Senior DevSecOps Software Engineer

Draper•St. Petersburg, FL

3d•$82,300 - $220,000

About The Position

Draper is an independent, nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with more than 2,000 employees working on national challenges. Its multidisciplinary teams develop solutions for areas including military defense, space exploration, and biomedical engineering. The Senior DevSecOps Software Engineer (SMTS) drives secure, scalable software delivery across mission-oriented programs, including autonomous systems, unmanned vehicles, medical applications, and battlefield situational awareness platforms. The role partners with customers, program leadership, and cross-functional teams to translate complex requirements into field-ready capabilities and owns the DevSecOps lifecycle. This includes architecting GitLab CI/CD pipelines, orchestrating Kubernetes workloads with Helm and Helmfile, hardening Docker or Podman container runtimes, and enforcing policy-as-code through YAML configurations. The position also uses Node.js, TypeScript, and React to bridge platform and application layers, optimize build pipelines, and mentor teams on secure coding practices. The engineer contributes to system architecture, leads sub-system architecture, mitigates technical risk, and delivers resilient systems from design through deployment in an Agile, multidisciplinary environment. Applicants selected for this position must have an active government security clearance. The position is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The stated US base salary range is $82,300 to $220,000; actual pay depends on location and other job-related factors. Draper describes programs supporting work-life balance, including workplace flexibility, employee clubs, health and finance workshops, off-site social events, and discounts to local museums and cultural activities.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.
5–10 years of experience in Software Engineering or a related field.
Active government security clearance for applicants selected for the position.
Curiosity-driven approach to complex, customer-driven problems in a multidisciplinary team.
Ability to learn new programming languages and technologies quickly.
Ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with multidisciplinary program team members, program leadership, and non-technical personnel.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and balance multiple competing tasks and demands.
DevSecOps experience involving GitLab CI/CD, Kubernetes, Helm or Helmfile, container runtimes, and YAML-driven configurations.
Full-stack fluency in Node.js, TypeScript, and React.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree.
Security+ certification.

Responsibilities

Independently execute assigned tasks.
Design algorithms using modern theory and proven techniques, following software best practices.
Analyze designs to demonstrate performance and functionality.
Develop and execute software tests to verify compliance with requirements.
Prepare technical data, procedures, reports, drawings, manuals, and other required documentation.
Communicate with customers and stakeholders to establish requirements and describe designs and deliverables.
Drive solutions to complex problems, participate in requirements development, propose ways forward, and adapt to changing requirements.
Contribute to system architecture decisions and lead the architecture of sub-systems.
Use quantitative data or results to recommend process or application adaptations and modifications.
Identify project technical risks and develop and execute mitigation strategies.
Mentor less experienced staff and provide constructive feedback.
Lead a small team of software developers on projects.
Architect GitLab CI/CD pipelines and orchestrate Kubernetes workloads with Helm and Helmfile.
Harden Docker or Podman container runtimes and enforce policy-as-code through YAML-driven configurations.
Optimize build pipelines and mentor teams on secure coding practices.