Entry Level Engineering Jobs in Starkville, MS (NOW HIRING)

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Founded in 2007 in Huntsville, AL, MartinFed provides the U.S. government with customer-focused, performance-based solutions using technology and an empowered workforce as an engine to drive its customers' missions. Our goal is to attract the best and brightest within their field.

We invest in our people because they are our greatest asset. They cultivate our purpose, embody and reflect our core values, and define our culture. MartinFed's core values that set us apart are the following:

• Be Driven - We are fueled by the hunger to learn more and do more.
• Be Curious - We engage in continuous improvement - never accepting the status quo.
• Be Humble - We seek honest feedback to strengthen our relationships.
• Pursue Excellence - We strive to achieve extraordinary results and do not settle for mediocrity.

Strive for excellence and consider joining our growing team today!

JOB OVERVIEW

The Junior Software Engineer provides hands-on development and engineering support to the Splunk Engineering and Maintenance team supporting government agencies. Working under the direction of senior Data, Platform, and Detection Engineers, this role contributes across the full breadth of the SIEM environment: onboarding and normalizing data sources, maintaining platform infrastructure and configurations, developing searches, dashboards, and content, and automating recurring engineering tasks through scripting and code. This is an entry-level, growth-oriented position for an engineer with a software development or cybersecurity foundation who is expected to build depth in Splunk and security operations over time. The Junior Software Engineer collaborates with senior engineers, security analysts, and agency stakeholders, and follows established code review, testing, and change management practices.

Essential Functions:

• Software Development and Automation.
• Write, test, and maintain scripts and small applications (Python, Bash, PowerShell) that automate recurring Splunk engineering, maintenance, and reporting tasks.
• Use version control, peer code review, and established branching and deployment practices for all code and configuration changes.
• Data Engineering Support.
• Assist with onboarding new log sources, including configuration of inputs, forwarders, parsing rules (props and transforms), source types, and index assignment.
• Support data quality efforts by validating field extractions, timestamps, event breaking, and Common Information Model (CIM) normalization under senior engineer guidance.
• Platform Engineering and Maintenance.
• Support routine maintenance of the Splunk environment, including indexers, search heads, forwarders, deployment servers, and app and patch deployments.
• Monitor platform health, license usage, ingest volume, and search performance; identify anomalies and assist senior engineers with troubleshooting and remediation.
• Content Development.
• Develop and maintain SPL searches, reports, dashboards, and alerts that support security, operational, and mission use cases.
• Assist Detection Engineers with building, testing, documenting, and deploying detection content through established review and release workflows.
• Testing, Documentation, and Quality.
• Test changes in development and test environments prior to production deployment and validate results against expected outcomes.
• Maintain technical documentation, configuration standards, runbooks, and knowledge articles for the work performed.
• Operational and Customer Support.
• Respond to assigned tickets and user requests for Splunk access, search assistance, data questions, and minor configuration changes.
• Provide data and platform context in support of incident response, audits, and after-action activities as directed.
• Collaboration and Professional Development.
• Participate in stand-ups, sprint planning, code reviews, and change management processes with the Splunk Engineering and Maintenance team.
• Work with senior engineers to translate requirements into technical tasks, and progress toward Splunk certification and technical specialization.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• US Citizen with an active Top Secret Security Clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field; equivalent technical training, certifications, or demonstrable experience will be considered.
• 0-2 years of professional software development, IT engineering, or cybersecurity experience; internship, co-op, apprenticeship, or substantial project work is applicable.
• Working proficiency in at least one programming or scripting language such as Python, Bash, PowerShell, Java, Go, or JavaScript.
• Comfort operating in a Linux command-line environment and a foundational understanding of system administration concepts.
• Familiarity with version control (Git) and standard development workflows including branching, pull requests, and code review.
• Ability to work with structured and semi-structured data formats such as JSON, XML, CSV, YAML, and syslog, including basic use of regular expressions.
• Foundational understanding of networking and logging concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP, authentication events) and how security-relevant events are generated across endpoint, network, and cloud.
• Foundational cybersecurity knowledge, including core security principles, common attack patterns, and the role of a SIEM in security operations.
• Willingness and demonstrated ability to learn Splunk and the Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL) quickly.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document technical work for other engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to take direction and follow established engineering processes.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the clearance and suitability requirements for the contract.

PREFERRED:

• Hands-on exposure to Splunk (SPL, dashboards, universal forwarders, apps) or another SIEM such as Elastic, Microsoft Sentinel, QRadar, or Google SecOps.
• Splunk Core Certified User or Splunk Core Certified Power User, or willingness to obtain within the first year.
• CompTIA Security+, Network+, or a comparable industry certification.
• Experience with REST APIs, data parsing and normalization, and data pipeline concepts.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and their native logging services.
• Exposure to configuration management or infrastructure-as-code tooling such as Ansible, Terraform, or Puppet.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with MITRE ATT&CK, detection engineering concepts, and SOC workflows.
• Experience supporting a federal customer or working in an accredited environment.
• Interest in growing into a Data, Platform, or Detection Engineering specialization.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS & ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

• Inside office environment.
• Working on a computer for long periods of time.
• May involve long period of sitting at a desk.
• The work environment is fast-paced and sometimes involves extreme deadline pressures.

OTHER DUTIES

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

MartinFed is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, religious creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, pregnancy, marital status, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability, protected Veteran Status, genetics or any other characteristics protected by applicable federal, state or local law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. In addition to federal law requirements, MartinFed complies with all applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in all locations.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or disabled veteran, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access MartinFed's current openings as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 855.212.1810. Thank you for your interest in MartinFed.

Please Note: All positions at MartinFed are contingent upon passing a background check prior to a start date and are subject to random drug screenings during the employment period. In addition, MartinFed is an E-Verify employer.