Senior Forward Deployed Software Engineer (Secret) {S}

ARKA Group L.P. (“ARKA”) is an advanced technologies company serving the U.S. military, intelligence community, and commercial space industry delivering next-generation solutions to support the national security space enterprise. Built on more than six decades of excellence, ARKA brings modern approaches and a culture of innovation to the challenges of today.

Join the ARKA team to learn how Beyond Begins Here. Discover your next career opportunity now!

Position Overview:

ARKA is seeking an exceptional and highly motivated Forward Deployed Software Engineer (FDSE) to serve as the critical technical owner for the deployment and operational success of our complex, mission-critical enterprise software systems. This role demands a unique and strong blend of hands-on software development, expertise in Kubernetes infrastructure, and direct engagement with our key customers. The FDSE will be a high-impact contributor, directly responsible for technical delivery from initial prototype through stable, production-ready deployments.

Travel: This role requires up to 50% travel to customer environments.

We offer generous relocation benefits for eligible candidates.

In support of work/life balance, many positions are available for a flexible schedule within the pay period.  Ask us about the opportunity for flex scheduling if that’s of interest to you. 

Core Responsibilities:

Deployment Ownership & Infrastructure Management

• End-to-End Delivery: Own the technical delivery across multiple customer deployments, from initial configuration to stable, high-availability production environments
• Orchestration & Automation: Design, develop, and manage Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) artifacts, including Helm charts, to standardize and automate software module deployments to Rancher Kubernetes and ensure parity across all environments (Dev, Staging, Prod)
• Operational Excellence: Maintain operational availability for live enterprise applications, conducting performance tuning and rapidly diagnosing complex system, network, and container issues within highly regulated or secure customer infrastructures
• CI/CD Pipeline Expertise: Implement, debug, and optimize robust CI/CD pipelines relevant to containerized applications (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) to automate all deployment phases

Software Development & Customization

• Code-Level Solutions: Design, develop, and implement necessary software customizations, integrations, and extensions, primarily using C#/.NET Core and Java, to meet unique customer requirements
• Product Feedback Loop: Collaborate closely with the core engineering and product teams to integrate crucial customer-specific feedback, field insights, and technical requirements directly into the main product roadmap
• Code Quality: Contribute directly to the codebase when progress is blocked or clarity is needed, performing code reviews and ensuring adherence to high standards for clean, scalable, and high-performance code

Customer Engagement & Technical Leadership

• Primary Technical Liaison: Act as the trusted technical point of contact for customers, providing expert guidance on system architecture, deployment strategies, and operational best practices
• Enablement & Adoption: Embed closely with customer teams to understand their needs, guide the adoption of deployed solutions, and conduct technical training and knowledge transfer sessions
• Agile Execution: Scope work, sequence delivery, make informed trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality, and proactively remove technical blockers to protect delivery timelines

Required Qualifications:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related technical field
• 5+ years of professional experience in software development
• Strong Focus: 5+ years with C# and the .NET/.NET Core ecosystem
• 3+ years of hands-on Java development
• 3+ years of hands-on experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting applications within Kubernetes environments (Rancher / OpenShift experience is a plus)

Technical Skills

• Expertise with containerization (Docker, Podman) and orchestration (Kubernetes, Helm)
• Proficiency in setting up and managing CI/CD pipelines for containerized services
• Strong understanding of microservices, RESTful APIs, networking, and system architecture
• Experience with the full SDLC and Agile/Scrum methodologies (Jira/Confluence)
• Ability to write clean, efficient, well-documented, and testable code (Unit, Integration, System tests)

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