Software Developer and Platform Architect SME - Secret

Parsons; Maryland; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons seeks a cleared, highly experienced Software Developer and Platform Architect SME to lead design, development, and deployment of cloud-native systems, Kubernetes platforms, and secure CI/CD capabilities for DCDC mission requirements.

The role requires on-site support at the Ft. Meade, MD facility. You will guide technical standards, reviews, and mentorship across teams to deliver resilient, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, IT, or related field.
• 10+ years in software development, platform engineering, or cloud engineering.
• Experience leading complex software or platform initiatives.
• Extensive experience with containers, Kubernetes, Helm, CRDs, operators.
• Ability to design and operate highly available, secure distributed systems.
• Experience with CI/CD, GitOps, IaC, and security in software delivery.

Responsibilities

• Serve as SME for systems software, Kubernetes, distributed systems, and cloud-native architectures.
• Design and implement containerized microservices, platform services, APIs, and data-processing apps.
• Architect, deploy, and operate Kubernetes platforms on private/hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Develop Helm charts, Kubernetes configs, CRDs, automation, and IaC for all environments.
• Design and improve CI/CD and GitOps workflows with security scanning and SBOMs.
• Establish software deployment, observability, configuration-management, and operational standards.
• Lead root-cause analysis and improvements for performance, reliability, and security.
• Provide mentorship to developers, engineers, analysts, and PMs.
• Review designs, code, deployment plans, and operational docs.

Skills

Technical leadership

Systems thinking

Problem solving

Education

B.S. in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Helm

Custom Resource Definitions

Operators

CI/CD tooling

GitOps

SBOM tooling

Job description

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next! At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what's possible.

Job Description

Parsons is seeking a cleared, highly experienced Software Developer and Platform Architect SME to lead the design, development, integration, deployment, and operationalization of cloud-native systems, Kubernetes platforms, distributed applications, data pipelines, and secure CI/CD capabilities supporting DCDC mission requirements.

The successful candidate will provide technical leadership across development, test, integration, and production environments; establish engineering standards and reference architectures; resolve complex technical challenges; and provide independent technical recommendations to customers and program leadership.

This position requires on-site support at the DCDC facility at Ft. Meade, MD.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Serve as a technical subject-matter expert for systems software, Kubernetes, distributed systems, data streaming, and cloud-native architectures.
• Design and implement containerized microservices, platform services, APIs, and data-processing applications.
• Architect, deploy, and operate highly available Kubernetes platforms on hyper-converged, private-cloud, hybrid-cloud, or comparable infrastructure.
• Develop reusable Helm charts, Kubernetes configurations, custom resource definitions, automation, and Infrastructure as Code for development, test, and production environments.
• Design and improve CI/CD and GitOps workflows supporting automated testing, security scanning, artifact management, deployment, promotion, and rollback.
• Establish software-development, deployment, observability, configuration-management, and operational standards.
• Implement platform capabilities for networking, storage, secrets management, monitoring, logging, alerting, scaling, upgrades, backup, and recovery.
• Apply DevSecOps and software-supply-chain practices, including Zero Trust, container hardening, vulnerability management, SBOM generation, artifact provenance, and secure software delivery.
• Troubleshoot complex software, platform, infrastructure, networking, storage, deployment, and integration issues.
• Lead root-cause analysis and recommend improvements to system performance, scalability, reliability, maintainability, and security.
• Lead architecture reviews, design reviews, technical interchange meetings, customer demonstrations, and operational-readiness activities.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to developers, engineers, analysts, and project managers.
• Review technical designs, code, automation, infrastructure configurations, deployment plans, and operational documentation.
• Document architectural decisions, technical standards, implementation strategies, risks, and operational procedures.
• Provide technical input to project planning, risk management, platform implementation, release planning, and operational transition activities.
• Serve as a senior technical point of contact for assigned platform, software, or mission capabilities.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in software development, platform engineering, systems engineering, cloud engineering, distributed systems, data architecture, or systems integration.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead, architect, principal engineer, or subject-matter expert on complex software or platform initiatives.
• Extensive experience with containers, microservices, Kubernetes, Helm, custom resource definitions, operators, networking, storage, secrets, and workload lifecycle management.
• Experience designing or operating highly available , scalable, resilient, and secure distributed systems.
• Experience with hyper-converged infrastructure, virtualization, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or comparable environments.
• Experience developing production software, automation, or platform services using Java, Python, Go, Bash, or comparable languages.
• Experience with CI/CD, GitOps , DevSecOps , Infrastructure as Code, declarative configuration, and version-controlled infrastructure.
• Experience integrating automated testing, security scanning, vulnerability management, artifact management, and SBOM generation into software-delivery processes.
• Experience with monitoring, logging, alerting, dashboards, and operational metrics for distributed applications and infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience troubleshooting complex systems and conducting root-cause analysis.
• Experience establishing technical standards, reviewing engineering products,