Senior Staff Software Engineer

Bluestaq US External•Washington, DC

20d•$150,000 - $210,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Bluestaq is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer to influence engineering across multiple teams and product areas. The role drives platform improvements, establishes engineering standards, and coaches Staff and Senior engineers, with decisions affecting the reliability, security, and scalability of software used by customers and mission partners. The engineer leads large-scale architectural work and cross-team initiatives, serves as a technical partner to program leadership and product management, and applies expertise across backend, frontend, data, and infrastructure. The position owns cross-team technical outcomes, improves engineering practices and shared standards, addresses systemic risks and technical fragmentation, and represents engineering in high-level discussions about roadmaps, architecture, and investment. The role is based in Colorado Springs, Washington, DC, Dallas, or Salt Lake City. Colorado Springs requires 3–4 days onsite per week. Roles based in DC, Dallas, and Salt Lake City will be remote until offices are established, after which they will require 3–4 days onsite. The position may require an active TS/SCI clearance; Bluestaq may sponsor eligible candidates based on program needs. The salary range is $150,000–$210,000 USD. Relocation assistance is available for full-time positions. Candidates should use modern AI tools judiciously, integrate them into workflows where useful, review their outputs, and handle proprietary or sensitive data responsibly. Bluestaq builds secure data platforms for space missions, national defense, healthcare systems, and commercial innovation, emphasizing modern architecture, operational excellence, mission impact, cloud-native solutions, security by design, and simplicity.

Requirements

Exceptional proficiency across multiple software engineering domains, including distributed systems, API design, data architecture, frontend or backend development, and platform engineering.
Demonstrated ability to lead multi-team technical initiatives from concept through production at organizational scale, with measurable impact on reliability, performance, or engineering velocity.
Deep expertise in large-scale system design, platform architecture, and cross-cutting technical strategy spanning multiple stacks and deployment environments.
Strong track record of driving cross-team improvements in testing, observability, CI/CD, security, or shared infrastructure.
Proven ability to identify and resolve systemic technical risks and fragmentation across multiple codebases and teams.
Demonstrated success coaching and developing Staff-level engineers into broader technical leaders.
Excellent technical communication skills and ability to influence and align multiple engineering teams around shared architectural decisions, patterns, and standards.
Experience navigating cross-team organizational dynamics and delivering technical outcomes across reporting boundaries without formal authority.
One of the following education and experience combinations: PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 6+ years of software engineering or related experience; master's degree in one of these fields and 8+ years; bachelor's degree in one of these fields and 10+ years; associate degree in a related field and 12+ years; or high school diploma/GED and 14+ years.
Use modern AI tools with judgment, review their outputs, and handle proprietary or sensitive data responsibly.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing or owning shared platforms, internal developer tooling, or cross-cutting infrastructure components used across multiple product teams.
Background in large-scale system migrations, performance engineering programs, or multi-year reliability initiatives.
Familiarity with DoD, intelligence community, or federal software delivery and security standards, including RMF, NIST 800-53, or STIG compliance.
Experience managing architectural technical debt at scale and driving simplification programs across large, complex codebases.
History of developing Staff-level technical talent through direct coaching, structured mentorship, or technical leadership programs.
Contributions to engineering strategy, hiring, or the technical community beyond immediate team scope.
External recognition as a technical leader through publications, conference presentations, open-source project ownership, or standards contributions.
Current TS/SCI clearance; current clearance holders are strongly encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities

Lead engineering efforts across multiple teams or product areas, including major re-architectures, platform capabilities, and cross-cutting reliability or security programs.
Partner technically with program leadership, product management, and cross-functional leads.
Design and drive implementation of large-scale architectures, including platform components, shared libraries, system migrations, and cross-product integrations.
Apply expertise across backend, frontend, data, and infrastructure to address performance, scalability, reliability, and security tradeoffs.
Improve engineering practices across teams, including testing strategy, observability, CI/CD pipelines, coding standards, and security posture.
Harmonize patterns, tooling, and shared standards to reduce technical fragmentation across engineering groups.
Own cross-team technical outcomes with minimal direction and anticipate long-term risks and downstream impacts.
Coach Staff and Senior engineers and help them grow into broader technical leadership roles.
Represent engineering in high-level discussions about roadmap priorities, architectural tradeoffs, and organizational investment decisions.
Lead multi-team initiatives from concept through rollout, aligning engineering groups around shared goals and compatible designs.
Identify systemic weaknesses, including test fragility, performance gaps, security posture, and developer experience, and design programs to address them at scale.

Benefits

100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
401(k) match of up to 6%, with an additional discretionary 4% profit share on day one; Roth options and no vesting period.
Annual performance bonus eligibility for every role.
$200,000 employer-paid life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage.
$5,000 annual professional development budget per employee.
20 days of PTO and 8 paid holidays.
Pet insurance.
Onsite gym.
Flexible schedule.
Relocation assistance for full-time positions.