Principal Software Engineer
3 days ago
Aurora
Software Engineer IV – Satellite Ground Systems 📍 Location: Aurora, CO 💰 Salary: $220,000–$260,000 🔒 Clearance: Active Top Secret/SCI required; CI Polygraph preferred 💼 Employment Type: W-2 Long-Term Contract About the Opportunity: Talent Stack is representing a confidential defense and aerospace client seeking a senior Software Engineer to develop mission-critical software for advanced satellite ground systems. This is a long-term W-2 contract supporting a government contractor. You will work with software engineers, systems engineers, architects, and technical leaders in an Agile environment to build software used for satellite planning, scheduling, and ground-system operations. The technology environment includes Java, multi-threaded applications, AWS, microservices, Docker, Kubernetes, automated testing, DevSecOps, and CI/CD. What You’ll Do: • Design, develop, test, integrate, deliver, and maintain software for advanced satellite ground systems., • Build object-oriented Java applications that are modular, secure, maintainable, and suitable for mission-critical environments., • Develop multi-threaded software that manages concurrency, synchronization, shared resources, and performance-sensitive workloads., • Create planning and scheduling capabilities used to coordinate missions, resources, dependencies, and operational workflows., • Translate complex system requirements into scalable software designs and testable functionality., • Participate in requirements analysis, technical design, coding, testing, integration, deployment support, and ongoing maintenance., • Collaborate with engineers, architects, and technical leaders to evaluate requirements, resolve technical challenges, and support sound engineering decisions., • Contribute to Agile planning, backlog refinement, design reviews, code reviews, demonstrations, and retrospectives., • Develop and integrate microservices within multi-tiered AWS environments., • Build automated tests and support DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines for software builds, testing, integration, packaging, and deployment., • Troubleshoot software defects, integration issues, concurrency problems, and application performance concerns., • Maintain technical documentation covering software designs, interfaces, testing, and system behavior., • Follow software lifecycle, security, configuration management, documentation, and verification practices required in defense and government contracting environments. Required Qualifications: • U.S. Citizenship is required., • Active and transferable U.S. government-issued Top Secret/SCI clearance required before the start date. An active Top Secret clearance that can be crossed over to TS/SCI may also be considered., • Bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics. Masters Degree preferred, • At least 8+ years of relevant professional software engineering experience.Internships, co-ops, research assistantships, academic projects, capstone projects, classroom work, and graduate research do not count toward the required years of experience., • Willingness to work as a long-term W-2 contractor supporting a government contractor., • Professional experience designing, developing, testing, and maintaining object-oriented Java applications in production, operational, or mission-critical environments., • Strong knowledge of object-oriented software design, including abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, composition, interfaces, and reusable design principles., • Hands-on experience developing multi-threaded Java applications involving concurrency, synchronization, thread safety, parallel processing, or shared-resource management., • Experience developing planning and scheduling software or comparable systems that coordinate resources, activities, dependencies, workflows, or operational sequences., • Experience testing, debugging, integrating, delivering, and maintaining Java software throughout the software development lifecycle., • Ability to translate complex technical and operational requirements into scalable designs and working software., • Ability to collaborate effectively with engineers, architects, technical leaders, and other stakeholders in an Agile environment., • Strong analytical, troubleshooting, debugging, and root-cause analysis skills. Preferred Qualifications: • Background developing satellite planning and scheduling software., • Familiarity with satellite ground systems, mission planning, command and control, resource scheduling, or related aerospace applications., • Knowledge of the Scaled Agile Framework., • Experience designing, developing, and deploying microservices in AWS environments., • Hands-on use of AWS services to support secure, scalable, and distributed applications., • Proficiency with Docker and Kubernetes for packaging, deploying, orchestrating, and managing containerized applications., • Knowledge of automated testing, DevSecOps practices, and CI/CD processes., • Familiarity with Confluence for technical documentation and team collaboration., • Proficiency with Eclipse or a comparable Java development environment., • Familiarity with Jira for Agile planning, task management, and defect tracking., • Knowledge of Jenkins for automated builds, testing, integration, and deployment., • Ability to create and maintain Java unit tests using JUnit., • Familiarity with Apache Kafka for event-driven, distributed, or asynchronous applications., • Proficiency with Spring Boot for developing Java services, backend applications, REST APIs, and microservices., • Prior work in defense, aerospace, intelligence, satellite, national security, or government contracting environments., • Current CI Polygraph. Why Join This Opportunity • Work on advanced satellite ground-system software supporting critical defense missions., • Collaborate with experienced engineers, architects, and technical leaders., • Contribute across the full software development lifecycle using modern cloud, microservices, automation, and DevSecOps technologies., • Receive competitive compensation, benefits, and relocation assistance through a long-term W-2 contract assignment. Benefits • Medical, dental, and vision insurance, • 401(k) with company match, • Paid time off and paid holidays, • Life and disability insurance, • Employee Assistance Program, • Professional development opportunities, • Employee referral program, • FSA and HSA options, where applicable, • $8,000 in grossed-up relocation assistance Third-Party Recruiter Policy No third-party recruiting agencies or staffing firms, please. Direct applications only. Unsolicited resumes submitted by agencies or third-party recruiters will not be accepted and will not create any obligation or fee. Candidates must apply directly through Talent Stack for consideration. Reference: X25