Principal Software Engineer

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies - collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose - and help shape the future.

Department Summary: MITRE is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating a safer world by developing innovative solutions to real-world problems. Our team of passionate professionals is driven by a shared mission to make the world a safer place. The Cloud and Distributed Software Systems Department focuses on delivering robust, resilient, scalable solutions that account for all qualities cloud environments can offer and leverage distributed architectures to deliver missions that are enduring and resistant to technical compromise.

Roles & Responsibilities: We're seeking an experienced and properly credentialed Principal Software Engineer to join our team, who not only excels in software development but also possesses business development, innovation, and leadership skills. In this position, you will play a critical role in driving technical innovation, leading cross-functional teams, and collaborating with stakeholders to identify and pursue new opportunities for impact.

The successful candidate will:

• Translate the sponsor’s data mesh vision into an executable technical roadmap, working prototypes, and production-ready capabilities across three integrated layers: data products, security, and analytics.
• Contribute to the design, development, integration, and testing of an enterprise data architecture that enables interoperability and information sharing among authorized partners while conforming to sponsor security requirements, standards, and policies.
• Lead implementation of resilient cloud and distributed software capabilities, addressing scalability, availability, performance, operational support, and recovery.
• Establish repeatable deployment patterns, automated infrastructure provisioning, integration pipelines, and implementation guidance that accelerate adoption across participating organizations.
• Integrate security throughout the development lifecycle, including identity and access management, data protection, vulnerability management, monitoring, and evidence supporting security assessment and authorization.
• Enable analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities through secure access to governed data products and integration with cloud-based tools and services.
• Incorporate data ownership, discoverability, metadata, provenance, quality, and access policies into platform implementation to support responsible data use and modern data governance.
• Lead cross-functional engineering teams; mentor technical staff; and coordinate with sponsor stakeholders, mission partners, security authorities, and technology providers to resolve implementation barriers.
• Communicate technical options, delivery progress, risks, and investment priorities to technical and executive audiences.
• Identify opportunities for mission impact, develop technical approaches and proposals, and contribute to business development and department innovation.

Basic Qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 8 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Demonstrated experience delivering complex cloud platforms or distributed software systems, including responsibility for implementation, integration, testing, deployment, and operational readiness.
• Experience translating established architecture or mission concept into an actionable engineering plan and delivered capabilities.
• Experience leading software or systems engineering teams and coordinating delivery across multiple technical disciplines and stakeholder organizations.
• Strong understanding of cloud and distributed systems principles, including service interfaces, automation, resilience, scalability, observability, and secure operations.
• Experience incorporating security engineering into cloud platform delivery, including vulnerability management, access controls, data protection, and compliance with organizational or government security requirements.
• Familiarity with enterprise data architecture and data mesh concepts, including domain-oriented data products, interoperability, shared platform services, and federated governance.
• Familiarity with AI and machine learning services and the data, integration, and security capabilities needed to support their use.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with senior leaders, explain technical tradeoffs, and align engineering execution with mission priorities.
• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI With Polygraph U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building, scaling, or operating enterprise cloud platforms or services supporting large, geographically distributed environments.
• Experience delivering cloud, data, analytics, or AI/ML capabilities in classified, air-gapped, or other restricted government environments.
• Experience implementing data mesh capabilities or comparable enterprise data platforms that enable governed information sharing across organizational boundaries.
• Experience establishing or expanding engineering organizations, developing technical leaders, and executing multi-year technology or security strategies.
• Experience establishing enterprise vulnerability management, security assurance, or coordinated vulnerability disclosure programs.
• Experience supporting federal cloud security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring, including FedRAMP or sponsor-specific accreditation processes.
• Experience accelerating secure service delivery through reusable engineering patterns, automated controls, and repeatable authorization evidence.
• Experience across AWS and additional cloud or private-cloud platforms, such as Azure, OpenStack, or VMware.
• Experience engaging senior government stakeholders, security executives, regulators, or mission partners to resolve complex technical and security challenges.
• Experience developing technical proposals, shaping new mission opportunities, and aligning technology investments with organizational objectives.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

Top Secret/SCI/Polygraph

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Not Applicable

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$173,200 - $216,500 - $259,800 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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