Lead Principal Software Engineer = QK Pos: 794 - Software Engineer (SWE) - Skill Level 2

Job Title: Lead Principal Software Engineer = QK Pos: 794 - Software Engineer (SWE) - Skill Level 2

Location (On-site, Remote, or Hybrid?): Fort Meade, MD (onsite)

Contract Duration: Contract until 03/25/2031

Position Overview

• We are seeking a reliable and motivated Software Engineer (Level 2) to support a mission-critical program within the Intelligence Community at Fort Meade, MD. This is an on-site position in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) environment requiring a TS/SCI clearance with an active Full Scope Polygraph prior to consideration - no exceptions.
• The SWE Level 2 is a capable engineer who implements containerized application workflows and infrastructure automation using modern DevOps and cloud-native tooling in a classified environment. This role works closely with senior engineers, backend, frontend, and infrastructure teams to integrate services, develop deployment pipelines, and support scalable Kubernetes-native application deployments. The ideal candidate is eager to learn from senior teammates, open to working across full-stack and infrastructure boundaries, and values automation, documentation, and code reusability.

Note: This is a future-funded position. Submittals are being collected in advance of expected program funding. Candidates must have an active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph to be considered.

This is not a remote or hybrid position. All work is performed on-site within a SCIF at Fort Meade, MD.

Key Responsibilities

Deployment Pipeline and Helm Chart Development

• Contribute to the design and development of deployment pipelines and Helm charts for containerized applications within classified Kubernetes environments
• Implement and test logic to handle common application deployment patterns, secrets management, and ConfigMap lifecycle
• Support internal efforts to standardize and document reusable application deployment templates aligned with program standards
• Follow team engineering standards and participate actively in code reviews, unit testing, and documentation maintenance
• Kubernetes and GitOps Workflows
• Work with Kubernetes tooling - including Helm, GitOps tools (ArgoCD, Fleet), and Kubernetes manifests - to support scalable, reliable deployments in classified enclaves
• Collaborate with backend, frontend, and infrastructure teams to integrate microservices into the platform and ensure interoperability across deployment components
• Implement GitOps workflows and contribute to CI/CD pipeline configuration and maintenance
• Debug and troubleshoot issues in containerized environments; analyze logs, events, and metrics to identify and resolve deployment failures

Infrastructure Automation and Configuration

• Implement and test infrastructure-as-code components using Docker, Kubernetes manifests, and basic IaC tooling
• Understand and apply Linux system operations principles to support containerized application environments
• Support configuration management activities including environment-specific config files, secrets injection, and environment parity across classified deployment tiers
• Document infrastructure configurations and deployment procedures for team knowledge sharing and audit compliance

Collaboration and Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with senior engineers to implement architectural patterns and team standards across deployment pipelines and shared tooling
• Participate in sprint ceremonies, technical discussions, and design reviews; contribute constructively to team decision-making
• Learn from senior teammates and apply feedback promptly; demonstrate growth in technical capability over time
• Contribute to identifying and automating repetitive manual operational tasks within the team's scope

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field. Equivalent experience (4+ additional years of direct software engineering experience in lieu of degree) may be considered.

Experience: 7+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated progression, including meaningful hands-on experience with containerized application development and/or infrastructure automation.

Additional Required Qualifications:

• Active TS/SCI clearance with Full Scope Polygraph - no exceptions; must be active prior to start
• Comfortable coding in Go, Python, and/or TypeScript in a production or classified program context
• Familiar with GitOps workflows and CI/CD tools such as ArgoCD or Fleet
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes manifests, Helm chart usage and development, and Docker container operations
• Working knowledge of infrastructure-as-code concepts and Linux system operations fundamentals
• Demonstrated ability to debug and troubleshoot applications and infrastructure in a containerized environment
• Understands basic Kubernetes concepts: pods, deployments, services, namespaces, ConfigMaps, Secrets, and ingress
• Eager to learn from senior teammates and open to working across the full stack and infrastructure boundaries
• Values automation, documentation, and code reusability in daily engineering practice
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to produce clear technical documentation

Desired Skills

• Familiarity with Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) or operator patterns (kubebuilder or similar)
• Experience with event-driven architectures: Kafka, message queues, or pub/sub systems
• Prior exposure to Terraform or Ansible for infrastructure provisioning
• Experience in a classified DoD or Intelligence Community environment
• Familiarity with secrets management solutions such as HashiCorp Vault or Kubernetes-native sealed secrets
• Prior experience with Rancher Government Solutions or OpenShift in air-gapped environments
• DoD 8140/8570 IAT Level II compliance (Security+, CASP+, or equivalent)
• Familiarity with observability tooling: Prometheus, Grafana, or logging aggregation (EFK/ELK)