Software Engineer (Defense)

Department: 1. Defense

Location: Denver, US

Compensation: $135K – $265K • ASI is dedicated to maintaining fair and equitable compensation practices. The salary range provided for this role reflects the minimum and maximum cash compensation targets for candidates across all U.S. locations and levels of expertise/experience. Additionally, all employees receive generous equity packages and have access to a comprehensive benefits offering. Actual compensation packages are determined based on relevant skills, experience, education and training. For more information, connect with the recruiting team or Hiring Manager during the process as they can provide more detailed information about the salary range based on the applicant’s position level and location within the overall range.

Employment Type: FullTime

About Air Space Intelligence

ASI's mission-critical technology powers decision-making across aviation, defense, energy, and other critical infrastructure domains. Backed by top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and Renegade Partners, ASI delivers operational decision superiority—compressing days of analysis into seconds of action. ASI is leading the way and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

What You Will Do:

Your responsibilities will span from conceptualizing and building innovative products from scratch (0 to 1) to enhancing and optimizing existing solutions as they evolve (1 to n). You will operate in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, where you will have the opportunity to shape and set the standards for excellence. You will work with a cross-functional team, including end-users, other engineers, and deployment strategists. You will solve real problems that make a difference, providing decision-making tools to end users and improving the safety of our airspace.

What We Value:

• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language. We work in Rust and Python and expect you to have the foundation to quickly learn these languages.

• Proficient in leveraging modern LLM tools to accelerate development workflows and enhance code quality.

• Ability to collaborate with others across multiple teams.

• The grit to get the job done despite unforeseen obstacles.

• An aptitude to lead and work independently.

• Flexibility to adjust to changing business priorities.

• Curiosity and a drive to grow.

• Willingness to travel up to 50%.

• Active security clearance.

• At senior levels: experience in building and maintaining high-performance, scalable systems.

How We Hire:

We look at the interview process not as a screening or test, but rather as an opportunity to simulate what it would look like working together. We build the interview process around you.

ASI works with export controlled technology and restricted U.S. Government data, including on contracts mandating U.S. immigration status and location restrictions for performing personnel. Employment offers are contingent on ability to timely obtain all required authorizations for contemplated job duties.

In case you’re interested in taking a shortcut through our application process - try a little puzzle on for size. Below you’ll find an array of bytes. Once decoded, it will reveal the hiring manager’s e-mail. Send an e-mail with the subject “Squawk!” and we’ll get in touch right away! Send in your code as well!

[33, 56, 46, 44, 62, 13, 44, 36, 63, 62, 61, 44, 46, 40, 96, 36, 35, 57, 40, 33, 33, 36, 42, 40, 35, 46, 40, 99, 46, 34, 32]

Each character in the hiring manager’s email was translated into the byte array above by first converting each character into its Unicode integer representation, and then XOR’ing each integer with a secret key.
In order to find the key - you’ll have to do some aviation research into squawk codes. Specifically - the key will be the squawk code used to signal a generic emergency, with any leading or trailing 0’s trimmed out. Happy decoding!