Defense Innovation Research Engineer

Our employees love working for us. We are uniquely invested in our people and committed to their professional development and continued growth. We are always looking for exceptional individuals to join the Patch Plus team. If you are looking for a rewarding career with a company that truly values its employees like family, we invite you to apply today.

• SALARY RANGE | $80k-130k per year

Patch Plus Consulting (PPC), through its technology division Patch Plus Technologies (P2T), is seeking a highly motivated Defense Innovation Research
Software Engineer to support Department of War (DoW) research, development, prototyping, and capability development efforts. The successful candidate will contribute directly to the design, development, integration, testing, and deployment of software solutions supporting advanced defense technologies and mission-focused applications.

This position is ideal for a junior-to-mid-level Software Engineer with experience using AI to support software development and who is comfortable working with frontier AI tools and techniques, including AI coding assistants and agentic development workflows. The successful candidate will enjoy bringing an AI-native development mindset to solving technical challenges, collaborating with multidisciplinary engineering teams, and applying these tools to develop, test, and refine software that advances research concepts into operational prototypes, while strictly adhering to project security and data-handling boundaries.

Projects may support autonomy, AI/ML, cyber operations, electronic warfare, command and control, mission systems, data analytics, digital engineering, cloud-based platforms, and emerging defense technologies.

The Engineer will collaborate closely with software developers, systems engineers, military subject matter experts, data scientists, and researchers to build scalable, secure, and mission-focused solutions for government customers. Responsibilities include software design, coding, testing, integration, troubleshooting, and technical documentation throughout the software development lifecycle.

Previous experience supporting DoW research and development efforts, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), Other Transaction Authority (OTA) projects, rapid prototyping, experimentation, or defense technology development is highly desirable.

This position primarily supports remote work with periodic travel for customer engagements, integration events, technical exchanges, demonstrations, testing activities, and team collaboration within the United States.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate traits that align with Patch Plus’ guiding principles—
Purpose, Proficiency, and Character
. Patch Plus’ purpose is to continue making a difference to our nation’s security while providing meaningful employment to its owner-employees. Proficiency reflects our commitment to technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning. Character reflects the integrity, accountability, and professionalism expected of every team member.

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain software applications supporting DoW research, development, and prototyping efforts.
• Identify, evaluate, integrate, and employ frontier AI tools and techniques—including secure self-hosted/local AI coding assistants, agentic workflows, and open-weights models —to support user stories, coding, testing, debugging, documentation, and development efficiency.
• Review, sandbox, and validate AI-generated code and other outputs for correctness, security, and maintainability, using tools consistent with project requirements and data-handling restrictions, and…