What We Do
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) advances the state of the art in software engineering and cybersecurity and serves as a national resource for secure, resilient software systems. The SEI works closely with academia, the U.S. Department of War, other government organizations, and industry to improve the development, acquisition, and sustainment of softwareโintensive systems. Our core purpose is to help organizations acquire and operate softwareโreliant systems that are secure, reliable, sustainable, and missionโeffective, delivered on time and within budget.
If you are creative, curious, collaborative, technologyโfocused, and motivated to solve complex problems in support of national defense, we encourage you to apply.
About the Role
We are seeking a Senior Embedded Software Engineer to support U.S. Navy customers in the acquisition of a softwareโbased maintenance and readiness application critical to fleet operations and national security. This position provides technical leadership across the software acquisition lifecycle, including architecture analysis, software development oversight, risk reduction, and sustainment planning. The role requires close collaboration with Naval Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and Program Management Offices (PMOs), sustainment organizations, contractors, and fleet stakeholders to ensure software solutions meet operational, maintainability, and longโterm supportability requirements.
The ideal candidate combines handsโon software expertise (C/C++) with experience supporting Naval acquisition programs, legacyโdependent systems, and operational environments. This role includes guiding technical teams, evaluating architectural tradeoffs, developing prototypes, analyzing existing source code, and leading customer engagements that inform acquisition and sustainment decisions.
What You'll Do
- Support Naval software acquisition and sustainment activities in accordance with DoD 5000โseries acquisition guidance, including architecture analysis, software engineering, integration, testing, deployment, and longโterm sustainment planning
- Provide technical leadership for a fleetโfacing maintenance and readiness application supporting operational availability across afloat and ashore environments
- Advise Navy Program Executive Offices (PEOs), Program Management Offices (PMOs), and government stakeholders on software design decisions, technical risks, modernization strategies, and tradeoffs associated with large, legacyโdependent systems
- Lead software development efforts from concept through deployment, with an emphasis on C and C++โbased implementations supporting highโperformance and missionโcritical use cases
- Demonstrate software architecture expertise by developing and maintaining design artifacts such as dataโflow diagrams, sequence diagrams, interface control definitions, and quality attribute specifications to support scalable, maintainable, and resilient solutions
- Analyze existing source code, system interfaces, and data flows to identify technical debt, sustainment risks, and modernization opportunities.
- Develop prototypes and technical demonstrations to support risk reduction, acquisition decisionโmaking, and capability maturation
- Collaborate with senior U.S. Navy and government stakeholders, contractors, integrators, SEI staff, and leadership to assess needs and deliver technically sound recommendations
- Lead and mentor a team of developers, fostering disciplined engineering practices, continuous improvement, and mission focus
- Support customer engagements such as technical interchange meetings (TIMs), design reviews, and acquisition milestone activities, providing clear, defensible technical input
- Maintain awareness of emerging technologies, software development best practices, and Naval digital modernization initiatives relevant to sustainment and maintenance systems
Who You Are
- Ability to obtain and maintain an active Department of War (DoW) security clearance; an existing SECRET or higher clearance is preferred
- Previous experience leading, architecting, or developing large scale Navy acquisition programs including Aegis Combat System, SMโseries interceptors, Sea Sparrow Missile System and/or Surface Electronic Warfare programs
- Previous experience working with large scale Naval Command elements such as NAVSEA, NAVAIR, NAVWAR, NAVFAC, NIWC or their predecessors such as SPAWAR
Education and Experience Requirements:
- BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline with ten (10) years of relevant experience; OR Master's degree in the same fields with eight (8) years of experience; OR PhD in the same fields with five (5) years of experience
- Proven experience designing and implementing complex software architectures for missionโcritical or sustainmentโfocused systems
- Demonstrated ability to identify, analyze, and balance architecture drivers, tradeoffs, extensibility, and longโterm maint