Software Engineering Manager

Kestrel Intelligence

10d

About The Position

At Kestrel, the Software Engineering Manager leads a team of software engineers building data processing pipelines, APIs, agentic AI architecture, infrastructure, and user interfaces. The manager hires and develops engineers, sets delivery priorities, and helps the team ship reliable software that meets customer mission needs. The role stays close to the technology to guide architecture decisions and unblock the team, and calls for sound judgment, strong communication, and respect for the mission. The manager partners with product, business development, and company leadership to translate customer mission needs into engineering priorities; oversees planning and delivery against customer and program milestones; and guides engineering practices and technical decisions. The team supports pilots, demos, customer site visits, and proposal technical volumes, while developing compliance-ready systems intended to support future AWS GovCloud and DoD IL deployments. The position is located near Colorado Springs, Colorado, or Washington, DC, with work at customer sites in Crystal City, Virginia, and Herndon, Virginia. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and have an active TS/SCI clearance with either a counterintelligence-scope or full-scope polygraph.

Requirements

At least 8 years of professional software engineering experience, including at least 2 years of direct people management.
A track record of leading teams that ship production software on schedule.
Hands-on experience with Python, API development, distributed or service-oriented systems, and cloud environments, preferably AWS.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to nontechnical stakeholders.
Active TS/SCI clearance with a counterintelligence-scope polygraph (CSP) or full-scope polygraph (FSP).
Must be a U.S. citizen.
Location near Colorado Springs, CO, or Washington, DC, with work at customer sites in Crystal City, VA, and Herndon, VA.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading engineering teams that support DoD or IC programs.
Familiarity with AWS GovCloud, DoD IL requirements, or the Risk Management Framework (RMF).
Experience with geospatial data, ISR systems, or agentic AI architectures.
Experience scaling an engineering team at a startup or venture-backed company.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of software engineers through regular one-on-ones, clear expectations, and career development plans.
Recruit and hire engineers with technical depth and alignment with Kestrel’s mission and culture.
Plan and manage team work, including sprint planning, roadmap execution, and delivery against customer and program milestones.
Partner with product, business development, and company leadership to translate customer mission needs into clear engineering priorities.
Guide architecture and design decisions across Python-based services, data pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and agentic AI components.
Establish and enforce engineering best practices for code reviews, testing, CI/CD, documentation, and incident response.
Ensure the team builds compliance-ready systems that support future AWS GovCloud and DoD IL deployments.
Coordinate engineering support for pilots, demos, customer site visits, and proposal technical volumes.
Identify and mitigate technical, schedule, and staffing risks early, and communicate tradeoffs clearly to leadership.
Track team health and delivery metrics, and continuously improve how the team works.