Senior Software Developer (NLP)

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Job Description:

Parsons is seeking a Senior Software Developer to support our cutting-edge Drone Armor counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) program. The Senior Developer will design and implement logical, functional software code across multiple programming languages, make informed technology choices for different environments, rapidly diagnose and correct complex software issues in mission-critical systems, and help design, integrate, and optimize natural language processing (NLP) capabilities in support of operational missions.

What You'll Be Doing

Advanced Software Design & Development

• Create logical and functional software code in a variety of programming languages to support Drone Armor capabilities
• Lead the design and implementation of software components, services, and interfaces based on system and mission requirements
• Ensure solutions are robust, secure, maintainable, and aligned with program architecture and coding standards
• Design and implement services and pipelines that incorporate NLP models and text processing components into C-UAS workflows (e.g., analysis of communications, reports, or operator inputs)

NLP Integration & Applied AI

• Collaborate with data scientists and ML/NLP engineers to integrate NLP models into production systems
• Implement and optimize NLP pipelines for tasks such as classification, entity extraction, summarization, translation, or intent detection, as required by mission needs
• Integrate large language models and other NLP components via APIs or model-serving infrastructure, ensuring performance, reliability, and security
• Work with stakeholders to translate mission and operational requirements into concrete NLP features and user-facing capabilities

Technology Evaluation & Trade-Offs

• Understand and articulate the benefits and risks associated with different coding languages and frameworks in various functional environments
• Recommend appropriate languages, tools, and design patterns based on performance, security, maintainability, and integration needs
• Evaluate and recommend NLP libraries, frameworks, and platforms (e.g., transformer-based toolkits, vector databases, or text analytics services)
• Provide technical guidance to developers on language and framework selection, coding practices, architectural decisions, and NLP integration strategies

Troubleshooting, Debugging & Quality

• React to software problems quickly and effectively, correcting code and related configurations as necessary
• Debug complex issues across multiple layers (application, service, interface, data) and environments (development, integration, field)
• Diagnose and resolve issues specific to NLP-enabled features, including latency, accuracy, unexpected outputs, and integration failures
• Support and refine unit, integration, and system-level tests, including tests for NLP components (e.g., input validation, model behavior checks, regression tests on text datasets) to validate functionality and prevent regressions

Leadership & Collaboration

• Serve as a senior technical resource within the development team, mentoring junior and mid-level developers
• Coach team members on best practices for integrating NLP capabilities into existing architectures and workflows
• Collaborate with systems engineers, test engineers, data scientists, NLP/ML engineers, and field personnel to resolve issues and improve system performance
• Contribute to technical reviews, design walkthroughs, and continuous improvement of development and AI/NLP integration practices

What Required Skills You'll Bring

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, or other engineering or technical discipline is required with 5 years of experience OR
• 8 years of relevant software development experience may be substituted for education

Experience

• Experience creating logical and functional software code in multiple programming languages
• Experience understanding and clearly articulating the benefits and risks of different coding languages in different functional environments
• Experience reacting to software problems and correcting programs as neces