US Defense Software Engineering Lead

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Work remotely and autonomously within a distributed, global team across time zones
• ▹Lead, mentor, and grow a small, agile full-stack engineering team delivering capabilities for US national security customers
• ▹Own the end-to-end engineering delivery lifecycle: requirements, architecture, development, testing, and release
• ▹Collaborate with customers and forward-deployed engineers to capture requirements from the field and translate them into well-scoped engineering work
• ▹Interface directly with US national security customers, building trust and communicating technical trade-offs to non-engineers
• ▹Partner with product and design stakeholders to define roadmaps balancing customer needs, platform constraints and strategic priorities
• ▹Maintain a full-stack technical perspective, contributing to architecture decisions across frontend, backend and infrastructure
• ▹Establish and uphold engineering standards for code quality, security, testing, and documentation for a defense-grade environment
• ▹Champion adoption of AI-powered development tools (e.g. Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate velocity
• ▹Actively manage team health: regular 1:1s, growth opportunities, removing blockers, fostering ownership and psychological safety
• ▹Participate in technical hiring and onboarding as the team scales
• ▹Provide accurate effort estimates, status updates and risk assessments to leadership and program stakeholders

Requirements

• ▹BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field/experience
• ▹5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2+ years in an engineering management or tech lead role
• ▹Proven full-stack product development experience across frontend (e.g. React) and backend (e.g. Go, Node.js)
• ▹Demonstrated ability to lead small, agile teams in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment
• ▹Experience interfacing directly with customers or end users in a technical capacity
• ▹Strong written and verbal communication skills for distributed, remote teams and senior stakeholders
• ▹Proficiency with AI/LLM development tools (e.g. Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude) with commitment to daily use
• ▹US citizenship is required; role may require obtaining and maintaining a US government security clearance; applicants must reside in the United States
• ▹Must meet eligibility requirements for access to export-controlled information under US export control laws (EAR and ITAR)
• ▹Strong personal alignment with the US national security mission
• ▹Travel 1-2 weeks per quarter
• ▹Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Nice to have

• ▹Active Secret clearance preferred; TS/SCI is a plus
• ▹Previous experience with or for the US Department of Defense, defense contractors, or the intelligence community
• ▹Familiarity with defense-specific software environments, including DDIL network conditions
• ▹Experience working fully remotely with distributed, global teams
• ▹Background building secure, compliant software for government or regulated industries
• ▹Experience hiring, growing and retaining engineering talent in a remote environment
• ▹Prior work in open-source projects or platform-level software development
• ▹Contributions to Mattermost or similar collaboration/communications platforms

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Base salary range $180,000 - $245,000 USD
• ▹Remote-first, open-source company