_{18th August, 2026}

Role: Senior Application Developer, Foundational Services
Location: Washington, DC / Reston, VA / Bethesda, MD (Hybrid — 2-3 days onsite, with SCIF time).
 
Job Description:
We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Application Developer, Foundational Services, to serve as the subject matter expert for the shared services layer that supports every application across the program.
 
This is a critical technical leadership role responsible for designing, developing, maintaining, and troubleshooting foundational services while serving as a mentor to two mid-level developers.
The ideal candidate will have deep hands-on expertise with Node.js, TypeScript, SQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch, along with experience across modern application development and DevSecOps technologies.
 
Candidates with direct experience implementing classification rollup and need-to-know handling programmatically, performing cross-domain transfers from high to low, and troubleshooting server logs and consoles in an on-site environment will be particularly strong fits.
 
This position can begin immediately and requires regular work within SCIF environments.
 
Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the technical SME for the foundational/shared services layer supporting applications across the program.
• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain highly available shared application services.
• Develop scalable backend services using Node.js and TypeScript.
• Design and optimize SQL queries and data access patterns.
• Develop and maintain services integrating with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
• Establish and maintain APIs and shared service interfaces consumed by multiple applications.
• Troubleshoot complex application, data, service, and infrastructure issues.
• Analyze server logs, application logs, and system consoles to rapidly identify and resolve issues.
• Perform hands-on troubleshooting onsite in secure environments.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to two mid-level developers.
• Conduct code reviews and establish development standards and best practices.
• Support automated testing using Jest.
• Build and maintain CI/CD processes using GitLab CI pipelines.
• Develop and deploy containerized services using Docker and OpenShift.
• Collaborate with application developers, systems engineers, DevOps teams, cybersecurity personnel, and mission stakeholders.
• Contribute to architecture, technical design, documentation, and modernization efforts.
• Ensure foundational services meet applicable security, performance, availability, and mission requirements.

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree with 8+ years of relevant experience, or Bachelor's degree with 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph.
• Strong hands-on experience developing enterprise applications and services with:
  • Node.js
  • TypeScript
  • SQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • Elasticsearch
• Demonstrated experience designing and supporting shared services or foundational application components.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills.
• Experience working in secure or mission-critical environments.
• Ability to work onsite in a SCIF and troubleshoot systems directly from server logs and consoles. Candidates must be able to work within secure facilities and perform hands-on troubleshooting as required by the program.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to mentor junior and mid-level developers.

Technical Environment:

• Backend: Node.js, TypeScript, NestJS, Express
• Frontend: Angular
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB
• Data & Caching: SQL, Redis
• Search: Elasticsearch
• Testing: Jest
• CI/CD: GitLab CI pipelines
• Containers & Platform: Docker, OpenShift
• Development: Git

Highly Desired / Differentiating Experience:
The following experience is especially valuable and will distinguish candidates from the broader applicant pool:
 
Classification Rollup & Need-to-Know

• Hands-on experience implementing classification rollup programmatically.
• Experience enforcing need-to-know handling within application logic.
• Understanding of how classification and access-control rules are propagated and enforced across shared services.
• Experience building security-aware services in environments with multiple classification levels.

Cross-Domain Transfer

• Direct experience supporting or developing cross-domain transfer (CDS) capabilities.
• Experience moving information from high-side to low-side environments in accordance with established security policies and controls.
• Understanding of application-level controls and workflows associated with cross-domain data movement.

Onsite Systems Troubleshooting

• Comfortable working directly with server logs, application logs, system consoles, and onsite infrastructure.
• Ability to triage complex issues under time-sensitive operational conditions.
• Experience determining whether failures originate in application code, shared services, databases, infrastructure, or deployment pipelines.

Leadership & Mentoring
In addition to hands-on development responsibilities, this role will provide technical leadership for the foundational services team. The successful candidate will:

• Mentor two mid-level developers.
• Establish coding and architectural best practices.
• Conduct meaningful code reviews.
• Help developers diagnose difficult technical issues.
• Promote maintainable, testable, and secure software design.
• Serve as the primary technical resource for the shared services layer.

Clearance:

• TS/SCI with CI Polygraph required.

Certifications:

• No certifications required.

Compensation:
$150,000-$175,000 annually, commensurate with experience and qualifications.
 
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a senior backend/full-stack developer who can operate as both a hands-on technical expert and mentor. They should be exceptionally strong in Node.js/TypeScript and data services, comfortable owning foundational services used across an enterprise application ecosystem, and capable of troubleshooting issues directly in secure on-site environments.
 
Experience with classification rollup, programmatic need-to-know enforcement, and high-to-low cross-domain transfer is a significant differentiator for this position.

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