Software and Systems Development Engineers

LCS Defense; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A defense contracting company is seeking Software and Systems Development Engineers to enhance their Test Framework, a specialized platform. The role involves designing features, ensuring system reliability, and developing technical documentation. Key qualifications include over 5 years of software development experience, proficiency in Python or Rust, and familiarity with Linux systems. This role is primarily onsite in Arlington, VA, with occasional travel to Jessup, MD, and requires strong communication skills and experience in distributed systems.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Proficiency in Python or Rust; experience with both is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement new features across all Test Framework subsystems.
• Define and implement service APIs using IDLs.
• Produce and maintain technical documentation.

Skills

Python

Rust

Bash scripting

Distributed systems design

CI/CD pipeline implementation

Linux/Unix

Communication skills

Tools

Amazon CDK

GitLab CI

PostgreSQL

CloudWatch

Job description

Locations: Onsite in Arlington, VA or Herndon, VA, but would accept onsite Jessup, MD with occasional travel to VA.

About the Role

We are seeking experienced Software and Systems Development Engineers to support the design, development, deployment, and ongoing maintenance of a new Test Framework - a purpose-built test orchestration and asset management platform operating within a classified development environment. Contractors will work as members of the engineering team, contributing across the full software development lifecycle of the Test Framework and its operational use.

The Test Framework is a distributed system that manages physical and virtual test infrastructure, orchestrates test execution, and stores and analyzes test results. It operates in an isolated environment with strict controls - creative problem-solving and debugging within those constraints is expected. The devices under test are embedded Linux systems operating in a physical lab network, so familiarity with embedded systems and networking is directly applicable.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement new features across all Test Framework subsystems: Test Manager (configuration, orchestration, results) and Asset Manager (reservation, configuration, tasking, device adapters)
• Define and implement service APIs using IDLs
• Develop and maintain device adapters that abstract physical lab hardware (test devices, traffic generators, packet switches, optical switches) behind generic interfaces, including adapters for embedded Linux devices accessed over the network
• Implement and maintain datastores across multiple database technologies, e.g., PostgreSQL, GraphDB, DynamoDB
• Deploy and manage the Test Framework using Amazon CDK
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines in Gitlab Pipelines
• Instrument and monitor services with CloudWatch, time series databases, and other alerting tools
• Produce and maintain technical documentation
• Provide technical support and guidance to users of the Test Framework
• Triage and resolve production issues

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience
• Proficiency in Python or Rust; experience with both is a plus.
• Proficiency in Bash scripting
• Experience designing and building distributed systems
• Experience defining service interfaces using an IDL
• Experience with CI/CD pipeline design and implementation (GitLab CI, Jenkins, or equivalent)
• Familiarity with containerization
• Experience working in Linux/Unix environments, with an emphasis on console usage
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Amazon CDK or other Infrastructure as Code technologies
• Experience with embedded Linux systems
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals relevant to embedded and lab environments: Ethernet, IP routing, optical networking concepts, traffic generation and analysis
• Experience developing in classified or air-gapped environments with restricted tooling
• Experience with AWS CloudWatch for observability: metrics, logs, alarms, and dashboards
• Experience with test framework technologies, e.g., pytest, pytest-bdd, robot, behave, etc.
• Background in hardware-in-the-loop or lab automation testing environments