Location: Bethesda, MD (Hybrid – 3 days on-site per week)
Position Type: Contract
Experience Level: 10–15 Years
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Lead Developer to head our engineering and application support initiatives. In this role, you will provide technical direction and leadership to a combined development and support team, ensuring the successful delivery of new features while maintaining high system reliability. This is a hybrid position requiring you to be on-site three days a week at our Bethesda, MD office. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in cloud-native Python architectures, strong team-management capabilities, and immediate readiness to collaborate within federal health IT environments.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership: Lead, mentor, and manage a dual-focused team handling both new software development and production support/maintenance.
Architecture & Design: Guide the architectural design of scalable backend services, efficient data graphs, and cloud infrastructure.
Operations & Support: Oversee Tier 3 support activities, troubleshoot complex production bottlenecks, and establish robust monitoring and incident management workflows.
Code Excellence: Establish coding standards, conduct comprehensive code reviews, and drive modern CI/CD and DevOps practices.
Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with product managers, system administrators, and NIH stakeholders to align technical execution with organizational goals.
Required Technical Skills and Qualifications
Overall Experience: 10 to 15 years of professional software engineering experience, including a minimum of 3 years leading engineering teams.
Backend Development: Advanced, expert-level proficiency in Python and its core framework ecosystem.
API Architecture: Production-proven experience designing, building, and optimizing GraphQL APIs.
Database Management: Strong expertise in PostgreSQL, including schema design, indexing, and complex query optimization.
Cloud Computing: Direct experience architecture and maintaining infrastructure on AWS (e.g., Lambda, EC2, RDS, IAM, CloudWatch).
Work Authorization: Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
Location: Ability to work on-site in Bethesda, MD 3 days a week.
Preferred Qualifications:
NIH Familiarity: Current or recent experience working on-site or directly with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Facility Access: Possession of a current, active NIH badge (PIV card) for rapid onboarding and facility access.
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
