Principal Software Engineer

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