Software Engineer Contractor Jobs in Oregon (NOW HIRING)

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Mid to Senior Software Engineer to help drive our transformation from legacy, on-premises software to a modern, cloud-native platform. In this role you will play a key part in designing and building our next-generation scalable data pipelines to ingest, transform, and load data from diverse sources.  You'll be joining Defense Unicorns' US Navy team and be responsible for creating and owning end-to-end project delivery, and advocating best practices in database usage and system architecture.  You will work closely with other software engineers, platform engineers, end users, and external stakeholders.

• Partner with data architects, analysts, and a wide variety of stakeholders to translate ambiguous product requirements into technical solutions
• Design, build, and maintain complex ETL/ELT workflows 
• Implement security protocols, including authentication and authorization, 
• Create optimized transformations to clean, enrich, and model data, utilizing cloud-native tools
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance, maintaining metadata and lineage
• Help refactor and modernize existing on-prem systems into distributed, cloud-based services
• Contribute to the design of authentication, identity management, and RBAC/ABAC frameworks
• Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and ongoing technical improvements
• Drive best practices in microservice design, testing, observability, and CI/CD automation
• Collaborate closely with partner company engineers and stakeholders to devise the best solutions for our Mission Heroes
• Collaborate with the Defense Unicorns product team sharing improvements and growth opportunities for future projects
• Comfortable in an asynchronous, all remote environment
• Actively participate in communities of practice via Slack and Github Issues
• Integrate software products with existing defense systems, ensuring seamless interoperability and adherence to security protocols
• Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across the engineering team.
• Develop comprehensive documentation, including design specifications, user manuals, and maintenance guides
• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to inform product enhancements and innovation
• Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team
• Communicate effectively with all levels of engineers and stakeholders internal and external to the company
• Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints

Travel Expectations/Requirements: 10-15%

The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise. 

• 3+ years (mid) or 5+ years (senior) experience with software engineering
• Experience building a software tool with core focuses on software lifecycle and management 
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Go, TypeScript, Python) with the ability to write idiomatic, testable code
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs
• Modern API design experience, beyond basic CRUD operations; use of RESTful services, and high confidence utilizing tools such as FastAPI in Python, ASP.NET in C#, or equivalent
• Experience with implementation of authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and role-based access control to ensure compliance and data privacy across enterprise systems
• Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes Concepts including but not limited to Controllers, Operators, and CRDs
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization
• Familiar with Department of Defense acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences as well as leading technical working sessions with partners and mission heroes
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a high attention to detail
• Experience working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment!