EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION REQUIRES U.S. CITIZENSHIP.
Role Description:
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 play a key part in designing and building our next-generation scalable data pipelines to ingest, transform, and load data from diverse sources. You'll be joining Defense Unicorns’ US Navy team and be responsible for creating and owning end-to-end project delivery, and advocating best practices in database usage and system architecture. You will work closely with other software engineers, platform engineers, end users, and external 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
Travel Expectations/Requirements: 10-15%
The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.
Preferred Experience and Qualifications:
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! ✨🦄
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.
Remote - USA
$123,250 — $166,750 USD
Who We Are
Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
What We Do
We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Who We Serve
Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
What We Work On
Kubernetes
Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
GitOps
Containers
CNCF projects and open source products and packages
Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
Building and improving security delivery
Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications
Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy
Health:
Medical/Dental/Vision
Premiums are 100% Company Paid
Health Savings Account
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Financial:
401k Retirement Plan
Company Stock Options
Home Office Budget
Leave:
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
Learning:
Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.
At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
CCPA DISCLOSURE