Defense jobs for software engineers in the United States

1,999 open roles for software engineers at 151 defense and security companies in the United States. 285 of them are open to candidates of any nationality; the rest ask for citizenship or a government security check. 656 mention relocation support.

Rebuilt 23 Oct 2026
open technical roles
1,999
companies
151
open to any nationality
14%
median stated pay
$151k

Companies hiring

CompanyOpen rolesAny nationalityRelocation
Northrop Grumman2510%251
RTX2470%157
Anduril Industries20510%12
CACI International17910%
Leidos13610%9
Boeing885%88
L3Harris Technologies7838%6
Shield AI7041%
General Dynamics Mission Systems612%3
KBR4217%27
Palantir Technologies3361%
SAIC3315%
AeroVironment310%3
Skydio2282%18
Starfish Holdings220%21

Newest roles

L3Harris Technologies

l3harris.com
l3harris.com • HQ: Melbourne, United States • C4ISR • Military Satellites • Electronic Warfare • Military Communication • Defense Manufacturing • 5000+ employees • Est. 2019 • Trust A • Hiring 1364, 169 new
HQ: Melbourne, United States • C4ISR • Military Satellites • Electronic Warfare • Military Communication • Defense Manufacturing • 5000+ employees • Est. 2019 • Trust A • Hiring 1364, 169 new
L3Harris Technologies is an American defense contractor formed in 2019 by the merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation. It builds tactical radios and military communication systems, electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, space sensors and satellites, night vision devices, and uncrewed surface vessels, and owns the rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne. Its main customers are the United States Department of Defense and allied governments. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, United States.
No named decision-maker yet.
No careers mailbox known
Verified live · 12 min ago Visa sponsor 11 hours ago Hiring now · 90%

Lead Software Engineer (Minimum $10k Sign-On Bonus) 1

$137k – $195k per year • Lead • 10+ years exp • In office (Camden, United States) • Relocation • Bachelor's Degree • Secret • Staff
C++
DevOps
RTOS
Management
UML
SpaceTech
DO-178C
Cameo Systems Modeler
Defense
EVMS
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Overland

overland.ai
overland.ai • HQ: Seattle, United States • Military Robotics • Defense AI • Autonomous Driving • 201-500 employees • Est. 2022 • Trust A • Hiring 40, 3 new
HQ: Seattle, United States • Military Robotics • Defense AI • Autonomous Driving • 201-500 employees • Est. 2022 • Trust A • Hiring 40, 3 new
Overland AI is a defense technology company that develops off-road autonomy software and autonomous ground vehicles for military use, built to operate cross-country without roads or GPS. Founded in 2022 with roots in University of Washington robotics research, it supplies its autonomy stack and ULTRA vehicles to United States Army and Marine Corps programs and tests in Ellensburg, Washington. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Benjamin Barocas · Executive Officer · decision-maker
Gregory Okopal · Executive Officer · decision-maker
Stephanie Bonk · Executive Officer, Director · decision-maker
Byron Boots · Executive Officer, Director · decision-maker
Careers mailbox is known
Top 25% payVerified live · 2 hours ago Visa sponsor 12 hours ago Hiring now · 86%

Software Safety Engineer

$170k – $225k per year • Equity • In office (Seattle, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Nationals only
C++
Python
AI/ML
Machine Learning
Robotics
ROS
SpaceTech
DO-178C
Defense
MIL-STD-882
Apply
Top 25% payVerified live · 2 hours ago Visa sponsor 2 months ago Likely open · 60%

Senior Software Engineer - Planning

$160k – $190k per year • Equity • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (Seattle, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Nationals only • Senior
C++
Python
AI/ML
Machine Learning
Apply

Northrop Grumman

northropgrumman.com
northropgrumman.com • HQ: Falls Church, United States • Space Defense • C4ISR • Satellite Manufacturing • Aerospace Manufacturing • Defense Manufacturing • 5000+ employees • Est. 1994 • Trust A • Hiring 3535, 297 new
HQ: Falls Church, United States • Space Defense • C4ISR • Satellite Manufacturing • Aerospace Manufacturing • Defense Manufacturing • 5000+ employees • Est. 1994 • Trust A • Hiring 3535, 297 new
Northrop Grumman is an American defence contractor whose oldest predecessor was founded in 1939, and which took its present form through the 1994 combination of Northrop and Grumman. It builds strategic systems including the B-21 Raider bomber and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile programme, military and civil space systems, radars and electronic warfare equipment, autonomous aircraft, and mission systems and software for the United States armed forces and allied governments. Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it earns the large majority of its revenue from the American government and employs close to one hundred thousand people.
Kenneth Crews · Chief Financial Officer · decision-maker
Kathy Warden · Chair, Chief Executive Officer and President · decision-maker
Jack Northrop · Founder · founder
No careers mailbox known
Top 25% payVerified live · 3 hours ago 1 day ago Likely open · 63%

Staff PLM Systems Architect - 19785*

$139k – $209k per year • Staff+ • 12+ years exp • In office (Roy, United States) • Relocation • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Top Secret • Shift work • Citizenship or vetting required • Architect
Machine Learning
Management
Confluence
Agile
SpaceTech
Cameo Systems Modeler
IBM DOORS
MBSE
Apply
Verified live · 3 hours ago 1 day ago Likely open · 63%

Principal Engineer Software III (26-404)

$104k – $155k per year • Lead • 9+ years exp • In office (Colorado Springs, United States) • Relocation • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Top Secret • Shift work • Citizenship or vetting required • Principal
PowerShell
Java
Python
DevOps
GitLab CI
GitLab
Jenkins
Rest API
Git
CI/CD
Management
Agile
+2
Apply

True Anomaly

trueanomaly.space
trueanomaly.space • HQ: Centennial, United States • Satellite Manufacturing • Space Defense • Space Services • 1001-5000 employees • Est. 2022 • Trust A • Hiring 174, 7 new
HQ: Centennial, United States • Satellite Manufacturing • Space Defense • Space Services • 1001-5000 employees • Est. 2022 • Trust A • Hiring 174, 7 new
True Anomaly is an American space defence company founded in 2022 by former United States Space Force officers to build spacecraft and software for orbital security missions. Its Jackal autonomous orbital vehicle is designed for rendezvous, proximity operations and inspection of other satellites, and its Mosaic software provides mission planning, simulation and command and control for space operations, sold mainly to the Space Force and allied defence customers. Headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, the company manufactures its own spacecraft and has raised substantial venture funding to scale production.
Even Rogers · Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer · decision-maker
Thomas Nichols · Executive Officer, Director · decision-maker
Tom Nichols · Co-founder · founder
Daniel Brunski · Director
Careers mailbox is known
Verified live · 4 hours ago 1 day ago Hiring now · 90%

Software Engineer I, QA (New Grad)

≈ $93k – $189k per year (Estimated) • Junior • In office (Denver, Long Beach, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Contractor • TS/SCI • Citizenship or vetting required • Junior
JavaScript
DevOps
Git
GitHub Actions
CI/CD
Management
Jira
Agile
QA
Playwright
Apply
Verified live · 4 hours ago 2 days ago Hiring now · 90%

Software Engineer (II-III), Full Stack

$115k – $165k per year • Equity • Middle • In office (Denver, Long Beach, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Contractor • TS/SCI • Citizenship or vetting required • Middle
Ruby
Erlang
Haskell
Clojure
Elixir
F#
TypeScript
JavaScript
Databases
MySQL
PostgreSQL
Frontend
Three.JS
React Three Fiber
React.js
+5
Apply

Reflexive Concepts

reflexiveconcepts.com
reflexiveconcepts.com • Annapolis Junction • Management Consulting • Defense Manufacturing • Est. 2018 • Hiring 4
Annapolis Junction • Management Consulting • Defense Manufacturing • Est. 2018 • Hiring 4
Defense Contractor dedicated to connecting the brightest engineers in the IC with the most complex and critical missions in the National Security industry.
No named decision-maker yet.
Careers mailbox is known
≈ $127k – $273k per year (Estimated) • Hybrid (Annapolis Junction, United States) • Full-Time
Java
Python
TypeScript
JavaScript
Java
Spring Boot
Databases
ElasticSearch
Frontend
Vue.js
Angular
React.js
DevOps
GitLab CI
Ansible
Terraform
Git
Docker
Linux
Kubernetes
CI/CD
AWS
Analytics
Apache NiFi
+11
Apply

Skills these roles ask for

Python 933C++ 883Agile 734Linux 553CI/CD 547JavaScript 407Java 381Git 371Docker 278TypeScript 275Kubernetes 258Scrum 257AWS 255React.js 249Sensor Fusion 230Computer Vision 224

Where the roles are

Costa Mesa 112San Diego 103Huntsville 97Washington 89El Segundo 74Colorado Springs 70Chantilly 70Boston 62Arlington 51Seattle 45

Questions

Can a foreigner apply for these roles?

285 of the 1,999 roles here state no citizenship or security-check demand. A role that does - a citizenship, a national security vetting, a US clearance - says so in its advert, and the card marks it.

Which companies hire most?

Northrop Grumman (251), RTX (247), Anduril Industries (205), CACI International (179), Leidos (136).

Which employers count as defence companies?

Companies whose main business is defence and security - prime contractors, defence electronics, naval, land and air systems, defence software and the defence tech startups - and the defence divisions of diversified groups. Companies of Russia, Belarus, China, Hong Kong, Iran and North Korea and companies under sanctions are left out.

How fresh is this?

Every role is re-checked on the employer's own careers board at least every 48 hours, and the page is rebuilt every night.

Source: 1,999 live postings on employers' careers boardsUpdated 23 Oct 2026MethodologyJSONCC BY-SA 4.0