Radio Frequency Software Engineer Principal - 1660

Clearance Level: Public Trust (Secret Eligible)

US Citizenship: Required

Job Classification: 1099/Consultant ($150 - $200 per hour)

Location: Remote

Years of Experience: 10+ years of relevant experience

Education Level: BS Degree — experience may be considered in place of education requirement.

Briefly Describe the Work:

GITI is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to support Cyber Operations Research and Development as the technical lead for production software development on a passive RF emitter identification and network analysis from real-time sensor data streams. The candidate will own the architecture, implementation, and delivery of the production pipeline — a stream ingestion, rollup, and post-processing system that operates on NDF (Network Description File) data produced by TDMA network sensors in dense, contested RF environments. The candidate will lead a small team of senior software engineers, coordinate closely with the program technical lead and AI/ML researchers to drive Cyber Operations software from prototype to production-quality, resource-efficient components deployable on tactical edge hardware. This is a hands-on technical leadership role: the Principal Engineer writes code, makes architecture decisions, and is accountable for pipeline performance and reliability in support of real world cyber operations.

Responsibilities:

• Own the architecture and implementation of the production software pipeline, including stream ingestion, rollup, database write, and batch post-processing components
• Lead a team of Senior Software Engineers in support of real world cyber operations; assign work, conduct code reviews, enforce quality standards, and provide technical mentorship
• Establish and maintain disciplined software engineering practices: versioning, CI/CD pipelines, unit and integration testing, and documentation standards
• Design and evaluate database and storage architecture for the tactical system and research enclave environments
• Collaborate with the program technical lead to translate research findings and batch optimization algorithms into production pipeline components
• Evaluate and benchmark Python pipeline performance on tactical-box-spec hardware; identify bottlenecks and lead porting of mature components to Rust or C for edge deployment
• Manage and coordinate the tactical system VM environment and stream simulation infrastructure; ensure research VM is not disrupted by development activity
• Define and enforce stream interface contracts between the ingestion layer, database, and downstream consumers
• Evaluate emerging technologies (e.g., DuckDB/Parquet, Polars, message queues) against program requirements and recommend adoption decisions to the technical lead
• Maintain the program’s GitLab repository structure, branching strategy, and release management
• Produce clear technical documentation including architecture decision records, interface specifications, and deployment guides
• Support technical reviews and provide written inputs for sponsor deliverables as directed by the program technical lead

Expert-level career professional with broad and deep application of software engineering principles across the full development lifecycle. Exercises independent judgment in evaluating methods, techniques, and approaches; identifies and resolves complex technical problems with significant program impact. Provides technical leadership and direction to other engineers. Bachelor’s (or equivalent) with 10+ years of experience.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated experience leading a software engineering team on a production data pipeline or streaming system; ability to set technical direction and mentor junior engineers
• Expert-level Python development, including stream processing, multi-threaded/async architectures, and performance profiling
• Proficiency in one or more compiled or systems languages (Rust, C, C++, or Go) for performance-critical components; experience porting Python to compiled targets
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing relational database schemas and write-intensive data pipelines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or equivalent)
• Experience parsing binary serialization formats such as FlatBuffers or Protocol Buffers in a production context
• Demonstrated ability to benchmark and optimize pipeline throughput on resource-constrained hardware or cloud environment
• Strong proficiency with Linux system administration, remote server management via SSH, and air-gapped development environments
• Experience architecting multi-consumer data systems where a singl