Software Engineer, AI & Application Engineering (Contingent)

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: North Bethesda, Maryland, Remote (select US states), Remote

• Tier 1 — $150,235.80: Meets stated qualification and experience requirements. May need guidance and training beyond onboarding to perform the more complex functions of the role.
• Tier 2 — $159,691.20: Experienced and fully competent. Will be able to independently perform key responsibilities of the role once onboarding is completed.
• Tier 3 — $169,146.60: Highly experienced and can perform all responsibilities of the role at a higher level than expected once onboarding is completed.

• Arizona
• California
• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

What You’ll Do (Key Responsibilities)

• Application Engineering:
  • Build modular, responsive web applications using React and/or Vue.js in alignment with accessibility and UX best practices.
  • Design and implement secure, scalable APIs using TypeScript, ASP.NET Core, or Java (Spring Framework).
  • Integrate with enterprise systems via SOAP/RESTful APIs with robust error handling.
  • Implement authentication, authorization, and secure configuration in accordance with client agency security policies.
  • Optimize database access and performance using SQL Server and Entity Framework Core.
  • Add observability through structured logging, metrics, and tracing and support incident response with clear runbooks.
• AI and Machine Learning:
  • Design and implement AI agents and large language model (LLM)-powered applications that automate and enhance retirement data workflows.
  • Build, evaluate, and maintain machine learning models for classification, prediction, and anomaly detection.
  • Integrate LLMs into production systems using prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and agentic frameworks.
  • Develop and maintain data pipelines that ingest, validate, and transform large-scale structured and unstructured data.
  • Apply explainable AI practices appropriate for a regulated, auditable government environment.
  • Track model performance and manage the machine learning (ML) lifecycle using tools such as MLflow.
• Collaboration and Delivery:
  • Participate in Agile ceremonies, conduct code reviews, and contribute to release planning and documentation.
  • Work across technical and policy teams to translate business requirements into reliable, AI-driven solutions.
  • Uphold software engineering best practices such as version control, CI/CD, testing, and peer review across both application and AI workstreams.

What We're Looking For

• Full-time resident of the contiguous United States (must be legally authorized to work in the US now and in the future without sponsorship)
• Ability to pass a Public Trust background check and any applicable background and/or security checks related to project requirements
• Proficiency in React, Vue.js, JavaScript, TypeScript, ASP.NET Core, and Java (Spring Framework)
• Strong SQL skills and experience with SQL Server as well as familiarity with EF Core
• Experience with enterprise integrations including message queues, database RPC, REST, and SOAP APIs
• Understanding of authentication, authorization, and security best practices
• Hands-on experience building or deploying LLM-based solutions (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, or open-source models)
• Familiarity with agentic AI patterns (tool use, planning, memory, and multi-step reasoning)
• Experience with RAG pipelines, vector databases, and embedding-based retrieval
• Experience using coding agents such as CoPilot or Claude Code
• Effective prompt engineering and experience evaluating LLM outputs for reliability and correctness

• 5+ years of experience building applications with open-source programming languages
• 5+ years of experience working with modern frameworks, libraries, or runtimes
• 5+ years of experience working with APIs and databases of various types
• 5+ years of experience working with infrastructure tools and Infrastructure as Code
• Experience developing software in a remote environment 
• Experience working in the digital services, federal government, or federal government contracting industries

Other

• Internet: Will prioritize and maintain access to strong, reliable internet for the remote nature of our work, except when on vacation or holiday.
• Security: Will keep the highest security practices to ensure privacy and security of Coforma and client information, given the nature of our work, even when on vacation.
• Travel Flexibility: On request and with advanced notice, will attend in-person events such as meetings, workshops, and trainings as assigned for projects that require it.
• Brand Representation: Will represent Coforma professionally and sincerely, modeling our Company Values in all interactions.