Full Stack Software Developer Washington, D.C. Metro

At Ardent
, we hire people who want more than a job — they want to serve a mission that matters. Our teams support the federal government’s most critical national security and defense priorities, helping protect the nation, strengthen resilience, and advance the technologies and capabilities that keep America secure. For veterans, cleared professionals, and purpose-driven innovators,
Ardent is a place to continue serving alongside a team that understands the importance of the mission and the people behind it.

We also know top talent has choices, which is why we back our mission with benefits and flexibility that stand out: competitive pay, comprehensive health coverage, flexible PTO, federal holidays off, tuition reimbursement, professional development support, wellness stipends, and a culture that values and rewards hard work, dedication, and adaptability.

Ardent is seeking a professional full stack software developer to support the design, development, testing, and maintenance of web applications and supporting backend services. This engagement is focused on continuous delivery of working software through iterative development cycles, adherence to modern engineering practices, and close collaboration with technical staff and stakeholders.

The developer shall provide development expertise across the full application stack, including Python-based backend APIs (FastAPI), ReactJS-based front‑end interfaces, PostgreSQL databases, and containerized deployments targeting AWS cloud infrastructure. The developer shall operate within the trunk‑based development workflow, contributing clean, reviewed, and well‑documented code through shared branching strategies with frequent integration to the main branch.

• Design, develop, test, and deploy new features and enhancements across front‑end (ReactJS) and back‑end (Python/FastAPI) layers of CBO applications.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs using FastAPI, ensuring proper validation, error handling, versioning, and documentation (e.g., OpenAPI/Swagger).
• Develop responsive, accessible front‑end interfaces using ReactJS, adhering to CBO UX standards and Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Implement and manage data models, queries, migrations, and stored procedures within PostgreSQL databases, with attention to performance and data integrity.

• Operate within CBO's trunk‑based development workflow, committing small, incremental changes frequently to the main branch to reduce integration risk and maintain a releasable codebase.
• Participate in code reviews, providing and receiving constructive technical feedback to maintain code quality and consistency.
• Collaborate with CBO engineers, product owners, and analysts to understand requirements, refine user stories, and deliver working software iteratively.
• Adhere to CBO's branching, commit, and merge standards, including the use of short‑lived feature branches and feature flags where applicable.

• Package applications and services using Docker, maintaining clean, minimal, and reproducible container images.
• Support deployment of containerized workloads to AWS environments (e.g., ECS, EKS, or equivalent managed services), working within existing cloud infrastructure patterns established by CBO's infrastructure team.
• Demonstrate working knowledge of AWS services relevant to application hosting and operation, including but not limited to EC2, S3, RDS, Cloud Watch, IAM, and VPC networking concepts.
• Collaborate with CBO infrastructure staff on environment configuration, secrets management, and cloud resource usage.

• Investigate, diagnose, and resolve application defects, performance issues, and security vulnerabilities across all layers of the stack.
• Proactively identify and address technical debt, refactoring code to improve maintainability, readability, and test coverage.
• Monitor application behavior and logs (e.g., via AWS Cloud Watch or equivalent) and respond to operational issues as needed.

• Write…