Senior Software Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Why This Role Matters
Senior Software Engineers are the technical anchors of our teams. You'll be the go-to person for a domain or service, ensuring that what we ship is not only functional but well-designed, tested, and sustainable. Your work will directly impact mission readiness, and your mentorship will shape the next generation of engineers at Bluestaq. You'll balance hands-on delivery with technical leadership, raising the bar for code quality and system design.  

Key Responsibilities

• Own features and modules that span multiple components/services and require coordination with other teams or roles  
• Design and implement non-trivial features with clear tradeoffs (performance, readability, complexity, security)  
• Write solid tests (unit, integration, basic end-to-end) and help improve test coverage and reliability  
• Identify and address code smells, refactoring opportunities, and tech debt in your area  
• Understand core architecture patterns in use (microservices, event-driven, SPA, component-based UI) and work within them effectively  
• Operate independently within your product area: scope work, make reasonable design decisions, and proactively raise risks  
• Act as an escalation point for junior engineers when debugging issues or clarifying designs  
• Mentor others via pairing, feedback, and sharing context, not just fixing things yourself  
• Lead medium-sized features from idea → design → implementation → production → follow-up  
• Debug complex issues that span multiple components or services, including production incidents  
• Make incremental improvements to architecture, patterns, and tooling in your domain  

Required Qualifications

• Strong proficiency in multiple programming languages and frameworks  
• Proven ability to design and deliver complex features across the full stack  
• Deep understanding of software architecture patterns and design principles  
• Experience with automated testing strategies and test-driven development  
• Track record of mentoring junior engineers and improving team practices  
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across distributed systems  
• Experience with cloud platforms, containerization, and modern deployment practices  
• Excellent communication skills and ability to explain technical concepts clearly  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with microservices architectures and distributed systems  
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures and asynchronous processing  
• Background in performance optimization and scalability  
• Experience working on government, defense, or mission-critical systems  
• Knowledge of security best practices and secure coding standards  
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical communities  
• Experience with observability tools and practices (logging, metrics, tracing)  
• Familiarity with customer-facing environments, including Technical Exchange Meetings (TEMs) or similar collaborative forums with stakeholders  

Required Experience and Education:

• PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 0+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR  
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 2+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR  
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 4+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR  
• Associate degree in a related field and 6+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR  
• High School Diploma/GED and 8+ years of software engineering or related experience.  

Location Requirement
Colorado Springs, CO · Washington, DC · Dallas, TX · Salt Lake City, UT

• Colorado Springs is our HQ with an established office — 3–4 days on-site per week.
• DC, Dallas, and Salt Lake City-based roles will be remote until offices are established there, and then will require 3–4 days on-site.

You use modern AI tools with judgment: integrating them into workflows where they're impactful, reviewing their outputs, and handling proprietary or sensitive data responsibly.  

Salary Range (US)

$110,000—$200,000 USD

Clearance Requirement: This position may require an active TS/SCI Clearance. Current clearance holders are strongly encouraged to apply. If you don't currently hold one, Bluestaq will sponsor eligible candidates through the clearance process based on program needs.

Relocation: Relocation assistance is available for full-time positions.

About Bluestaq
At Bluestaq, we build secure data platforms that matter for space missions, national defense, healthcare systems, and commercial innovation. Founded in 2018, we've become a leader in enterprise software and secure data management by staying focused on what counts: modern architecture, operational excellence, and mission impact.

We're engineers, problem-solvers, and builders who take the mission seriously, but not ourselves. We automate the repeatable, question the status quo, and design systems that are as reliable as they are scalable. Whether we're supporting space, defense systems, or healthcare advancements, we build with the same principles: cloud-native solutions, security by design, and relentless simplicity.

What We Offer:
For full-time positions

• 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision for you and your dependents
• Up to 6% match to 401(k) contributions with additional discretionary 4% profit share on day one. Roth options available; no vesting period.
• Every role is eligible for an annual performance bonus
• $200,000 employer-paid life insurance, plus short- and long-term disability coverage
• $5,000 annual professional development budget per employee
• 20 days PTO, plus 8 paid holidays
• Pet insurance, onsite gym, and flexible schedule

Bluestaq is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We prohibit unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees on the basis age 40 and over, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, military or veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by state or local law.

Bluestaq will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities and employees whose work requirements interfere with a religious belief unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to Bluestaq or a direct threat. Employees needing such accommodation are instructed to contact Human Resources immediately at View email address on ziprecruiter.com.