Principal Software Engineer; Remote

Overview

Enlighten, honored as a Top Workplace from USA Today, is a leader in big data solution development and deployment, with expertise in cloud-based services, software and systems engineering, cyber capabilities, and data science. Enlighten provides continued innovation and proactivity in meeting our customers’ greatest challenges. We recognize that the most effective environment for your projects doesn’t always look the same. Our hybrid work approach ensures that you can make lasting relationships with your team and collaborate in-person to get the job done—while having the flexibility to work from home when needed to achieve focused results.

Anticipated Salary Range: $ - $. The salary range for this role is intended as a good faith estimate based on the role's location, expectations, and responsibilities. When extending an offer, Enlighten takes a variety of factors into consideration which include, but are not limited to, the role's function, internal equity and a candidate's education or training, work experience, certifications and key skills.

Occasionally positions/roles may include additional non-recurrent compensation and will be addressed by the recruiter during the interview process.

Job Description:

Enlighten is looking to hire exceptional Senior Backend Developers to join our high-impact engineering team. We build and operate critical backend systems that manage trillions of records, ingest billions of new records daily, and service hundreds of thousands of queries per day across the Department of Defense (DoD). Our team values getting things done efficiently, fostering a low-ego environment, and empowering our engineers with autonomy.

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain complex, scalable, and critical backend systems and services capable of handling massive data volumes and high query loads.
• Take full ownership of challenging technical projects, driving them from initial concept through to production and ongoing iteration.
• Engage with a variety of technical domains, including:
• Building and evolving RESTful APIs and backend services.
• Modifying, extending, and optimizing complex open-source software (e.g., Trino).
• Implementing and managing sophisticated identity federation solutions (e.g., Keycloak).
• Developing and operating large-scale data ingestion pipelines (e.g., using Airflow).
• Enhancing and automating deployment processes (CI/CD) using technologies like Kubernetes.
• Collaborate effectively within a team of experienced engineers, contributing to a culture of shared knowledge and mutual respect.
• Apply strong problem-solving skills to diagnose, debug, and resolve complex technical issues, ensuring system reliability and performance.
• Champion pragmatic and robust solutions, adapting quickly to new technologies and evolving business needs.
• Operate with a high degree of independence in a low-process environment, taking initiative and driving results.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Security Clearance: A current U.S. Government Security Clearance is desired, but not required; U.S. Citizenship required. Can also consider candidates with a current Secret or TS level clearance.
• 15+ years of experience as a software engineer, designing, developing, and deploying complex backend systems and a Bachelor’s in related field or 13 years experience with Masters; or High School Diploma and 19 years experience.
• Proficiency in one or more of our primary backend languages:
  Java, Python, Go.
• Experience working with or modifying Trino (or similar distributed SQL query engines).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration, particularly Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL or similar relational databases.
• A drive for pragmatic solutions with a strong bias for action and a "get stuff done" mentality.
• Possess a low-ego and collaborative approach to teamwork and technical discussions.
• Self-motivated and thrive in a low-process, high-autonomy environment, working effectively with minimal supervision.
• Highly adaptable and a quick learner, comfortable context-switching and rapidly mastering new technologies and diverse technical domains such as API development, complex…