Lead Software Engineer/Developer - Contingent

Aretum; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Aretum is seeking a Lead Software Engineer/Developer to serve as the hands-on technical lead for a federal digital content management and systems integration program. This backend-focused role centers on Python and Django services, REST APIs, and ETL pipelines, coordinating with government technical leads in an Agile team.

Java proficiency is required for existing components, while you guide a mid-level developer through secure, maintainable code, ensuring quality and traceability across the

Qualifications

• Strong backend development experience with Python and Django.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development and testing of Python/Django backend services.
• Build REST APIs to support content ingestion, transformation and exchange with enterprise systems.
• Architect and implement ETL pipelines for content and metadata.
• Define and enforce coding standards, security, and maintainability.
• Guide a mid-level developer and coordinate with government technical leads.
• Oversee content selection logic, metadata transformation, and API integration.
• Ensure traceability, auditing, and robust error handling across the stack.
• Maintain and extend existing Java components where needed.
• Collaborate with testers, UX, and SMEs in an Agile environment.

Skills

Python

Django

Java

REST APIs

Agile

Team leadership

ETL pipelines

Cloud/DevOps basics

Code quality

Tools

PostgreSQL

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Public Trust Eligibility Required

About Aretum

Aretum is a mission-driven organization committed to delivering innovative, technology-enabled solutions to our customers across defense, civilian, and homeland security sectors. Our teams work at the intersection of strategy, technology, and transformation, helping agencies solve their most critical challenges. We believe in investing in our people and creating a culture where collaboration, inclusion, and professional growth are at the forefront.

Job Summary

Aretum is seeking a Lead Software Engineer/Developer to serve as the hands-on technical lead of an Agile scrum team supporting a large-scale federal digital content management and systems integration program. This is a backend-focused engineering role. Python is the primary development language on the program, and you will lead the design and development of Python and Django services, REST APIs, and ETL pipelines that acquire, process, validate, and exchange digital content (images, video, audio, and textual materials) and its associated metadata between major enterprise systems. Portions of the existing platform are implemented in Java, so working Java proficiency is required, but the majority of new development is expected to be in Python. Working as part of an integrated team alongside government developers, testers, user experience staff, and subject matter experts, you will own the technical approach for content selection services, metadata transformation, API integration, secure content transfer, and workflow administration. You will guide a mid-level developer, coordinate with government technical leads, and remain accountable for the quality, maintainability, and security of the code your team delivers. This is a senior, designated lead position.

Due to the nature of our work as a federal consulting organization, employees may be expected to handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and must adhere to applicable safeguarding and compliance requirements.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead of a scrum team working on a three-week sprint cadence as part of an integrated team with government developers, testers, and stakeholders, using standard Agile practices including continuous integration and story-point-based planning in JIRA.
• Lead the design, development, and unit testing of Python and Django backend services that support system-to-system content acquisition, ingest, quality review, inventory, and reporting functions.
• Design and build REST APIs in Python and Django to support content extract, transform, and load (ETL) operations, metadata exchange, reporting, and digital content management functions across integrated enterprise systems.
• Design and implement content identification and selection services, including business rules for selection (date ranges, status flags, ownership), inclusion and exclusion criteria, filtering logic, and manual, scheduled, and event-driven selection triggers.
• Build metadata management and transformation services, including field mapping, normalization, schema validation, quality and completeness checks, and reconciliation logic for metadata mismatches and validation failures.
• Implement API integration and content transfer capabilities, including source and target API connectivity, authentication and authorization, secure transport, retry and error-handling logic, transfer status monitoring, and end-to-end transaction logging and traceability.
• Design relational data models and tune database schemas, queries, and indexes in PostgreSQL to support content registries, workflow state, audit history, and reporting.
• Implement asynchronous and background processing for long-running content operations, including queueing, task orchestration, checkpointing, throttling, and idempotent retry behavior for large or batched transfers.
• Maintain and extend existing Java components where the platform requires it, applying the same standards of testability, readability, and maintainability used across the codebase.
• Integrate existing malware scanning, file integrity validation (checksum comparison), and content routing utility services into exchange workflows through their documented APIs, including quarantine handling and remediation paths.