Lead AI Software Developer

Zachary Piper, LLC; Gaithersburg (MD); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 154,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Lead AI Software Developer to join a federal program in Gaithersburg, MD on a hybrid basis. You will design and implement software solutions independently while collaborating with systems engineering, product delivery, and DevSecOps teams.

The role requires 4+ years of relevant experience or a Master’s with 2+ years, strong microservices experience, and proficiency in modern languages on Linux.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a technical field.
• 4+ years of relevant experience or a Master’s with 2+ years.
• Hands-on with microservices-based systems.

Responsibilities

• Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies.
• Translate requirements into working software with teams.
• Develop clean, testable code following CI/CD/DevSecOps.
• Contribute to system design discussions and decisions.
• Integrate services with databases, messaging, and APIs.
• Troubleshoot performance and ensure reliable delivery.
• Collaborate with QA, DevOps, and platform teams.
• Implement automated testing strategies (unit/integration/contract/e2e).
• Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate coding and testing.

Skills

AI/ML experience

Agile methodologies

API design

Distributed systems

Linux/Unix

Debugging

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related field

Master’s degree (optional)

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Job description

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Lead AI Software Developer to join a federal program located in Gaithersburg, MD on a hybrid basis. The Lead AI Software Developer will design and implement software solutions independently while working closely with systems engineering, product delivery, and DevSecOps teams.

Responsibilities of the Lead AI Software Developer:

• Participate in sprint planning, daily standups, reviews, and retrospectives
• Collaborate with systems engineering and program teams to translate requirements into working software solutions
• Develop clean, maintainable, and testable code following CI/CD and DevSecOps practices
• Contribute to system design discussions and technical decision‑making
• Integrate services with databases, messaging systems, and external APIs
• Support troubleshooting, performance tuning, and continuous improvement
• Work closely with QA, DevOps, and platform teams to ensure reliable delivery
• Implement modern automated testing strategies, including unit, integration, contract, and end‑to‑end testing
• Use AI‑assisted development tools to accelerate coding, refactoring, debugging, and test creation

Qualification of the Lead AI Software Developer:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
• 4+ years of relevant experience or a Master’s Degree and 2+ years of relevant experience
• Hands‑on experience building and supporting microservices‑based systems
• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Java, Python, C++, or similar on a Linux‑based system)
• Effectively leverage AI‑assisted engineering tools to understand unfamiliar codebases, analyze system behavior, develop implementation strategies, accelerate development, and improve software quality.
• Experience or exposure to AI/ML‑enabled systems (Claude‑Code), automation, or intelligent platforms.
• Ability to analyze and understand large, complex software systems with many interacting components.
• Analyze existing software interfaces and data flows to implement new capabilities within a complex distributed system.
• Experience enhancing and maintaining existing software systems while preserving operational stability.
• Ability to abstract complex implementation details into higher‑level architectural concepts and communicate those concepts effectively.
• Experience working in Agile environments
• Understanding of APIs and distributed system concepts
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with large‑scale distributed systems
• Experience working with safety‑critical or high‑availability software
• Experience reverse‑engineering existing software designs
• Experience integrating with legacy systems
• Experience reading and understanding large existing codebases
• Experience with Git‑based version control and CI/CD pipelines
• Familiarity with Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
• Experience working with relational and/or NoSQL databases
• Hands‑on experience with Kafka or other event‑streaming technologies
• Cloud experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Containerization and orchestration experience (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience working in DevSecOps environments
• Experience with test automation frameworks and integration of automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines

Compensation for the Lead AI Software Developer:

• Salary Range: $140,000+ *flexible based on experience*
• Comprehensive Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO, and Sick Leave as required by law
• Flexible working schedule
• Unlimited opportunities for growth

#LI-CJ2

#LI-HYBRID

Key Words; ai, developer, software, federal, cleared, government, faa, artificial intelligence, api, agile, safe, microservices, java, puthon, c, programming, ml, machine learning, claude, sql, database, kafka, reverse engineering