| Low-Level Software Engineer|

Recruiting From Scratch; Washington, New York, Palo Alto, Denver (District of Columbia, NY, CA, CO); On-site; USD 100,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

A recruiting firm is seeking a Low-Level Software Engineer to be a core contributor to a high-impact team focused on building efficient, scalable software systems for critical applications, operating in tech sectors like defense and national security. Applicants will work onsite in Washington, DC, collaborating on innovative solutions that have a global impact.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Market-competitive equity compensation

Full suite of health and wellness benefits

Learning and development opportunities

Opportunity for meaningful global impact

Qualifications

• 2–12 years of hands-on software engineering experience.
• Expertise with compiled languages as a core part of SDLC.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems independently.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain low-level and backend software in Rust, C/C++, or Go.
• Build scalable, high-throughput systems.
• Debug and profile systems in production and development environments.

Skills

Rust

C/C++

Go

IP networking

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Computer Engineering

Job description

Who is Recruiting from Scratch:

Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers, software, and hardware talent at innovative companies. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across the United States to help them hire.

About the client:

Title of Role: Low-Level Software Engineer

Location: Washington, DC; Palo Alto, CA; Denver, CO; New York, NY
Company Stage of Funding: Public Company (NYSE: PLTR)
Office Type: Onsite Preferred (2+ days/week in DC office or other listed locations)
Salary: $100,000 – $250,000 base (plus competitive equity)

Company Description

Our client is a publicly traded technology leader that builds mission-critical software platforms for some of the world’s most complex data challenges. Their products support major government agencies, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and Fortune 500 companies in making high-stakes decisions by turning complex data into actionable intelligence.

From enabling disaster relief to enhancing national security, this is a company where engineers are directly empowered to make a meaningful global impact. The work environment favors hands-on builders, creative problem-solvers, and technologists driven by purpose. This team is known for its deeply technical culture, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and fast-paced problem-solving.

What You Will Do

As a Low-Level Software Engineer, you will be a core contributor to a high-impact team working on the software foundations of distributed systems, data pipelines, and performance-critical applications. Your focus will be building efficient, scalable systems that operate close to the metal – often on the edge or in constrained environments – where latency, throughput, and resource optimization are paramount.

You’ll collaborate with multidisciplinary engineers across domains including embedded systems, networking, and infrastructure to design and deploy performant code in mission-critical environments. The ideal candidate will bring both strong system-level software development experience and a hacker mindset to independently tackle ambiguous, deeply technical problems.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing and maintaining low-level and backend software in Rust, C/C++, or Go

• Building scalable, high-throughput systems (e.g., network stacks, dataplanes, streaming data processing)

• Optimizing for performance and resource efficiency in latency-sensitive environments

• Debugging and profiling systems in production and development environments

• Participating in the full software development lifecycle and driving technical solutions from concept to deployment

Ideal Candidate Background

Minimum Qualifications:

• 2–12 years of hands-on software engineering experience

• Expertise with compiled languages (Rust, C/C++, Go) as a core part of your SDLC workflow

• Experience building performant backend or low-level systems software

• Knowledge of basic IP networking concepts

• Demonstrated ability to solve ambiguous, complex problems independently

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field

• U.S. Citizenship required and must be eligible for a U.S. security clearance

• Ability to work onsite in Washington, DC at least two days per week (or other listed office locations)

Preferred but not required:

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (Secret or higher)

• Background working in edge compute, secure communications, or defense-adjacent systems

• Experience operating in highly regulated or mission-critical environments

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary ranging from $100,000 – $250,000 based on experience

• Market-competitive equity compensation

• Full suite of health and wellness benefits

• Learning and development opportunities

• The opportunity to directly contribute to technology with meaningful global impact

Other Notes

• This role is not focused on hardware/firmware development, but rather on low-level software that interacts closely with systems and infrastructure layers

• Strong emphasis is placed on autonomy, impact, and breadth of technical expertise

• Team values a multidisciplinary mindset and welcomes engineers who can wear multiple hats

Join a team that’s solving the toughest software problems in defense, national security, and critical infrastructure.
Apply now to work with some of the brightest engineers in the industry—and build technology that truly matters.