Development Engineer Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

Position Summary

Nokia Federal Solutions (NFS) is seeking a highly experienced Development Engineer to design, develop, and maintain mission-critical software systems supporting U.S. Government and defense customers. This role focuses on building high-performance, reliable software—often within real-time and distributed environments—while providing technical leadership and mentorship within the engineering organization.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in systems programming, architecture design, and large-scale software delivery, with the ability to balance rapid innovation with long-term maintainability and compliance requirements.

Description

At Nokia Federal Solutions (NFS), we build scalable, secure, and resilient networks that support critical government missions. As a dedicated U.S. entity of Nokia, NFS delivers advanced networking and software solutions to U.S. civil, defense, and intelligence customers. Backed by over a century of innovation, our engineers work on complex, real-world challenges where performance, reliability, and security are paramount.

As a Development Engineer, you will contribute across the full software lifecycle—from architecture and design through implementation, testing, deployment, and long-term support—while collaborating with cross-functional teams and mentoring fellow engineers.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain software running or real-time operating systems (RTOS) and Linux-based platforms, including design, coding, testing, and ongoing maintenance.
• Design and own the architecture of functional software modules, ensuring performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Implement and execute unit testing for the features and systems you develop.
• Provide technical support and maintenance for deployed software, including troubleshooting and issue resolution.
• Serve as a technical mentor, guiding junior engineers and contributing to best practices across the team.
• Participate in design reviews and contribute to technical roadmaps and long-term architectural decisions.

Note: This position is only open to U.S. citizens, who can obtain at least a Secret level security clearance, given the nature of our customer.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
  Degrees in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering are strongly preferred; a Master’s degree is a plus.
• 15+ years of industry experience designing, developing, and delivering large-scale, production-quality software systems (experience level may be flexible for exceptional candidates).
• Expert-level programming skills in C, C++, and/or Go, with deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and system design.
• Proven experience leading the architecture, design, and implementation of complex, high-performance, and highly available systems.
• Strong debugging skills across the full software stack, including distributed, multithreaded, and real-time environments.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with cross-functional engineering, product, and systems teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep understanding of IP networking protocols and network architectures.
• Extensive experience with Linux-based systems and real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing network and control plane protocols.
• Demonstrated ownership of control plane or data plane software, including responsibility for architecture, performance, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Wireless and telecom domain expertise, including development related to 4G/5G Core and protocols such as GTP, RADIUS, Diameter, charging protocols, IP, and routing protocols.
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Windsurf, Augment, Copilot, or similar) to improve productivity, accelerate debugging, enhance code quality, and explore architectures.
• Ability to define best practices and guardrails for responsible and effective use of AI tools in a production engineering environment.
• Proven technical leadership, including mentoring senior engineers, leading design reviews, influencing technical direction, and driving cross-team initiatives.
• Strong judgment in balancing rapid iteration with long-term architectural integrity.

What We Offer You

• An opportunity to support mission-critical programs with real national impact.
• A collaborative, people-first engineering culture.
• A comprehensive and competitive benefits package, including:
  • Company-paid standard medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family
  • Employer-paid life insurance, short- and long-term disability
  • 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer contribution
  • Professional development opportunities
  • 11 paid federal holidays

An Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled

Nokia Federal Solutions Inc. is an equal opportunity employer & provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and will make hiring decisions without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, protected veteran status, protected genetic information, political affiliation, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.