Software Development Engineer

VTG Defense; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

VTG Defense seeks an experienced Software Development Engineer to design, develop, and enhance scalable event-driven and distributed software systems for complex data pipelines. You will build modular architectures with robust event tracking, observability, and real-time alerting.

You will work on backend services in Python, including asynchronous programming, and implement distributed messaging with Kafka while ensuring fault-tolerant design and strong JSON data interchange across domains.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related technical field or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong Python development experience.
• Experience with asynchronous programming and concurrency in Python.
• Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka or similar distributed messaging technologies.
• Understanding of distributed systems and fault-tolerant design.
• Experience implementing observability and monitoring solutions (Grafana, ELK).

Responsibilities

• Design and develop scalable event-driven architectures supporting high-volume data pipelines and distributed systems.
• Develop backend services and applications using Python, including asynchronous and concurrent programming techniques.
• Design and implement distributed messaging and event-processing solutions using Kafka.
• Build modular software architectures that can easily integrate new data formats, sources, and domains.
• Develop frameworks that provide granular tracking and monitoring of events throughout data pipelines.
• Design and implement fault-tolerant systems that maintain reliability and availability across distributed environments.
• Implement access control and access management capabilities within event-driven architectures.
• Develop solutions for real-time alerting, event tracking, and digital record keeping.
• Implement observability capabilities using Grafana and the ELK Stack.
• Build dashboards and monitoring solutions that provide visibility into application and system health.
• Develop and maintain interfaces utilizing JSON for structured data interchange.
• Troubleshoot distributed application and data-pipeline issues and identify opportunities to improve performance and reliability.
• Apply modular software design principles to improve system maintainability, scalability, and extensibility.
• Collaborate with engineering and data teams to expand architectures to support additional data domains and formats.

Skills

Python

Async programming

Distributed systems

JSON data interchange

fault-tolerant design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance, or a related technical field

Tools

Kafka

Grafana

ELK Stack

JSON

Job description

Overview

VTG is seeking an experienced Software Development Engineer to design, develop, and enhance scalable event-driven and distributed software systems supporting complex data pipelines. This role will focus on building modular architectures that provide comprehensive event tracking, observability, fault tolerance, access control, and real-time alerting across multiple data domains.

What will you do?

• Design and develop scalable event-driven architectures supporting high-volume data pipelines and distributed systems.
• Develop backend services and applications using Python, including asynchronous and concurrent programming techniques.
• Design and implement distributed messaging and event-processing solutions using Kafka.
• Build modular software architectures that can easily integrate new data formats, sources, and domains.
• Develop frameworks that provide granular tracking and monitoring of events throughout data pipelines.
• Design and implement fault-tolerant systems that maintain reliability and availability across distributed environments.
• Implement access control and access management capabilities within event-driven architectures.
• Develop solutions for real-time alerting, event tracking, and digital record keeping.
• Implement observability capabilities using Grafana and the ELK Stack.
• Build dashboards and monitoring solutions that provide visibility into application and system health.
• Develop and maintain interfaces utilizing JSON for structured data interchange.
• Troubleshoot distributed application and data-pipeline issues and identify opportunities to improve performance and reliability.
• Apply modular software design principles to improve system maintainability, scalability, and extensibility.
• Collaborate with engineering and data teams to expand architectures to support additional data domains and formats.

Do you have what it takes?

• Active TS/SCI W/ Polygraph required.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong software development experience with Python.
• Experience with asynchronous programming and concurrency in Python.
• Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka or similar distributed messaging technologies.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems.
• Experience designing and developing event-driven architectures.
• Experience working with JSON and structured data.
• Understanding of fault-tolerant architecture and resilient system design.
• Experience implementing observability and monitoring solutions.
• Hands-on experience with Grafana.
• Experience with the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana).
• Experience developing scalable applications or data-processing pipelines.