployment patterns, and AI development tools (code assistants, model serving) — including for air-gapped environments.
- Ship to and support production on hardened Kubernetes (Big Bang / Iron Bank) in CUI/IL5 environments.
Benefits
- AI-powered career tool that identifies career steps and learning opportunities
- An internal mobility team focused on helping you achieve your career goals
- Comprehensive benefits and wellness packages
- 401K with company match
- Competitive pay and paid time off
- Variety of medical plan options, some with Health Savings Accounts
- Dental plan options
- A vision plan
- A 401(k) plan offering the ability to contribute both pre and post-tax dollars up to the IRS annual limits and receive a company match.
- Full flex work weeks where possible
- A variety of paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time, holidays, paid parental, military, bereavement and jury duty leave.
- 15 days of paid leave per calendar year to be used for vacations, personal business, and illness
- 10 paid holidays per year
- Paid Family Leave program provides a total of up to 160 hours of paid leave in a rolling 12 month period for eligible employees.
- Short and long-term disability benefits
- Life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness and business travel and accident insurance are provided or available.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
