Software Development SME

Overview

SPA has an immediate need for an Agile Software Development Lead Subject Matter Expert (SME) Technical Advisor.

• Lead and participate in agile development, including sprint planning, daily stand‑ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, to ensure the development team is aligned with program goals and user needs.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define and refine the product backlog, breaking down large‑scale requirements into actionable user stories and epics for the development team.
• Champion Agile and Dev Sec Ops  best practices, including Test‑Driven Development (TDD), continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and testing to accelerate the delivery of new capabilities.
• Communicate progress, impediments, and key metrics to stakeholders and leadership through sprint demonstrations, burn‑down charts, and summary reports, translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable information.
• Develop user stories to drive software development to support tactical Department of War (DoW) operations.
• Prepare and deliver executive‑level briefings, reports, and summary papers; explain complex concepts in relatively simple language; summarize key decisions; and provide recommendations supported by analysis.
• Provide hands‑on SME guidance for the installation, integration, and troubleshooting of software components within a DoW Rapid Prototyping environment, ensuring seamless system performance and connectivity.
• Apply leading‑edge principles, theories, and concepts, and contribute to the development of new principles and concepts. Work on unusually complex problems and provide innovative solutions.
• Often acts independently to resolve issues associated with the development and implementation of operational programs.
• Plan, program, and recommend technical solutions to accomplish long‑range objectives.
• Provide managerial/leadership skills integrate capabilities across functional boundaries.
• Participate in tailored system engineering reviews contributing to acquisition program milestone decision processes.
• Provide objective information and analysis to support decision making on current and future investments.

• Active TS/SCI Security Clearance with a current polygraph and SAP eligibility.
• Bachelor’s Degree and 8+ years of experience (or Master’s Degree and 4+ years) in Software Development, Computer Science, Engineering, or related disciplines.
• 5+ years of technical or program management experience with the DoD or Intelligence Community, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience with Agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe.
• Proficiency with Agile project management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) for managing backlogs, sprints, and reporting.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication (oral and writing) skills.
• Demonstrated initiative and ability to plan, work, and deliver both independently and as part of a diverse team focused on delivering novel capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work with and manage developers/engineers across disciplines to implement customer and system requirements.
• Ability to report to designated work location in Chantilly, VA, up to full time, based on the needs of the customer.

• Minimum 3 years of prior experience working within Space or Air Operations Centers, or other similar Operational Command Center experience.
• Experience with space operations in large force exercises and readying operators for real‑world operations.
• Experience developing technical documentation, such as Concepts of Operations (CONOPS), system architectures, and interface specifications.
• Experience tracking, monitoring, and recommending system enhancements based on operational feedback.
• Tracking, monitoring, analyzing, and providing recommendations for system enhancements.
• Ensuring designs are compatible with the ground system architecture and external interfaces.
• Identifying technical risks and mitigation strategies.