Backend Software Engineer - Sensors and Tracking

Backend Software Engineer - Sensors and Tracking Location: Seattle, WA or Rosslyn, VA (Hybrid WA / Onsite VA) Work Authorization: U.S. Citizen Clearance: Must be eligible to obtain a Secret security clearance Employment Type: Full-time, salaried, with full benefits The Company & Mission: Our client is revolutionizing military logistics and sustainment through the deployment of AI-enabled solutions. Combining elite Silicon Valley software expertise with deep operational experience working in and with the Department of Defense, our client builds cutting-edge software to solve the most critical logistics challenges faced by the U.S. military and its allies. Their flagship product is an advanced software platform that enhances logistics at tactical and operational echelons, providing unified, comprehensive management of inventory, personnel, equipment, and distribution. The platform integrates critical information for holistic, data-driven logistics decisions, leveraging AI for decision support, predictive analytics, and optimization at machine speed. Their mission is to support and enable the military logistics and sustainment communities with software to meet the needs of the next fight. What This Role is All About: Our client is seeking a Backend Software Engineer to be the first engineer dedicated to the Sensors and Tracking workstream within their platform. You'll build the systems that ingest data directly from physical hardware and sensors - including fuel-level sensors, munitions-count systems, and pallet-scanning technologies - and transform that data into reliable, usable information within the platform. You'll also help develop tracking and sensor-fusion capabilities that correlate detections from multiple sources into a coherent view of a single entity or object. This is a ground-floor role with significant ownership. There's no established team or mature playbook to inherit, so our client is looking for an experienced software engineer comfortable operating in ambiguity, solving difficult hardware-to-software integration problems, and building production systems from the ground up. What You'll Be Doing: Build and own production-grade backend systems that ingest data directly from physical sensors, devices, and hardware platforms Develop integrations for a range of sensor and hardware systems, working with clean APIs where available and finding reliable ways to extract data where interfaces are incomplete, poorly documented, or nonexistent Design services and data pipelines that normalize, process, and make sensor data available within the platform Build and improve tracking and sensor-fusion capabilities that correlate detections from multiple sources into a single tracked entity Work with imperfect real-world data, including incomplete, delayed, inconsistent, or unreliable feeds Collaborate with platform engineers, product teams, and operational stakeholders to translate sensor and tracking requirements into dependable software Deploy and test software in both unclassified and classified environments, including periodic work at customer or government sites Participate in technical design discussions and code reviews, contributing to a culture of engineering rigor, ownership, and mission focus Triage and debug production issues, improving system reliability, observability, and performance through rapid iteration What You Bring: 4+ years of experience in software engineering, with demonstrated experience building and operating production software systems Hands-on experience integrating software with physical hardware, sensors, or device-generated data streams Experience personally building systems that ingest data directly from hardware-not only consuming data that has already been processed or exposed through a third-party service Proficiency in Python or Go Strong backend software engineering foundation, including experience designing services, APIs, data pipelines, and production systems Ability to work effectively with messy, incomplete, or poorly documented hardware interfaces and data formats Genuine software development experience-this role requires someone who writes and ships production code, not someone whose experience is primarily interpreting signals, configuring systems, or analyzing their output Comfort operating as an early or first hire in a new function with limited existing structure, internal expertise, or established processes Strong sense of ownership and a bias for action Bonus Points: Active security clearance at the Secret level or above Experience with sensor fusion, multi-sensor correlation, object tracking, or related algorithms Experience at a company operating at the intersection of hardware and software, such as autonomous systems, drones, radar, aerospace, satellites, robotics, or defense technology Familiarity with defense or government sensor, signal, or tracking data Experience building software for classified, disconnected, degraded, or operationally constrained environments Experience working with radar systems, embedded data pipelines, telemetry, or other real-time hardware-generated data Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans; premiums 100% covered for all employees; exceptionally low premiums for spouses and dependents Basic life insurance and disability 100% covered for all employees; option to purchase additional life insurance "Take the time off that you need, when you need it" paid time off policy - not accrual based Generous company holiday calendar including a December shutdown Supportive leave of absence program including military service, medical events, and parental leave Full 401(k) retirement plan for all full-time eligible employees Company-funded commuter benefits Highly competitive equity grants included in the majority of full-time offers as part of total compensation The Arena ®