Software Engineer, Mission Dev - Federal

Nominal•Washington, DC

3h•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Software Engineer on the Mission Dev team, you will operate at the intersection of software engineering, customer deployment, and mission-critical federal programs. You are not just shipping code — you are embedding with customers, deploying software into high-stakes environments, and owning outcomes from first integration to long-term success. You will bridge Nominal’s platform with real-world federal applications across the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, and other U.S. government agencies. This is a hybrid of software engineer, forward-deployed engineer, and technical program lead. You will write production-grade code, design integrations, manage deployments on government networks, and serve as a trusted technical advisor to mission operators. If you think like a startup founder, thrive in ambiguity, and want to see your code powering rocket test stands, autonomy labs, and mission-critical defense programs, Nominal is the place to do it. Mission Dev is one of the most unique roles at Nominal. You'll write production-grade code, embed with federal customers on-site, and own the bridge between what our platform offers today and what a government program needs to succeed. That might mean deploying Nominal onto a classified network for a Navy flight test squadron, building a custom telemetry pipeline for a DoD autonomy program, or standing up integrations at a NASA test facility, then watching an engineer use what you shipped yesterday and iterating on the spot. You'll work inside the constraints that come with federal environments: accreditation processes, air-gapped networks, strict cybersecurity requirements, and government acquisition timelines. The role requires someone who can deliver high-quality software without losing velocity in these environments. Mission Devs are brought in when there's a specific technical gap to bridge. You might get looped in during pre-sales to integrate a program's data and demonstrate how Nominal fits their mission workflows, or you might be building program-specific tooling mid-deployment that evolves into a permanent product capability. The work you do for one program often becomes a core product used across our entire customer base — our video-alongside-telemetry capability, for example, started as a single customer need and is now a platform-wide feature. The "last 10%" looks different for every mission, and that's what makes the work compelling.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in software engineering, forward-deployed engineering, or a technical role that combined building with customer-facing work.
Experience working with or inside U.S. federal agencies, particularly DoD, and with deploying software on U.S. government networks.
Track record of shipping production software in dynamic or ambiguous environments.
Strong systems thinking — you can understand complex technical ecosystems end-to-end.
Clear communicator, comfortable writing technical documentation and presenting to executive stakeholders.
Willingness to travel up to 50%.
Curiosity about hardware systems and willingness to learn the physical domains our customers operate in.
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret clearance. Active clearance is a strong plus.