Senior Software Engineer

Archer; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision

Premiums paid by company

Health Savings Account

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

401k

Stock options

Home office budget

Flexible time off

Job summary

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Senior to Staff Software Engineer to drive modernization from legacy on-prem systems to a cloud-native platform. You will own end-to-end delivery for the US Navy team, shaping requirements and coordinating across vendors, platform engineering, and government groups.

You will lead architectural decisions, collaborate with engineers and stakeholders, and mentor teams while working in a fully remote environment. Strong DoD domain familiarity is a plus.

Qualifications

• 7+ years (senior) or 10+ years (staff) experience with software engineering.
• Experience building a software tool focused on software lifecycle and management.
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (Go, TypeScript, Python).
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure).
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization.
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs.
• Modern API design experience, RESTful services; familiarity with FastAPI/Python, ASP.NET/C#.
• Experience with authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and RBAC for enterprise systems.
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes concepts (Controllers, Operators, CRDs).
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization.
• Familiar with DoD acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills; ability to lead technical sessions with partners and mission heroes.
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with high attention to detail.
• Experience working in a fully remote environment.

Responsibilities

• Translate ambiguous product requirements into technical solutions with engineers, data architects, and stakeholders.
• Create optimized data transformations using cloud-native tools to clean, enrich, and model data.
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance with metadata and lineage.
• Refactor on-prem systems into distributed cloud-based services.
• Design authentication, identity management, and RBAC/ABAC frameworks.
• Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and continuous technical improvements.
• Drive best practices in microservice design, testing, observability, and CI/CD automation.
• Collaborate with partner engineers and stakeholders to deliver mission-focused solutions.
• Contribute to product improvements and growth opportunities for future projects.
• Work effectively in asynchronous, all-remote environments.
• Engage in communities of practice via Slack and GitHub Issues.
• Integrate software with defense systems ensuring interoperability and security.
• Own architecture decisions and maintain technical quality across the team.
• Develop comprehensive documentation including designs, manuals, and maintenance guides.
• Stay current with emerging tech to inform enhancements and innovation.
• Mentor engineers to elevate engineering standards across the team.
• Communicate clearly with engineers and stakeholders at all levels, internal and external.
• Influence product direction through understanding user needs and system constraints.

Skills

Software engineering experience

Software lifecycle

Programming languages

System design

API development

Database design

Microservices decomposition

API design

Authorization & RBAC

Kubernetes concepts

Clean architecture

DoD modernization

Communication

Analytical thinking

Remote collaboration

Tools

Argo Workflows

FastAPI

ASP.NET

Job description

Archer is collaborating with Defense Unicorns to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

Role Description

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Senior to Staff Software Engineer to help drive our transformation from legacy, on-premises software to a modern, cloud-native platform. In this role you will play a key part in designing and building our next-generation, cloud native maintenance planning and execution tool. You'll be joining Defense Unicorns’ US Navy team and be responsible for creating and owning end-to-end project delivery, working with stakeholders across multiple vendors, platform engineering teams, and government organizations. You will work closely with the government project lead and be responsible for shaping the technical requirements of this effort, driving the project from development, user acceptance testing, production transition, and sustainment.

Responsibilities

• Partner with software engineers, data architects, platform engineers, and a wide variety of stakeholders to translate ambiguous product requirements into technical solutions
• Create optimized transformations to clean, enrich, and model data, utilizing cloud-native tools
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance, maintaining metadata and lineage
• Help refactor and modernize existing on-prem systems into distributed, cloud-based services
• Contribute to the design of authentication, identity management, and RBAC/ABAC frameworks
• Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and ongoing technical improvements
• Drive best practices in microservice design, testing, observability, and CI/CD automation
• Collaborate closely with partner company engineers and stakeholders to devise the best solutions for our Mission Heroes
• Collaborate with the Defense Unicorns product team sharing improvements and growth opportunities for future projects
• Comfortable in an asynchronous, all remote environment
• Actively participate in communities of practice via Slack and Github Issues
• Integrate software products with existing defense systems, ensuring seamless interoperability and adherence to security protocols
• Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across the engineering team.
• Develop comprehensive documentation, including design specifications, user manuals, and maintenance guides
• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to inform product enhancements and innovation
• Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team
• Communicate effectively with all levels of engineers and stakeholders internal and external to the company
• Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints

Travel Expectations/Requirements: 15-20%

Preferred Experience And Qualifications

• 7+ years (senior) or 10+ years (staff) experience with software engineering
• Experience building a software tool with core focuses on software lifecycle and management
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Go, TypeScript, Python) with the ability to write idiomatic, testable code
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs
• Modern API design experience, beyond basic CRUD operations; use of RESTful services, and high confidence utilizing tools such as FastAPI in Python, ASP.NET in C#, or equivalent
• Experience with implementation of authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and role-based access control to ensure compliance and data privacy across enterprise systems
• Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes Concepts including but not limited to Controllers, Operators, and CRDs
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization
• Familiar with Department of Defense acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences as well as leading technical working sessions with partners and mission heroes
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a high attention to detail
• Experience working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment!

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

• Medical/Dental/Vision
• Premiums are 100% Company Paid
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance

Financial

• 401k Retirement Plan
• Company Stock Options
• Home Office Budget

Leave

• We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
• Paid Parental Leave

Learning

• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

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