Principal Lead Software Engineer

SAIC is seeking an experienced Principal Lead Software Engineer onsite in Colorado Springs, CO to serve as the Software Lead for multiple mission-critical software development projects. Reporting directly to the Lead Systems Engineer, you will be responsible for providing guidance, technical direction, and leadership across several software development efforts in a rapid prototyping environment. This role will balance hands-on technical contributions, team leadership, and input on software development best practices at the project level.

This position focuses on leading and delivering software efforts for multiple projects, while also collaborating with the broader technical organization to define and refine software development standards, practices, and tools for consistent implementation across the program.

Responsibilities:

Project-Specific Leadership and Delivery:

• Lead software design, development, and testing for 2-4 mission-critical projects, ensuring technical excellence and on-time delivery.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define software requirements, architecture, and deliverables.
• Guide development teams in implementing cloud-native applications, web front ends, and scalable back ends using Agile methodologies.
• Act as a technical escalation point, conducting code reviews, resolving issues, and maintaining adherence to project goals.
• Work with engineers across disciplines (DevSecOps, software, data) to build secure pipelines and deliver solutions utilizing Kubernetes, Kafka, and microservices.

Standards and Alignment:

• Work with leadership and senior technical staff to establish and standardize software development practices across projects.
• Define and improve development tools, frameworks, and workflows to enhance productivity, quality, and security.
• Promote and implement secure development practices, including secure coding, vulnerability scanning (e.g., Trivy), and continuous testing.
• Provide critical feedback on code, processes, and designs during reviews and evaluations.

Hands-On Contributions as Needed:

• Contribute to development by writing key code, resolving complex technical challenges, and creating architectural proofs of concept.
• Support rapid prototyping and provide engineering assistance during high-pressure development cycles.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field and 15+ years of software development experience, or Master’s with 13+ years of experience.
• 7+ years of experience in back-end (Python, Java, C#, Go) and/or front-end (React, Angular, Vue.js, HTML5/CSS3) development.
• Expertise in cloud-native architecture and multi-cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, DAF Cloudworks, GCP).
• Proficient with DevSecOps tools: Git, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm.
• Skilled in building RESTful/GraphQL APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ).
• Experience automating CI/CD pipelines with testing, security scanning, and deployment workflows.
• Knowledgeable in testing tools (JMeter, Selenium, Jest) for unit and end-to-end testing.
• Leadership and Collaboration Skills:
  • Minimum 3+ years of experience leading software development teams on 2-4 projects or prototypes simultaneously.
  • 3+ years working with government, defense, and intelligence project development requirements and processes.
  • Experience partnering with Program Leadership, other technical leads, and SMEs to establish consistent standards and ensure quality across assigned project teams.
  • Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, including experience with internal and external stakeholders.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Cloud certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect.