Defense Contractor Software Engineer Jobs in Minneapolis, MN

Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN URL: http://collaboration.ai

Collaboration.Ai is a mission-focused, AI-powered software and services company based in Minnesota, with employees, partners, and customers around the world. We unite people, technology, and purpose to accelerate breakthroughs that transform industries, empower communities, and create a more sustainable future. We collaborate with organizations across the defense ecosystem, helping them navigate complex challenges and drive transformative change.

NetworkOS — NetworkOS is an AI-powered platform that aligns people, purpose, ideas, and expertise in real-time, generating actionable insights to propel movements forward.

CrowdVector — CrowdVector is an integrated solution marketplace and innovation management platform that rapidly uncovers new ideas and advances breakthroughs to fuel movements.

To learn more about us, visit collaboration.ai.

You’ll ship product across the full NetworkOS stack — Kotlin/Spring Boot microservices through Next.js/React interfaces — keeping the platform reliable, performant, and architected for 10x growth in regulated enterprise and defense environments.

This is a hands‑on execution seat on a small, senior team. You’ll own complete vertical slices from database schema to UI, with no cross‑team handoff gaps and no “not my layer” excuses. Your code commits move the roadmap — and your work is visible from day one.

Whole‑stack ownership. Production every week. Code that moves the roadmap.

• Deliver features end‑to‑end — own complete vertical slices (PostgreSQL schema, Kotlin service, GraphQL contract, Next.js UI) and ship production features without waiting on handoffs

• Own core API and service health — design and maintain GraphQL and REST APIs with clean domain boundaries, keeping latency low and reliability high under growing load

• Master the data layer — design PostgreSQL schemas, optimize queries for scale, manage zero‑downtime migrations with Liquibase, and build effective caching strategies

• Ship with confidence — comprehensive test suites (unit, integration, contract, UI) at 80%+ coverage, with CI/CD quality gates that catch problems before production

• Build resilient systems — structured logging, distributed tracing, custom metrics, circuit breakers, and graceful degradation patterns

• Elevate the team — mentor mid‑level and junior engineers through code reviews, architectural discussions, and pair programming

• Automate with agents — build agentic primitives that make everyday full‑stack work faster; AI‑native development is how we work, not a side experiment

• Backend: Kotlin, Spring Boot, Ktor, Gradle; GraphQL (Netflix DGS); REST/OpenAPI

• Frontend: Next.js (App Router), React, TypeScript; Turborepo; Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui

• Data Layer: PostgreSQL, Liquibase, Kafka, DynamoDB, Amazon S3

• AI Integration: Python, FastAPI (LLM‑powered service touchpoints)

• Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes (AWS EKS), Helm, ArgoCD

• CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Codecov, Snyk

• Observability: DataDog (APM, logs, tracing), OpenTelemetry

• Security: AWS KMS, AWS Secrets Manager, Auth0

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, backend‑weighted with real production frontend contributions

• Strong proficiency in Kotlin and Spring Boot (or Java/Spring with willingness to adopt Kotlin)

• Working proficiency in TypeScript and React (Next.js preferred) — able to ship UI features within an established design system

• Solid experience with Python and modern frameworks (FastAPI preferred)

• Experience with PostgreSQL, relational database design, and migration management

• Proven track record in continuous delivery environments with automated testing

• Hands‑on Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS; strong grasp of microservices patterns, API design, and distributed systems

• AI‑native workflows — demonstrated ability to leverage Claude Code/Codex or similar agentic coding tools to accelerate development

• US citizenship required (DoD contracting — IL4/IL5 environments — and FedRAMP compliance)

• GraphQL API development and schema design at scale

• LLM/AI integration patterns (structured outputs, LLM workflow orchestration)

• Security‑conscious development and compliance frameworks (SOC 2, NIST 800‑171/800‑53)

• Depth in AWS services (EKS, RDS, S3, Secrets Manager) and DataDog observability

• Greater Twin Cities, MN based

• Open‑source contributions or active technical community involvement

Work that matters. We build AI‑powered solutions for defense, public sector, and regulated industries — SOC 2 and NIST compliance, FedRAMP readiness, and customers whose missions demand the most trustworthy software.

AI‑native by default. We build with AI, not just for AI. Agentic coding tools (Claude Code/Codex/etc.), agent SDKs and harnesses, MCP servers, and Agent Skills standards are how we work daily. You’ll push the boundaries of what AI tooling can do across the full stack.

Real ownership. High‑autonomy culture on a small, senior team. You’ll own outcomes end‑to‑end — and your work will be seen, used, and valued.

Modern stack, no legacy drag. Cloud‑native Kubernetes infrastructure, Kotlin and Next.js, continuous delivery — built for growth, not maintenance mode.