Software Engineer (SWE), Level 3

Bitwise • Columbia, MD

1d • $282,000 - $332,000

About The Position

Bitwise is seeking an experienced Software Engineer to lead forward-deployed work with mission customers, taking AI capabilities from concept through production. The engineer will work directly with operators and analysts to understand their workflows, identify opportunities for AI to save time, and build agentic systems that deliver operational value.

The role involves architecting and building sophisticated AI agents in Python that connect large language models, data sources, and operational tools. The engineer will design safeguards for autonomous agents, including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging. In partnership with mission users, they will build evaluation suites to measure accuracy, reliability, and failure modes, and use results to determine readiness for deployment.

The engineer will help shape team practices for AI-assisted development, including standards for reviewing and validating AI-generated code, and will mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing. They will evaluate frontier and open-weight models and frameworks against mission problems and brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership. The role offers the opportunity to influence how AI is fielded across operations and grow into project leadership.

An active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph is required. Bitwise describes itself as a small, growing company focused on mission-driven intelligence solutions for the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense, with an emphasis on technical excellence, growth, wellness, and community.

Requirements

• 12 or more years of relevant experience with a bachelor's degree in a technical discipline, or 16 or more years of relevant experience without a degree.
• Extensive professional software engineering experience and advanced Python proficiency, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines users depend on.
• Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems using tool/function calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows.
• Experience working directly with end users or mission customers to turn ambiguous operational problems into delivered software.
• Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or other non-deterministic systems.
• Experience using AI coding assistants or agents for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with the discipline to review, own, and explain their output.
• Technical leadership experience, such as serving as a tech lead, leading design decisions, or mentoring engineers.
• Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, Docker/Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools such as Jira and Confluence; GitLab is preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), Skills, subagents, or multi-agent orchestration frameworks such as PydanticAI or LangGraph.
• Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and over-permissioned tool access.
• Experience with retrieval systems such as RAG, vector databases, or Elasticsearch.
• Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents.
• Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience.
• Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations, or knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead forward-deployed engineering work with mission customers, taking AI from concept through production.
• Work with operators and analysts to understand workflows and identify opportunities for AI to save time.
• Build agentic systems that deliver operational value.
• Architect and build Python AI agents that connect LLMs, data sources, and operational tools.
• Design safeguards for autonomous agents, including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging.
• Partner with mission users to build evaluation suites measuring accuracy, reliability, and failure modes.
• Use evaluation results to determine when AI capabilities are ready to field.
• Use AI coding agents in daily work and help define standards for reviewing and validating AI-generated code.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing.
• Evaluate frontier and open-weight models and frameworks against mission problems.
• Brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership.

Benefits

• Flexible choice of 3 or 5 weeks of PTO, with corresponding adjustment to pay.
• 11 paid federal holidays.
• Up to 2 paid snow days.
• 401(k) company match of up to 24% for employees contributing 6%; unclaimed match may be paid as extra income.
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, with an option to trade the health insurance benefit for increased salary if already covered.
• $5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and student loan repayments.
• Spot bonuses for certifications, customer recognition, and other achievements.
• Top salaries.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior