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Defense UnicornsSenior AI Software Engineer (RD271)
Defense Unicorns is hiring a remote Senior AI Software Engineer for its Ark team to build an AI-native software development product that helps users package and…
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About This Role
Defense Unicorns is hiring a remote Senior AI Software Engineer for its Ark team to build an AI-native software development product that helps users package and deliver secure applications into regulated and disconnected environments. The company creates secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery, supporting defense and civil agencies across the United States government as a federal contractor. In this role, the engineer will help shape the technical direction…
Job Description
Defense Unicorns is hiring a remote Senior AI Software Engineer for its Ark team to build an AI-native software development product that helps users package and deliver secure applications into regulated and disconnected environments. The company creates secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery, supporting defense and civil agencies across the United States government as a federal contractor.
In this role, the engineer will help shape the technical direction of the product, design and implement complex capabilities, and integrate artificial intelligence with deterministic systems. Ideal candidates thrive in environments involving agent orchestration, isolated development environments, and automated validation.
Defense Unicorns operates as an equal opportunity employer and offers comprehensive benefits including full coverage for medical, dental, and vision premiums, a 401(k) plan, company stock options, a home office budget, and flexible time off. Travel requirements for this position range from zero to five percent.
Responsibilities
- Own the complete design, implementation, testing, and delivery of complex software systems and features
- Contribute to architectural decisions across various product components
- Resolve ambiguity through active collaboration with product, user experience, and mission teams
- Debug complex technical issues spanning Kubernetes, networking, storage, virtualization, and operating systems
- Enhance software performance, security, observability, maintainability, and reliability
- Review peer code, guide teammates, and establish robust engineering practices
- Document technical decisions and communicate transparently across teams
Requirements
- U.S. citizenship is required due to government contracting work
- At least five years of professional software engineering experience
- Proficiency in modern programming languages, with Go and TypeScript preferred
- Proven background in designing, building, and running production software products
- Hands-on experience integrating large language models or AI agents into software
- Familiarity with distributed systems, APIs, application architecture, and asynchronous workflows
- Working knowledge of containers, Kubernetes, and cloud-native application development
- Experience developing reliable, testable systems featuring automated validation and continuous integration pipelines
Qualifications
- Background building AI agent orchestration tools, coding agents, or AI developer utilities
- Familiarity with LLM evaluation, model context protocol, tool calling, and agent execution frameworks
- Experience with secure sandboxing, isolated execution environments, or Kata Containers
- History of building developer platforms, command line interfaces, or software automation tools
- Knowledge of Zarf, Helm, Kubernetes operators, or software packaging workflows
- Experience with software supply chain security, artifact validation, and deployment automation
- Development experience tailored for air-gapped, restricted, or regulated environments
- Prior contributions to open-source projects or developer tooling
Core Skills
Benefits
- 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums
- Health Savings Account
- Life insurance and disability insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Company stock options
- Home office budget
- Flexible Time Off alongside federal holidays, a week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year
- Paid parental leave
- Reimbursement for approved training, subscriptions, conferences, travel, lodging, and fees
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Is this position remote?
Yes, the source posting lists the remote location status as remote within the United States.
What is the salary range for this role?
The salary range for remote applicants in the United States is $148,750 to $201,250 USD, determined by national benchmarking data and candidate experience.
What citizenship is required to apply?
Because Defense Unicorns is a U.S. government contractor, this position requires U.S. citizenship.
How much travel is required?
The travel expectation for this position is zero to five percent.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.