Software Engineer

Summary

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Mid to Senior Software Engineer to help drive our transformation from legacy, on-premises software to a modern, cloud-native platform. In this role, you will be responsible for designing and building scalable data pipelines, advocating best practices in database usage and system architecture, and collaborating with various stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Partner with data architects, analysts, and a wide variety of stakeholders to translate ambiguous product requirements into technical solutions
• Design, build, and maintain complex ETL/ELT workflows
• Implement security protocols, including authentication and authorization
• Create optimized transformations to clean, enrich, and model data, utilizing cloud-native tools
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance, maintaining metadata and lineage
• Help refactor and modernize existing on-prem systems into distributed, cloud-based services
• Contribute to the design of authentication, identity management, and RBAC/ABAC frameworks
• Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and ongoing technical improvements
• Drive best practices in microservice design, testing, observability, and CI/CD automation
• Collaborate closely with partner company engineers and stakeholders to devise the best solutions for our Mission Heroes
• Collaborate with the Defense Unicorns product team sharing improvements and growth opportunities for future projects
• Comfortable in an asynchronous, all remote environment
• Actively participate in communities of practice via Slack and Github Issues
• Integrate software products with existing defense systems, ensuring seamless interoperability and adherence to security protocols
• Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across the engineering team
• Develop comprehensive documentation, including design specifications, user manuals, and maintenance guides
• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to inform product enhancements and innovation
• Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team
• Communicate effectively with all levels of engineers and stakeholders internal and external to the company
• Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints

Skills

• U.S. Citizenship
• 3+ years (mid) or 5+ years (senior) experience with software engineering
• Experience building a software tool with core focuses on software lifecycle and management
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Go, TypeScript, Python) with the ability to write idiomatic, testable code
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs
• Modern API design experience, beyond basic CRUD operations; use of RESTful services, and high confidence utilizing tools such as FastAPI in Python, ASP.NET in C#, or equivalent
• Experience with implementation of authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and role-based access control to ensure compliance and data privacy across enterprise systems
• Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes Concepts including but not limited to Controllers, Operators, and CRDs
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization
• Familiar with Department of Defense acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences as well as leading technical working sessions with partners and mission heroes
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a high attention to detail
• Experience working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment!

Qualifications

Must Haves

• U.S. Citizenship

Nice to Haves

• 3+ years (mid) or 5+ years (senior) experience with software engineering
• Experience building a software tool with core focuses on software lifecycle and management
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Go, TypeScript, Python) with the ability to write idiomatic, testable code
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs
• Modern API design experience, beyond basic CRUD operations; use of RESTful services, and high confidence utilizing tools such as FastAPI in Python, ASP.NET in C#, or equivalent
• Experience with implementation of authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and role-based access control to ensure compliance and data privacy across enterprise systems
• Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes Concepts including but not limited to Controllers, Operators, and CRDs
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization
• Familiar with Department of Defense acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences as well as leading technical working sessions with partners and mission heroes
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a high attention to detail
• Experience working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment!

Benefits

• Medical/Dental/Vision
• Premiums are 100% Company Paid
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• 401k Retirement Plan
• Company Stock Options
• Home Office Budget
• We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
• Paid Parental Leave
• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)