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 por