Remote Software Project Lead — End-to-End Defense Systems

DEFCON AI; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Health insurance

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Competitive compensation

Flexible schedule

Job summary

DEFCON AI in the United States is seeking a Software Project Lead to own the design, architecture, and delivery of a mission-critical program. You will lead a small software team, work directly with customers, and shape the end-to-end solution from concept to deployed software.

The role emphasizes unclassified-to-secure delivery, government timelines, and collaboration with PMs, SMEs, data scientists, and security.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping production software, including end-to-end ownership.
• Front-end and data visualization engineering (e.g. React/TypeScript).
• Leading a small team and writing/reviewing code directly.
• Unclassified-to-secure delivery: open development that moves to secure environments.
• Requirements and architecture instincts: translate customer needs into design.
• Partnering with an optimization scientist on contracts between engine and UI.
• Leading cross-role coordination with PMs, SMEs, data scientists, and security.
• US Citizenship Required
• Active Secret Clearance
• Willingness to Travel up to 25% to sites

Responsibilities

• Own the software design, architecture, delivery & deployment for the program.
• Be accountable for delivery; manage scope, schedule, risk, and raise issues early.
• Favor proven, open-source tools; reuse existing solutions when possible.
• Sit with the customer and end users; gather requirements and define UX direction.
• Represent DEFCON's engineering to the customer and handle deployment discussions.
• Communicate across audiences: run stakeholder workshops and translate needs.
• Drive the technical vision and keep the program aligned to it.
• Coordinate across PM, SMEs, data scientists, and security; define done.
• Lead a small software team as the effort grows.
• Own the release cadence from capability intake through deployment per government timelines.
• Own the unclassified-to-secure delivery path; ensure parity between data in both domains.
• Maintain CI/CD hygiene and coordinate with security for accreditation.

Skills

Front-end engineering

Data visualization

Lead a small team

Unclassified-to-secure delivery

Requirements & architecture

Customer collaboration

Travel up to 25%

Job description

DEFCON AI in the United States is seeking a Software Project Lead to own the design, architecture, and delivery of a mission-critical program. You will lead a small software team, work directly with customers, and shape the end-to-end solution from concept to deployed software.

The role emphasizes unclassified-to-secure delivery, government timelines, and collaboration with PMs, SMEs, data scientists, and security.