Principal Software Engineer (Remote) - 31139

HII's Mission Technologies division•New York, NY

2d•$143,507 - $245,000•Remote

About The Position

Enlighten is seeking an experienced backend engineer to design, build, and scale critical systems supporting Department of Defense workloads. These systems manage trillions of records, ingest billions of records daily, and serve hundreds of thousands of queries per day. The role involves contributing across backend engineering domains, with autonomy to take challenging projects from concept through production and ongoing improvement in a pragmatic, low-process environment. The engineer will develop RESTful APIs and backend services; modify and optimize complex open-source systems such as Trino; implement identity federation solutions; build and operate large-scale data ingestion pipelines; and improve deployment automation. The position is fully remote unless the employee is near an Enlighten office, in which case some in-office interaction with the local team is expected. Candidates must be U.S. citizens and obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance; a clearance is not required on the first day.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance; a clearance is not required on day one. Candidates with a current Secret or Top Secret clearance may also be considered.
15 or more years of software engineering experience designing, developing, and deploying complex backend systems, with a bachelor's degree in a related field; alternatively, 13 years of experience with a master's degree, or a high school diploma and 19 years of experience.
Proficiency in one or more of Java, Python, or Go.
Experience working with or modifying Trino or similar distributed SQL query engines.
Experience with containerization and orchestration, particularly Kubernetes.
Familiarity with PostgreSQL or similar relational databases.
Significant experience building and maintaining API endpoints and backend services.
Experience modifying and extending complex open-source projects.
Practical understanding and experience with identity federation protocols.
Proficiency in deployment automation and CI/CD practices and tools.
Strong problem-solving skills, including the ability to systematically debug and resolve complex issues.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to explain technical concepts clearly.
Pragmatic, action-oriented approach; collaborative, low-ego teamwork; self-motivation and ability to work with minimal supervision; and adaptability to context-switch and learn new technologies.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with Keycloak for identity and access management.
Experience with workflow management tools such as Airflow.
Knowledge of monitoring and observability tools such as Prometheus.
Experience with AWS services such as S3, EC2, KMS, or Bedrock.
Exposure to or interest in learning GCP or Azure.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain complex, scalable backend systems and services capable of handling large data volumes and high query loads.
Own challenging technical projects from initial concept through production and ongoing iteration.
Build and evolve RESTful APIs and backend services.
Modify, extend, and optimize complex open-source software, such as Trino.
Implement and manage identity federation solutions, such as Keycloak.
Develop and operate large-scale data ingestion pipelines, such as those using Airflow.
Enhance and automate deployment processes and CI/CD using technologies such as Kubernetes.
Collaborate with experienced engineers and contribute to shared knowledge and mutual respect.
Diagnose, debug, and resolve complex technical issues to support system reliability and performance.
Develop pragmatic, robust solutions and adapt to new technologies and changing business needs.
Take initiative and deliver results with independence in a low-process environment.
Perform other duties as assigned.