Senior Manager, Software Engineering

HITT Contracting Inc.; Falls Church (VA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Health coverage

401(k)

Wellness program

Paid holidays

Job summary

HITT Contracting Inc. is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead AI-native development across our engineering practice, reporting to the Head of Software Engineering.

You will architect agentic workflows, write production code daily with AI agents, and define patterns that scale across sites. You will build the platform, tooling, and guardrails needed for rapid, reliable delivery in field environments while mentoring engineers and helping recruit top talent.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field; equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering, with staff/principal level experience.
• Expert fluency with AI-assisted and agentic development, coding agents, LLM APIs, and tool integrations.
• Track record shipping production software with cloud-native services, APIs, CI/CD, and IaC.
• Mentor and upskill engineers; introduce new tools and practices.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build AI-native applications and agentic workflows end to end.
• Define technical patterns for agentic development and integration with tools.
• Establish evaluation, testing, observability, and security practices for AI software.
• Prototype quickly, then harden winners into reusable products for jobsites.
• Stand up engineering platform, templates, and libraries for teams.
• Lead code quality, security, and performance improvements; oversee governance.
• Mentor engineers, recruit talent, and promote AI-enabled methods across teams.
• Collaborate with project teams and executives, communicating tradeoffs clearly.

Skills

AI-assisted development

Agentic development

Coding agents

LLM APIs

CI/CD

Cloud-native

Architectural judgment

Mentoring engineers

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Advanced degree a plus

Tools

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

Cursor

Job description

Senior Manager, Software EngineeringWe use cookies to make the safest and most effective website possible.# HITT Jobs## Senior Manager, Software EngineeringApply: Falls Church, VA: Full time: Posted Today: JR102582*Every day, our team members do amazing things in pursuit of our shared purpose to build trust with our clients, partners, subcontractors, and teammates. No matter your background, education, or career path, if you share our vision to create extraordinary experiences, you belong **at HITT**.*Senior Manager, Software Engineering# **Job Description:**HITT is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to serve as a founding technical leader of its new agentic engineering practice. This is a hands-on role for a builder at the top of their craft: an engineer who works fluently with the latest AI development tools and coding agents, has strong, tested opinions about how AI changes the software development lifecycle, and wants to define those patterns from a blank page rather than inherit them.Reporting to the Head of Software Engineering, the Principal Software Engineer sets the technical direction for how software gets built at HITT — architecting the practice’s first AI-native applications, establishing the platform and paved-road tooling every team will use, and writing production code every day alongside AI coding agents. The software this role ships must earn its place on real jobsites: fast, reliable, and usable in high-velocity, decentralized field environments.Beyond building, this role multiplies others. The Principal Software Engineer will help recruit engineers into a lean, agile, AI-augmented team and will train HITT’s existing developers in AI-enabled methods — through pairing, code review, workshops, and reference implementations — raising the technical bar for the entire practice.**Responsibilities**Agentic Development & Technical Leadership* Architect and build HITT’s first AI-native applications and agentic workflows end to end, writing production code daily alongside AI coding agents* Define the technical patterns for agentic development at HITT, including agent orchestration, prompt and context engineering, tool and API integrations, retrieval-augmented generation, and human-in-the-loop review* Establish evaluation, testing, and observability practices that make AI-assisted software trustworthy, secure, and maintainable* Prototype rapidly to prove value, then harden the winners into reliable products adopted across jobsites and officesPlatform, Tooling & Standards* Stand up the engineering platform from scratch: repositories, CI/CD pipelines, environments, model access, guardrails, and the AI development toolchain used by every team* Create paved-road templates, reference implementations, and internal libraries that make the right way the easy way* Set and continuously raise the bar for code quality, security, and performance across the practice, in alignment with HITT’s zero trust cybersecurity strategy* Evaluate emerging AI development tools, models, and frameworks, recommending adoption with clear-eyed assessments of capability and riskMentorship & Enablement* Train and coach HITT’s existing developers in AI-enabled development methods through pairing, code review, workshops, and internal documentation* Help recruit engineers to the organization, interview for craft, judgment, and fluency with modern AI-assisted workflows* Model a culture of experimentation — fail fast and pivot — while managing risk responsiblyDelivery & Collaboration* Work in lean, agile teams built on small batches, fast feedback, and continuous delivery* Partner directly with project teams, field staff, and corporate functions to understand problems firsthand and deliver software that works where execution happens in real time* Communicate architecture decisions and tradeoffs clearly to both engineers and executives, providing transparency on progress, quality, and value delivered**Qualifications*** Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience; advanced degree a plus* 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including experience operating at a staff or principal level and setting technical direction beyond a single team* Expert, hands-on fluency with AI-assisted and agentic development, including coding agents (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor), LLM APIs, agent frameworks, tool and API integrations, retrieval-augmented generation, and evaluation* Track record of shipping production software with modern stacks: cloud-native services, APIs, web and mobile applications, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code* Demonstrated ability to mentor and upskill other engineers, and to introduce new tools and practices into an existing organization* Strong architectural judgment, with the range to move between rapid prototyping and hardened production systems* Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex technical topics clear to non-technical partners* Experience building software for field-based or operational users, or in construction, engineering, or manufacturing environments, is a plus In accordance with Virginia Senate Bill 215 (SB 215), the base salary range for this position is: $142,500.00 - $192,500.00Compensation in other cities and states may vary. HITT Contracting offers a competitive total benefits and compensation package including performance-based bonuses, premium health care coverage including vision and dental, employer-matched 401(k), wellness reimbursement program, paid holidays and time-off, and other voluntary benefits and leave types. The determination of salary is based on the candidate’s individual professional experience, qualifications, education, skills, and training.***HITT Contracting is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to hiring and developing the most qualified individuals based on job-related experience, skills, and merit. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We value a respectful, inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. HITT Contracting maintains a drug-free workplace, consistent with applicable local, state, and federal laws.***