Senior AI Software Developer Job Gaithersburg area,Maryland USA,Software Development

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Senior AI Software Developer to support the development and modernization of real-time, mission-critical software systems in Gaithersburg, MD The Senior AI Software Developer will design and develop microservices-based applications while providing technical leadership across Agile development teams and leveraging AI-assisted development tools to improve software delivery, testing, and reliability.
This position is hybrid in Gaithersburg, MD with three days onsite per week and requires the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance!

Responsibilities of the Senior AI Software Developer:

Design, develop, and maintain scalable microservices-based applications supporting real-time, mission-critical systems
Lead Agile sprint planning to establish team priorities, deliverables, and technical objectives
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to software developers while promoting engineering best practices and continuous improvement
Develop clean, maintainable, testable, and high-performance software using Java, Python, C++, or similar programming languages
Leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate coding, debugging, refactoring, documentation, and automated test creation
Support development and integration of AI-enabled, data-driven, and intelligent software capabilities
Collaborate with systems engineering, product owners, architects, Dev Sec Ops engineers, and other technical teams to translate requirements into production software
Participate in system architecture, application design, and technical decision-making
Design and integrate REST APIs, databases, messaging systems, and external services
Develop software for distributed and event-driven application environments
Implement automated testing strategies including unit, integration, contract, and end-to-end testing
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to improve software quality and deployment reliability
Support application troubleshooting, debugging, performance tuning, and root cause analysis
Work closely with QA, Dev Sec Ops , and platform engineering teams to ensure reliable software delivery
Participate in Agile/SAFe ceremonies including sprint planning, daily standups, reviews, and retrospectives
Support containerized and cloud-based application environments using technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS

Qualifications for the Senior AI Software Developer:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline with 8+ years of relevant experience;
Master's degree with 6+ years of relevant experience; equivalent professional experience may be considered
Hands-on experience designing, developing, and supporting microservices-based applications
Strong programming experience with Java, Python, C++, or a similar modern programming language within Linux environments
Experience or exposure to AI/ML-enabled systems, AI-assisted software development, automation, or intelligent platforms
Experience with AI development tools such as Claude Code or similar AI coding assistants
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and modern software architecture concepts
Experience developing software within Agile environments
Experience collaborating across software development, systems engineering, QA, Dev Sec Ops , and product teams
Experience developing automated unit, integration, or end-to-end tests
Strong troubleshooting, debugging, and software performance optimization skills
Ability to provide technical leadership and mentorship within a software development team
Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with Git-based source control and CI/CD pipelines
Experience working within Scaled Agile…