Principal Software Engineer Security Clearance

Position: Principal Software Engineer with Security Clearance
Job Title:

Principal Software Engineer Job Category:
Engineering Time Type:
Full time Minimum Clearance Required to Start: TS/SCI Employee Type:
Regular Percentage of

Travel Required:

Up to 10% Type of Travel:
Local Anticipated Posting End: 6/20/2026

The Opportunity:

This senior role is for a Software Architect/Principal Software Engineer, and requires technical leadership, system design, and implementation oversight of complex government system architectures for national critical systems. You will serve as the key decision-maker in defining the "how" a system will be implemented to meet its software requirements, coordinating efforts between our team and sub-contractors. The responsibility of this dynamic role is expected to evolve over the course of the program and includes fostering customer intimacy to ensure a full understanding of the customer's needs, and then successfully leading the engineering team to realize that critical vision.

We are seeking an accomplished Software Architect/Principal Software Engineer who is deeply customer mission-focused and passionate about providing strategic technical leadership in the software architecture and design of complex government systems, requiring proven experience leading programs involving 30+ developers in a distributed environment. This principal technical authority will be responsible for creating robust system designs derived from comprehensive requirements analysis, developing and evolving system architectures for enterprise-level solutions, establishing and maintaining rigorous interface definition standards and APIs, and leading advanced software design tasks to ensure optimal performance and maintainability.

Beyond direct design, the architect is expected to drive technical consensus through trade studies, proactively identify and mitigate technical risks, act as the primary technical interface to leadership, government customers, and sub-contractor CA/CE's, and actively participate in the mentorship and growth of the distributed engineering team, ultimately joining our team to help shape the development and delivery of custom solutions and providing significant opportunities for personal skill development.

Responsibilities:
* Lead and mentor engineering development teams across the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to ensure program and technical success

* Drive Continuous Delivery and Dev Ops Adoption:
Lead and mentor engineering teams across the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), emphasizing modern practices like continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD), infrastructure as code, and automated testing to ensure rapid and reliable program and technical success

* Define Cloud-Native/Distributed System Architecture:
Apply deep technical expertise to define technical objectives, establish resilient system architecture patterns (e.g., microservices, event-driven), analyze complex engineering challenges, and drive effective, scalable solutions for distributed systems

* Govern Engineering Quality and Resilience:
Evaluate the quality, efficacy, and observability of engineering deliverables, including software design, development practices, automated deployment pipelines, and operational monitoring. Ensure adherence to high standards for performance, scalability, and system resilience

* Proactive Operational Risk Communication:
Proactively communicate engineering status, architectural risks (including technical debt), and operational issues related to system performance, availability, latency, and security (Dev Sec Ops ) to program leadership and the customer in real-time

* Facilitate Architectural Alignment with Customers:
Conduct technical exchange meetings (TEMs) with government customers and external stakeholders to present architectural roadmaps, secure design approvals, and ensure continuous technical alignment with evolving mission needs

* Champion Innovation and Technology Strategy:
Continuously evaluate, prototype, and recommend emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML integration, new programming languages, cloud services) to enhance the performance, security, and future capabilities of mission-critical software systems

Qualifications:

Required:

* Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related technical field

* 10+ years of professional software development experience

* Active TS/SCI Security clearance with ability to obtain a poly

* Demonstrated experience as a Chief Architect, Associate Chief Architect, or equivalent technical leadership role, guiding teams through the full software development lifecycle and successfully deploying capabilities into classified government operational environments

* Strong cross-functional communication skills and proven ability to collaborate effectively within small, fast-paced teams, managing multiple tasks to meet program milestones and deadlines

* Proven track record of leading Agile software engineering initiatives across all phases, including design, development, configuration, integration,…