Senior Software Engineer at Defenseunicorns

Role Description: Defense Unicorns seeks an experienced Software Engineer to join our UDS Product Engineering team. You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and end users to ensure we’re building the right solutions, and building them well. As a Software Engineer, you’ll operate at the intersection of product development and technical execution. You’ll lead the design, implementation, and deployment of features and systems that have direct impact on mission outcomes. Our engineers work across a portfolio that includes • UDS Registry, to reliably manage and deploy UDS packages to any mission environment • Zarf, an open source tool that enables continuous software delivery on disconnected systems • Fleet, to deliver a solution purpose-built for Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) and fully airgapped environments, supporting large, distributed sets of Kubernetes clusters and edge systems across the battlespace and classification levels The UDS Product Engineering team values action, ownership, and focus, taking initiative to see work through from idea to impact. Responsibilities: • Work with engineers internal to the company, and within the open source community on feature and bug fix requests through clear communication, collaboration, and responsible stewardship • Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints, partnering with Product and Design to translate requirements into clear, actionable technical deliverables • Lead the design, implementation, and deployment of features and systems with direct mission impact—taking ownership from idea through delivery • Engage with the open source community, industry partners, and standards bodies via common platforms (e.g., Slack, GitHub) to drive our open source projects forward • Amplify the voice of our projects within the ecosystem by delivering a mission-focused end-user experience and collaborating with users to produce case studies, blogs, or conference presentations • Proactively identify and resolve ambiguity in product requirements • Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across the engineering team • Participate in on-call rotation for our production environment • Develop comprehensive documentation, including design specifications, user manuals, and maintenance guides • Integrate software products with existing defense systems, ensuring seamless interoperability and adherence to security protocols • Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team • Directly support our dependencies and engage in contributions that elevate the ecosystems that we depend on • Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to inform product enhancements and innovation • Work proactively, manage time efficiently, and thrive in a vibrant remote work environment ✨🦄 Travel Expectations/Requirements: 5-15% 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 (Mid) or 5+ (Senior) years experience with software engineering • Proficiency in Go or other modern programming languages • Strong understanding of system design, library and software APIs, databases, and cloud architecture (e.g., AWS, Azure) • Experience building software tools with a core focus on software lifecycle and management • Experience with Supply Chain Security (e.g., SBOMs, security scanning, etc.) • Familiar with core Kubernetes concepts including Controllers, Operators, and CRDs • Experience contributing to open source projects—participating in CNCF, Apache Software Foundation (ASF), or OpenSSF is a huge plus • Ability to assess complex problems, propose pragmatic solutions, and drive them to completion • Strong communication and collaboration skills; comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences 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—$201,250 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 Reimbursement 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