Software Project Lead

Role Description

This is a rare opportunity to be the software champion for a mission-critical DoW effort, owning it end to end from the customer's problem to working, deployed software.

As a Software Project Lead, you will own the software design, architecture, and delivery for a dedicated program. You lead first and build when needed:

• Strong enough in software to get hands-on and cover ground yourself.
• Conversant enough in data science and AI to help decide what gets built and pull in the right specialists.

Above all you lead and communicate, directing the developers on the effort, setting technical direction, and keeping the customer and team aligned.

Concretely, you own three things:

• The software build itself.
• Integrating the optimization and analytics work into the product.
• The path from unclassified development to secure delivery.

You will not be alone: a program manager owns customer cadence, a subject-matter expert owns the mission content, and an optimization scientist owns the analytic core. Your job is to coordinate their work and turn it into shipped software, building from an existing starting point toward a durable, deployable system.

The work spans both modern commercial engineering practices and the realities of DoW delivery, with unclassified development that moves to a government classified environment to meet real data. This is a fully remote role with travel up to 25% to the customer site, DEFCON AI HQ, and vendor facilities as required.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping production software, including at least one system owned end to end as the senior technical voice accountable for it, not just a component.
• Front-end and data visualization engineering (e.g. React/TypeScript or equivalent).
• A working lead, not just a director: this is a small team without other software depth early, so you write and review code directly while leading the developers on the effort.
• Unclassified-to-secure delivery: building software in the open so it runs unchanged in a government secure or air-gapped environment.
• Requirements and architecture instincts: you can sit with a customer who does not speak software, pull out what they need, and turn it into a design and a plan.
• Partnering with an optimization scientist: conversant enough in the analytic core to define the contracts between engine and UI and pressure-test feasibility.
• Leading small teams and coordinating across roles (PM, SMEs, data scientists, operations research and analytics, security), customer-facing in a government setting.
• US Citizenship Required.
• Active Secret Clearance.
• Willingness to Travel up to 25% to customer site, Defcon AI HQ, and vendor facilities as required.

Requirements

• Background in defense and national-security software, especially anything touching classified, cross-domain, or air-gapped environments.
• Hands-on depth in optimization or operations research (e.g. building or integrating solvers).
• Experience standing up software in government-furnished or classified environments (IL-6 or equivalent).
• Experience transitioning systems from an existing or incumbent starting point to a durable production system, or standing one up greenfield.
• Experience leading AI-augmented software delivery: directing agent-assisted implementation and critically reviewing AI-generated code.
• Familiarity with government secure-software platforms and accreditation pipelines (RMF and cATO, containerized or air-gapped delivery).
• Comfortable across a modern software stack (e.g. Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL databases, containerized cloud deployment).
• Deep optimization or operations-research depth, or full-stack depth beyond the front end.
• Range to flex across efforts; the core of this role is owning one program.

Benefits

• A fully remote, results-based environment.
• Competitive salary, bonus, and equity package.
• 100% employer paid, comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family.
• Unlimited PTO, with your manager’s approval.
• Flexible work environment where you manage your work day.
• 14 weeks of fully-paid parental leave.
• Salary Range: $175,000-$215,000.

What Success Looks Like

• A program that ships; the customer's problem turned into working, deployed software on the government's timeline.
• A clean unclassified-to-secure delivery path: software that runs unchanged on the government's secure environment.
• A customer who trusts DEFCON's engineering, with requirements understood and no surprises.
• A small team with clear ownership and a clear definition of done.