Standard Job Description

Manages software development activities. Responsible for coordinating subordinate employee recruitment, selection and training, performance assessment, work assignments, salary, and recognition/disciplinary actions. Oversees the design, development, documentation, and testing of software that contains logical and mathematical solutions to business/mission problems or questions in computer language for solutions by means of data processing equipment. Applies the appropriate standards, processes, procedures, and tools throughout the development life cycle. Applies knowledge of computer hardware and software, subject matter to be programmed in business/mission applications, information processing techniques used, and information gathered from system users to develop software. Ensures software standards are met.

Key Responsbilities

Engineering leadership

• Perform technical planning and workforce planning
• Lead a team that is responsible for software, cyber‑security, and hardware standards in all design methods. 
• Be a passionate leader, someone who loves a challenge and always rises to the occasion to ensure success of those around them.
• Embrace modern development practices and insist that others do as well.
• Be a self-starting leader, adapting to new tools/processes and will be eager to introduce automation when necessary.
• Communicate well and enjoy working with others in a collaborative environment.
• Lead of individual contributors in support of agile team execution whose primary focus is on the design, development, and testing of a combined hardware/software solution for operational delivery.
• Collaborate with program leadership to drive program execution to deliver commitments within cost and schedule
• Be responsible for recruiting, staffing, training, career mentoring, and performance management of individual contributors, building string teams
• Lead efforts to transform business practices through digital engineering and agile methodologies to optimize the enterprise

Software Development & Integration

• Design, develop, document, test, and debug software that delivers logical and mathematical solutions to business/mission problems. 
• Translate customer and product requirements into full‑system solutions that meet technical, schedule, and cost constraints. 
• Define functional timelines, trade studies, requirement allocations, and interface specifications for HW/SW feature definitions and acceptance criteria. 

Infrastructure Support

• Maintain and evolve the development infrastructure to meet customer specifications, including CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and cloud environments. 
• Perform system‑administration tasks supporting development teams (e.g., provisioning, monitoring, incident response). 

Automation & DevSecOps

• Implement “everything‑as‑code” automation using GitLab CI, Argo CD, Ansible, Helm, and related tools. 
• Embed security controls into CI/CD pipelines (static analysis, dynamic scanning, threat modeling). 

Security & Risk Management

• Apply cyber‑security standards, threat‑modeling, risk‑assessment, and security‑testing practices to all solutions. 
•  Assess, prioritize, and mitigate security risks aligned with business objectives. 
•  Ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, and governance requirements (e.g., NIST, ISO‑27001, FedRAMP). 

Documentation & Knowledge Transfer

• Produce operating instructions, development documentation, and capability analyses. 
• Capture lessons learned and feedback from users to continuously improve software and infrastructure.

Basic Qualifications

Required Skills:

Experience managing disperse teams.

Experience in leading software development or infrastructure engineering teams

Stong knowledge of software design, development and testing practices

Strong knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc..).

Expertise with containers (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes, Helm, etc..)

Experience with CI/CD tools (GitLab CI, Argo CD), configuration management (Ansible, Terraform), and “infrastructure‑as‑code.”

Communication:  Excellent written and verbal communication; able to produce clear documentation and present technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Occassional travel required, expected <25%.

Desired Skills

Familiarity with SDA mission.

Cost Account Management experience supporting team earned value efforts.

Knowledge of cyber‑security standards for hardware and software

Prior work in a DevSecOps culture that emphasizes automation, continuous testing, and rapid delivery.

Experience supporting Systems Engineering technical performance objectives and deliverables (e.g. SRR, PDR, CDR)
Experience working with different engineering disciplines to derive, decompose and verify requirements
Strong knowledge of modern technology frameworks, IP networking, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), microservices, APIs, DevSecOps, and data architecture
Experienced in software development using programming and scripting languages such as Java, C#, Python, etc.
SAFe Agile Certified
Experience working in a fast-paced environment with technical teams across virtual environments