Tech Lead – Principal Software Engineer

Zohorecruit; Arlington (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO & Floating days off

11 paid holidays

401(k) with 3% match

Great health coverage

Job summary

Zohorecruit seeks an experienced Tech Lead – Principal Software Engineer to steer architecture and delivery for mission-critical environments from Arlington, TX. This role blends hands-on coding with technical leadership, DevSecOps, Agile delivery, and team development in a high-tempo setting requiring Top Secret/SCI eligibility.

Responsibilities span leading multi-team software delivery, building CI/CD pipelines, enforcing security controls, and guiding long-term technical strategy while

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen with active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance.
• Bachelor’s degree and 12+ years of relevant experience.
• Proven experience leading multiple engineering teams and delivering complex enterprise software systems.
• Strong hands-on Agile full-SDLC software development, including design, development, testing, integration, deployment, production release, and sustainment.
• Strong experience with DevSecOps, automated testing, CI/CD, release management, configuration management, and version control.
• Experience building DevOps pipelines using Bitbucket, Git/GitHub/GitLab, Jenkins, Artifactory, and Ansible.
• Experience with Java Full Stack, Gradle, PowerShell, Oracle 19c, web services, and APIs.
• Experience managing Agile delivery and project tracking using Jira or equivalent tools.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor senior technical staff in a high-tempo TS/SCI environment.
• Strong leadership, communication, documentation, organizational, and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead Agile software engineering teams and translate mission priorities into technical plans and sprint goals.
• Build and manage automated CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Ansible, Git, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Artifactory.
• Implement DevSecOps, automated testing, observability, security controls, and full-SDLC across environments.
• Manage software release/version control and secure promotion across product lifecycles.
• Define long-term technical strategy, architecture standards, governance, and best practices.
• Serve as a senior technical authority for cross-team engineering challenges.
• Drive engineering excellence in security, reliability, performance, and automation.
• Lead, mentor, and develop senior engineers, including career development and retention.
• Own delivery outcomes across multiple Agile teams, ensuring quality, security, and mission alignment.
• Balance near-term delivery with modernization and architectural investments.
• Partner with product owners and stakeholders to align priorities and roadmaps.
• Identify and resolve delivery risks and dependencies.
• Communicate technical vision and progress to leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide AI tool adoption.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Mentoring

Project management

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Bitbucket

Git/GitHub/GitLab

Jenkins

Artifactory

Ansible

Jira

PowerShell

Oracle 19c

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Tech Lead – Principal Software Engineer to lead architecture, software delivery, and engineering teams supporting mission-critical environments.

This role combines hands-on software engineering with technical leadership, DevSecOps, Agile delivery, and team development. The ideal candidate has experience delivering secure, scalable systems and leading engineering teams in high-tempo Top Secret/SCI environments.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead Agile software engineering teams and translate mission priorities, backlog items, and customer needs into technical plans, milestones, and sprint goals.
  
• Build and manage automated CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Ansible, Git, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Artifactory.
  
• Implement DevSecOps, automated testing, observability, security controls, infrastructure automation, and full-SDLC practices across Development, Test, QA, and Production environments.
  
• Manage software release/version control and ensure consistent, secure, and reliable promotion of software throughout the product lifecycle.
  
• Define long-term technical strategy, architecture, engineering standards, governance, and development best practices across multiple teams.
  
• Serve as a senior technical authority and escalation point for complex cross-team and cross-domain engineering challenges.
  
• Drive engineering excellence in security, reliability, performance, maintainability, CI/CD, and automated testing.
  
• Lead, mentor, and develop senior engineers and technical teams, including performance management, career development, succession planning, recruiting, onboarding, and retention.
  
• Own delivery outcomes across multiple Agile teams, ensuring quality, predictability, security, and mission alignment while driving continuous improvement through Jira or equivalent tools.
  
• Balance near-term delivery with long-term modernization, technical debt reduction, and architectural investments.
  
• Partner with product owners, program leadership, business stakeholders, cybersecurity, infrastructure, operations, and mission partners to align priorities, roadmaps, and execution.
  
• Identify and resolve delivery risks, dependencies, architectural constraints, and resource challenges.
  
• Communicate technical vision, architecture, risks, progress, and recommendations to senior leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
  
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide the responsible adoption of generative AI and AI-assisted engineering tools.
  

Requirements

Basic Qualifications:

• U.S. Citizen with an active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance.
  
• Bachelor’s degree and 12+ years of relevant experience; additional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
  
• Proven experience leading multiple engineering teams and delivering complex, mission-critical enterprise software systems.
  
• Strong hands-on background in Agile full-SDLC software development, including design, development, testing, integration, deployment, production release, and sustainment.
  
• Strong experience with DevSecOps, automated testing, CI/CD, release management, configuration management, and version control.
  
• Experience building DevOps pipelines using Bitbucket, Git/GitHub/GitLab, Jenkins, Artifactory, and Ansible.
  
• Experience with Java Full Stack, Gradle, PowerShell, Oracle 19c, web services, and APIs.
  
• Experience managing Agile delivery and project tracking using Jira or equivalent tools.
  
• Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor senior technical staff and operate effectively in a high-tempo TS/SCI environment.
  
• Strong leadership, communication, documentation, organizational, and stakeholder management skills.
  

Core Benefits:

• Paid Time Off PTO):TEN (10) Paid days off & FIVE (5) Floating days off.
  
• Holidays: 11 Paid Holidays. Flex time can be utilized instead of holiday time usage.
  
• Payroll: Paid Bi-Monthly.
  
• 401(k): Partnered with the SECOND LARGEST Retirement plan provider in the U.S. Guaranteed 3% match. Eligibility – 21 years of age or older, after 3 months of employment
  
• Individual or company-wide performance and recognition awards (Quarterly)
  
• UNITED HEALTHCARE PPO, extensive national coverage.
  
• Eligible on the first of the month, immediately after the start date.
  
• Submit the enrollment form within 30 days of your start date otherwise, you will have to wait until October for the new year enrollment.
  

Quality of Life Benefits:

• Training & Career Development Reimbursement of Tuition and training needed to support career development.
  
• $150 monthly reimbursement contribution paid monthly towards parking expenses.
  
• Receipts must be submitted by the close of business on the 25th of each month.
  
• Reimbursements will be paid on the first payroll AFTER reimbursements are submitted each month.