Software Project Lead

Role Overview

Join DEFCON AI as a Software Project Lead owning software design, architecture, and end-to-end delivery for a mission-critical government program. You will lead a small software team, coordinate with stakeholders, and ensure working deployed software is delivered on the customer’s timeline.

Key Missions

• Own software design, architecture, delivery, and deployment for the program; ensure alignment with customer requirements and technical vision.
• Lead and coordinate a small software team: direct developers, set technical direction, and keep the customer and team aligned.
• Drive unclassified-to-secure transfer end to end, ensuring a clean delivery path and that software runs unchanged in the government secure environment.

Required Profile

• Front-end & data visualization engineering (e.g., React/TypeScript or equivalent). You will architect and build core UI surfaces.
• Partner closely with an optimization scientist; be able to define contracts between engine and UI and pressure-test feasibility (without owning the models).
• Strong requirements-to-architecture instincts: extract needs from non-technical customers and turn them into a design and delivery plan.
• Hands-on depth in optimization / operations research (e.g., building/integrating solvers) or strong partnering experience with OR/data-science teams.
• Experience transitioning from an incumbent system to a durable production system, or standing up greenfield production.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% for customer site, company HQ, and vendor facilities.
• Act as a hands-on lead (code/write and review directly while leading developers).
• Cross-functional leadership with PM, SMEs, data scientists, OR/analytics, and security, including customer-facing experience in government contexts.
• Experience standing up software in government-furnished or classified environments (e.g., IL-6 or equivalent).
• 8+ years building and shipping production software, including at least one system owned end-to-end as the senior technical voice.
• Unclassified-to-secure delivery experience: build in the open so it runs unchanged in secure/air-gapped environments; own data/schema contracts; apply solid CI/CD practices. Deep RMF/ATO ownership is a plus.
• US Citizenship required and Active Secret Clearance.
• Background in defense/national-security software, especially around classified, cross-domain, or air-gapped contexts.
• Experience leading AI-augmented software delivery: agent-assisted implementation, reviewing AI-generated code, working inside gated spec/review/retro workflows (or demonstrated ability to adopt new delivery methods quickly).
• Familiarity with government secure-software platforms and accreditation pipelines (RMF and cATO), including containerized or air-gapped delivery.
  • Examples: Iron Bank, Platform One, Second Front (Game Warden), Stormbreaker, Black Pearl.
• Deep optimization/OR depth and/or full-stack depth beyond the front end.
• Comfortable across a modern stack, including Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL databases, and containerized cloud deployment.

Nice to Have / Additional Signals

• Capability to flex beyond the core program and help across other engineering efforts.
• Deep RMF and ATO ownership (explicitly stated as a plus, not required).