Job Location: The Pentagon/Washington DC
Security Clearance: Active Secret clearance required (Interim ok)
Travel Requirement: Up to 10%
Citizenship: ship required
On-Site Requirement: Fully onsite in DC area (Pentagon and/or client site in DC)
The Department of War is fielding AI-enabled decision support at a speed the defense industry has never seen - and Maven Smart System is at the center of it. Sherpa 6 builds mission-critical software that puts operational data in the hands of the people who need it, from the Pentagon to the tactical edge. Our systems already run on 100,000+ fielded endpoints across the Joint Force.
We're hiring a Lead Full Stack Engineer to own a greenfield application that works alongside the Maven Smart System ecosystem - built for senior DoW leaders who use it to make real decisions. You'll work directly with the mission owner at the Pentagon, lead a small product squad, and shape the architecture from the first commit. No legacy codebase. No layers of program bureaucracy between you and the user. Your users are in the building, and you'll see your work in their hands within weeks, not years.
Responsibilities:- Tech lead for a product squad-own technical direction, estimation, sprint planning, and on-time feature delivery.
- Implement scalable, secure, and observable system architectures (APIs, services, data models, caching, integrations).
- Build high-quality front-end experiences in React, and robust back-end services in Node.js/TypeScript, backed by PostgreSQL.
- Model schemas, write optimized SQL, tune queries, and manage migrations, all with an eye toward data integrity and growth.
- Code and test software based upon software specifications and designs.
- Analyze and study complex system requirements.
- Design software tools and subsystems to support software reuse and domain software development.
- Use sound software engineering principles to ensure that developed code is modifiable, efficient, reliable, understandable, and fault tolerant.
- Provide software process management and control throughout the coding portion of the software development process.
Requirements
- 6-10+ years of professional software engineering; 2+ years as a team lead or project tech lead.
- BS degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
- Demonstrated experience with asynchronous programming, observables, and data structuring.
- Node.js/TypeScript building REST APIs and solid understanding of concurrency, async patterns, and API design.
- Demonstrated experience with application state management strategies.
- Solid understanding of HTML and CSS, including responsive design principles, CSS preprocessors, and knowledge of UI frameworks.
- Developing full stack web applications following design team specifications.
- Familiarity with front and backend build tools and package managers.
- Strong team player who thrives in a highly collaborative and cross-function environment, with a growth mindset.
- Development processes: source control, defect tracking, and collaborative tools; code review a plus.
- Conducting peer reviews.
- Decomposing software requirements into actionable development capabilities.
- Excellent communicator, both written and verbal.
- Active Secret Clearance.
Qualities of Exceptional Candidates:- Prior hands-on Palantir Foundry development experience - this is a critical qualification. You've built applications, data pipelines, or ontology-backed workflows in Foundry: Ontology design (object types, links, actions), Workshop and/or Slate applications, Foundry Functions (TypeScript), and ideally the Ontology SDK (OSDK) for custom React apps.
- Experience with Maven Smart System, AIP, or Gotham in a defense or intelligence context strongly preferred.
- Proven capacity to design scalable and maintainable solutions and patterns.
- Experience analyzing and employing strategies that optimize user experience, data retrieval and storage, and performance.
- Experience scripting in Linux and Windows environments.
- Experience with encryption and cryptography algorithms.
- Experience with Scrum or other agile methodologies.
About Sherpa 6:At Sherpa 6 we love to solve problems and provide the best solutions for our customers. Our approach to a problem is to find a user-focused and design-driven solution that is simple yet functional and effective. We are a group of enthusiastic forward-thinkers who are excited to build amazing solutions with bleeding-edge technology. We hire people who are forward thinkers, passionate about what they do, love to collaborate and want to constantly learn. We enjoy what we do and we're not afraid to put the extra effort in to accomplish the mission; call us Sherpas. As a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, we know what it means to serve. We have made it our mission to be the leaders in solutions that protect and give our Warfighters the edge they need when put into harm's way.
Background Screening/Check/Investigation:Successful completion of a background screening/check/investigation will/may be required as a condition of hire.
ADA:Sherpa 6 will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990.
EEO/AA:Sherpa 6 does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, height, weight, or marital status in employment or the provision of services and is an equal access/opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Benefits:We offer a competitive benefits package, covering the cost of medical for you and your family; we also offer dental, vision, health and wellness benefits and a generous retirement savings plan. We believe that our employees can manage their workload and their personal life, therefore we extend a generous PTO policy. This allows our employees to balance their lives as they see fit.
Salary Range:The proposed salary range is reflective across all Sherpa 6 locations, years of experience, and skill levels. Salary negotiations will be based on a host of factors including but not limited to your geographic location, prior experience, relevant skills, education, and certifications.
Salary Description
$160,000-210,000
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