Description

The DarkStar Group is seeking a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer with a TS/SCI clearance to join one of our top projects in Herndon, VA.  Below is an overview of the project, as well as information on our company, our benefits, and our $25,000 referral program.

THE PROJECT

The DarkStar Group's team solves unique and challenging intelligence problems for a Special Operations customer. This work is as close to the mission as a technologist can get, so the environment is fast-paced: team members face rapidly-changing requirements and priorities as mission needs evolve. If you hate monotony and want to use your skills to have a direct impact on real-world operational success, this is the project for you.

We are a multi-faceted software development and systems administration team working to build and maintain software applications backed by a self-managed cloud infrastructure (OpenStack) with a true big-data footprint (over 10 petabytes). Our diverse background of experience in mission support and software development serves as a catalyst to solve unique and challenging intelligence problems in support of special operations analysts and their on-going activities. Prototyping and frequent, iterative feedback are core to our delivery approach, anchored by a need to work quickly in support of our missions.

The technical stack is quite robust and includes Java, Python, C#, C/C++, Geospatial tools, Big Data and Graph Products (Hadoop, MapReduce, Spark, ElasticSearch, Neo4j), Linux, OpenStack, AWS, Ansible, SQL/NoSQL, Text Processing, Cloud Services, Containerization, Infrastructure as Code (IAC), and more.

Work on this program takes place in the Herndon, VA area (we cannot support remote work) and requires a TS clearance and a willingness to obtain a CI Poly: a current TS/SCI + CI Poly is preferred.

THE ROLE

The DarkStar Group is seeking a Senior Full Stack Software Developer to support the development and integration of various intelligence capabilities into a test and operational environment. You will be a member of a project team responsible for designing and deploying numerous components into a larger system infrastructure.  This will involve a broad spectrum of responsibilities ranging from front-end user UI/UX design to back-end application software development, maintenance, testing, and debugging software.  As a full stack software developer, you be responsible for implementation of UI/UX designs and other front-end components, ensuring that the user experience is intuitive and effective for operational users as well as direct development of the application software logic, database implementations, application integration, API interaction, and other back-end software development elements required.  A background in building intelligence community operational-level software solutions is a plus.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement user interfaces for web applications, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience.
• Ensure that newly developed components and features adhere to our design systems and guidelines to ensure consistency across applications.
• Design, develop, and maintain back-end systems, with a focus on optimizing performance and ensuring reliability for mission-critical applications.
• Implement and maintain RESTful APIs, primarily using Java and the Spring Boot framework, to support back-end service integration and data processing.
• Enhance back-end infrastructure to detect and prevent configuration issues, optimizing code quality and deployment stability.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across the back-end stack, including server-side logic, database interactions, and integration with third-party services.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to integrate applications across the stack.
• Troubleshoot and resolve Jenkins performance issues, ensuring build times are accurate and efficient.
• Support the development of an automated health monitoring system to detect deployment and resource issues.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to streamline back-end service deployment and configuration management.
• Develop scripts and automation tools to facilitate the deployment and scaling of back-end services across various environments.
• Thoroughly test and review code and make sure it meets acceptance criteria.
• Stay current with industry trends and best practices.
• Lead and execute the migration and updating of JDK versions in codebases (e.g., from Java 8 to Java 17).

Required Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent experience may be substituted for a degree.
• 7+ years of relevant software development experience across front-end and back-end development disciplines.
• Strong proficiency in JavaScript and developing with modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g. VUE, REACT, Angular).
• Experience developing software using Java, or similar programming language.
• Experience with software engineering tools (e.g., Git/Subversion, IDE).
• Experience with REST API development/maintenance using Java and Spring Boot framework.
• Experience with Jenkins for pipeline integration and deployment.
• Experience working in an agile development environment using issue tracking software (e.g. Jira).
• Experience with automated testing platforms and unit tests.
• Experience with software peer review processes as both a contributor and a reviewer.
• Capable of working effectively with a geographically distributed development team.
• Willingness to learn and explore new tools, languages, and technologies as needed.
• Familiarity with design systems and component libraries.
• Experience with user research methodologies and usability testing.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Strong communication skills to articulate design concepts and decisions.
• Strong troubleshooting skills with a focus on optimizing deployment processes.

Desired Skills (Optional)

• Familiarity with VUE2, VUE3, VUEX/Pinia, Vuetify, Vis, Cypress.
• Some experience with web-sockets, data streaming, and other real-time data methods.
• Ability to write performant code, as the amount of data being sent, processed, and received in the apps can be very large.
• Experience with splitting up a monolithic UI into separate/stand-alone applications and micro-services.
• Experience with 3rd party software like Keycloak, Cesium, OpenSearch, Kafka, NiFi, OpenSearch, Terraform
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and best practices.
• Proficient in design tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Figma, or similar is a bonus as UI/UX design work is done in collaboration with frontend developers.
• Experience with SQL/database/ORM/MongoDB.
• REST API development/maintenance for geospatial and remote sensing applications.
• Experience with DevOps tools like Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, and scripting.

About The DarkStar Group

Our Company

The DarkStar Group is a small business that solves BIG problems. We're one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the US, and our engineers and scientists support the most critical national security missions in Virginia, Maryland, and elsewhere. Data Science, Software Engineering, Cloud/AWS Infrastructure, and Cyber/CNO are our core areas of expertise. We offer interesting and important work, job security, some of the best and most flexible benefits you'll find in the IC, and salaries so strong that they'll likely surprise you. 

Our Benefits

The DarkStar Group offers exceptional compensation and benefits:

• very strong salaries;
• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and all dependents;
• the ability to get increased salary if you don't need medical/dental/vision;
• 100% company-paid disability and life insurance benefits;
• a generously-funded HSA;
• an 8% 401(k) contribution; 
• 31 days of PTO/holidays to start (more with tenure);
• the ability to flex time across pay periods without using your PTO;
• a generous training budget;
• $25,000 employee referral bonuses;
• business development / growth incentives; and
• top notch company swag.

** We have a huge growth opportunity, so we are offering up to a $25,000 reward for anyone new you refer whom we hire. **

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.