Manager of Software Development

Join to apply for the Manager of Software Development role at FTI Defense - Frontier Technology Inc.

This position will be based near one of our offices in Dayton, OH;
Huntsville, AL;
Colorado Springs, CO;
Chesapeake, VA; or Beverly, MA.

FTI is looking for an experienced Manager of Software Engineering with expertise and proficiency in software development to join our growing team. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role that will support the development of mission‑tailored, technology‑enabled services and solutions for the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and the Federal Government.

• Manage a team of software engineers across the full lifecycle of software development, from planning through deployment.
• Contribute directly to software design, development, testing, and implementation activities.
• Ensure adherence to engineering best practices including coding standards, version control, code reviews, and documentation.
• Support the adoption of modern tools, frameworks, and development methodologies that strengthen the team’s technical capabilities.
• Work closely with product management, design, operations, and other internal teams to identify and prioritize features and enhancements.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues to maintain stability, performance, and reliability across applications.
• Present project progress, roadblocks, and solutions to senior leadership and key stakeholders.
• Partner with internal customers and operations to strengthen transparency, collaboration, and customer intimacy.
• Maintain a working understanding of FTI’s technology offerings and identify opportunities to support current and emerging customer needs.

• Communicate the team’s vision and strategy, make informed decisions, and resolve conflicts promptly and fairly.
• Develop strong, trusting relationships with team members, understanding their interests, motivations, strengths, and areas for improvement.
• Demonstrate adaptability and a positive attitude toward change, clearly communicating expectations and providing resources for change management.
• Provide intentional mentoring and coaching, establishing specific goals and a plan to achieve them.
• Set SMART goals for team members and conduct regular one‑on‑one meetings to assess progress and provide feedback.
• Ensure timely and accurate approval of timesheets in compliance with company policies and payroll deadlines.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Five or more years of hands‑on software engineering experience.
• Two or more years in a leadership or managerial role.
• Proficiency in modern programming languages such as Java, Python, C++, or Type Script/Angular.
• Experience building containerized, cloud‑native services using Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines (Git Lab, Jenkins, or similar).
• Strong knowledge of Agile, Scrum, and Dev Ops practices.
• Experience with distributed systems or message bus technologies (Kafka, Redis, or equivalent).
• Hands‑on experience with relational or No
  
  SQL databases and modeling complex data relationships.
• Experience deploying or supporting applications in secure or disconnected environments (IL4 through IL6 or comparable edge conditions).
• Fluency with modern data serialization formats such as JSON, Protobuf, GeoJSON, or KML.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, including the ability to design and implement robust software solutions.
• Strong communication skills and comfort presenting to customers.
• Ability to work effectively across cross‑functional teams and with external partners.
• Knowledge of FAR and related federal policies.
• Must be a U.S. citizen and have an active Secret Clearance.

Preferred:

• Experience with ML frameworks or tool chains such as PyTorch, Tensor Flow, scikit‑learn, Hugging Face, Lang Chain, or the OpenAI API.
• Familiarity with MLOps platforms including MLflow, Kubeflow, DVC, or custom training and inference pipelines.
• Working knowledge of vector databases such as Milvus, Pinecone, Chroma, or FAISS.
• Experience with retrieval architectures including RAG, graph‑based, or hybrid search approaches.
• Ability to build Python‑based data ingestion scripts, embeddings pipelines, or lightweight inference services.
• Exposure to LLM fine‑tuning methods such as LoRA, QLoRA, or PEFT.
• Experience with agent frameworks such as Lang Graph, Auto Gen, CrewAI, or DSPy.
• Familiarity with cloud GPU environments or edge inference optimization.
• Experience integrating AI services into applications using REST APIs, event triggers, or UI copilots.

Mid‑Senior level

Full‑time

Engineering and Information Technology

IT Services and IT Consulting