Sr. Application Development Engineer

Titan Technologies Career•Reston, VA

2h•Remote

About The Position

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is responsible for lawful immigration to the United States. The Information Security Division (ISD) is responsible for the management of the USCIS Information Security Program. ISD ensures compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) and other federal regulatory mandates to protect USCIS' information technology infrastructure/resources, information systems, and the data used in these environments. They are also responsible for implementing DHS' Information Security Program policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines throughout the agency. The ISD mission is to deliver effective, high quality, innovative cybersecurity services and solutions that reduce risk and protect the IT infrastructure, systems, and data across USCIS in a dynamic threat environment. Job description Zen Strategics, a Titan Technologies company, is seeking a Senior Application Development Engineer to support cybersecurity efforts for DHS USCIS systems. The Engineer will design and implement enterprise cybersecurity solutions, support threat modeling, automate security processes, and integrate tools such as CrowdStrike. Additional responsibilities include writing technical documentation, supporting compliance, and improving security posture across all layers of the network.

Requirements

5+ years of experience developing enterprise-level applications using Ruby on Rails, with full-stack experience including front-end development (HTML5, CSS, jQuery) and back-end services; able to read and troubleshoot Rails error and build logs independently (Harness experience a plus).
5+ years of experience in PostgreSQL environments, including deep knowledge of complex queries, indexing, and query optimization.
Extensive experience with full-stack testing using RSpec and Capybara.
Proficient in REST API architecture, AWS Security, Splunk, and implementation of secure coding and network best practices.
Experience with security and monitoring tools such as Tenable, CrowdStrike, NewRelic, and Flexera.
Ability to work fully remotely while maintaining high productivity, reliability, and delivering high-quality code.
Ability to get and maintain Public Trust Security Clearance or Existing Public Trust Clearance preferred.
A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Management or Engineering, or other comparable degree or experience, which must be approved in advance by the Government Program Manager.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, development, and deployment of secure, scalable web applications and services, including new features, modules, and system enhancements.
Maintain and optimize existing applications by troubleshooting defects, resolving performance issues, and ensuring reliability, availability, and maintainability.
Develop and manage server-side solutions using Ruby on Rails, including business logic, database interactions, authentication, API integrations, and back-end services.
Design, implement, and optimize databases, data models, and queries to ensure data integrity, performance, and protection of sensitive information.
Build and maintain RESTful APIs and system interfaces to enable secure integration across enterprise platforms and external services.
Implement automated testing, debugging, and quality assurance practices, including unit, integration, and performance testing, to ensure high-quality, resilient code.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams and provide technical leadership through code reviews, standards enforcement, and mentoring of junior developers.
Integrate cybersecurity principles into application and enterprise architectures by applying secure coding practices, access controls, encryption, monitoring, and risk-based safeguards aligned with federal requirements.
Lead the evaluation and design of secure network, system, and data architectures by embedding security-by-design principles, establishing enterprise data protection strategies, and automating security operations and large-scale event analysis using scripting and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) frameworks.
Conduct technical research, standards and product evaluations, and configuration assessments to support federal compliance requirements; develop and maintain Enterprise Architecture and System Lifecycle documentation, and recommend configuration or architectural improvements to remediate vulnerabilities and strengthen the overall security posture.