Staff Software Senior Engineer

Location: Washington, DC

Department: 60062413 - AFS Digital Experience Engineering

You Are:

The Staff Software Senior Engineer will lead end to end product engineering across complex, multi team programs. They will partner with product, business, architecture, infrastructure, and security to ship fast, learn fast, and scale what works. They will also own technical vision, product architecture, and execution, from concept through release and iteration, while increasing delivery velocity and speed to market.

The Work

Technical Strategy & Vision

• Define a product level technical vision aligned to customer outcomes and client goals.
• Establish lightweight architectural guardrails (interfaces, patterns, conventions) that enable rapid iteration with quality.
• Use business, user, and operational signals to prioritize for accelerated time to value.
• Design and integrate AI capabilities where possible with clear interfaces, guardrails, and observability to ensure reliable, safe, and measurable user value.

Product Delivery

• Convert strategy into technical roadmaps, sequencing work by impact, effort, risk, and learning value.
• Manage the complete product delivery lifecycle, encompassing conceptualization, development, launch, and iterative enhancement, with a focus on reducing cycle time and accelerating delivery.
• Write product code and tests across the stack (e.g., back end Java/Python, front end React/Angular, data SQL/NoSQL).
• Govern multiple product codebases; set measurable objectives and maintain code quality, engineering throughput, and release predictability.
• Leverage AI tools for code generation, test authoring, defect triage, and documentation to shorten feedback loops, reduce cycle time, and improve developer throughput.

Application Architecture

• Establish domain driven modularity by defining bounded contexts, enforcing separation of concerns, and composing services/components to enable rapid iteration and safe refactoring.
• Design APIs and contracts with stable, versioned REST interfaces and schemas; ensure backward compatibility and protect integrations through contract testing.
• Model data and integrity via pragmatic relational/NoSQL schemas; enforce referential integrity and validation; plan sensible indexing and migration strategies.
• Engineer for performance and scale using caching, pagination, batching, and concurrency controls; set performance budgets and profile regularly.

Platform Engineering

• Design cloud native products with modular, scalable microservices and event driven patterns and clear contracts (REST/streaming/batch).
• Standardize containers and orchestration by building images and operating containers with simple, repeatable deployment paths.
• Implement data and streaming foundations using SQL/NoSQL models, caching tiers, and Kafka/Pub/Sub to deliver low latency, high throughput experiences.
• Run CI/CD at speed with trunk based development, automated tests, and progressive delivery (feature flags, blue green) to shorten feedback loops and reduce risk.

Engineering Excellence & Mentorship

• Set standards for clarity, reliability, performance, security, and observability; embed modern SDLC practices (DevSecOps, trunk based development, feature flags, AI coding tools).
• Serve as a primary technical authority and mentor.
• Lead design reviews and improve documentation.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

• Provide concise, data driven updates on status, risks, trade offs, and decisions to executives and cross functional leadership.
• Build confidence via transparent communication and fast, measurable results.

Continuous Improvement & Impact

• Iterate based on telemetry, experiment outcomes, and customer feedback.
• Institutionalize learning and best practices.

Here's What You Need

• Education: BA/BS in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience:
  
  • 10+ years software development.
  • 8+ years full stack development, including:
  • Back end: Java/Python
  • Front end: Angular/React
  • Data: SQL and NoSQL
  • Cloud: AWS
  • 5+ years developing, testing, and launching production software.
  • 3+ years leading product architecture and technical design.
  • 1+ years building AI enabled product features and/or improving delivery through AI solutions.

Bonus Points If:

Experience in/with one or more of the following:

• Technical strategy and vision.
• Product engineering leadership.
• Full stack software development.
• Product architecture and system design.
• Cloud native development and microservices.
• API design and contract management.
• Data modeling and database architecture.
• CI/CD and modern software delivery practices.
• DevSecOps and engineering excellence.
• AI enabled product development.
• Performance optimization and scalability.
• Engineering mentorship and technical leadership.
• Stakeholder communication and cross functional collaboration.
• Delivery acceleration, developer productivity, and speed to market.

The Extras:

• US Citizenship Required
• The ability to obtain and maintain a government clearance