Principal Software Engineer
MITRE
Summary
Our team architects, implements, and operates Enterprise Capabilities (ECs) for MITRE's Center for Integrated Transportation (CIT). The ECs are the enterprise data systems, software products, and enabling engineering platforms that support the CAASD FAA direct work program. We are a diverse, highly technical, and motivated team that embraces self-direction and empowerment toward our goal of delivering powerful and sustainable software for the enterprise.
Job description
This Principal Software Engineer position is a senior individual-contributor role central to the technical strength of the department. Pairing deep software and data engineering craft with aviation domain expertise, the Principal Software Engineer translates complex sponsor challenges into delivered, high-impact mission outcomes, raises the bar for engineering quality, and helps the team responsibly adopt emerging practices such as agentic AI across the software development lifecycle.
Roles & Responsibilities
- Lead substantial engineering efforts across the CIT Enterprise Capabilities (ECs) that the department owns and operates to direct their design, development, evolution, and sustainable operation.
- Partner with teams across CIT to apply ECs to their mission work, helping them adopt, extend, and get maximum value from enterprise capabilities to accelerate their outcomes.
- Apply aviation domain expertise (data, models, and operational context) to shape technical approaches, validate correctness against real-world aviation criteria, and ensure delivered capabilities meet genuine sponsor needs and mission outcomes.
- Serve as a technical subject-matter expert, reviewing work products and artifacts as part of an enterprise approach to continuous quality improvement and alignment to CIT's mission.
- Partner with P260 management and technical leadership to shape and execute CIT's EC strategy to meet the evolving needs of the work program.
- Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineers on software craft, aviation domain concepts, and effective, responsible use of AI-assisted development tooling.
Basic Qualifications
- Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree (Computer Science, Data Science, or other physical science/engineering fields); or 3 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with relevant experience who can immediately contribute at this job step; or an equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
- Proficiency in high-level programming languages such as Java, Python, Go, and Typescript.
- Experience and/or proficiency in software engineering, big data analytics, cloud computing, and continuous integration/continuous delivery technologies (e.g., AWS, GitHub, Gradle, Spark, Kubernetes).
- Experience delivering and supporting production software applications using Agile and DevOps methodologies and tools.
- Demonstrated aviation domain expertise (data, models, and/or operations) and a track record of delivering impactful mission outcomes against complex sponsor challenges.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Creative problem solver able to operate effectively amid ambiguity.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with teammates, technical partners, and stakeholders.
- US citizen capable of obtaining and maintaining a US government clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
- Broad exposure across multiple aviation domains, such as airspace and air traffic management, flight operations, aeronautical and geospatial data, or modeling and simulation.
- Hands-on experience applying agentic AI tooling to the software development lifecycle (AI-assisted coding, review, testing, or agent-based workflows) with sound judgment about quality and security.
- Strong understanding and expertise in one or more of CIT's enterprise capabilities (e.g., Transportation Data Platform, Collaborative Research Environment, Fast & Real-time Simulation capabilities).
- Understanding of aviation concepts and FAA data sets/systems that are central to many CIT work areas.
- Experience designing and operating distributed data systems and cloud platforms.
- Experience with geospatial or scientific computation supporting analytical or modeling workloads.
Requirements
- Minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree (Computer Science, Data Science, or other physical science/engineering fields); or 3 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of related education and work experience
- Proficiency in high-level programming languages such as Java, Python, Go, and Typescript
- Experience and/or proficiency in software engineering, big data analytics, cloud computing, and continuous integration/continuous delivery technologies (e.g., AWS, GitHub, Gradle, Spark, Kubernetes)
- Experience delivering and supporting production software applications using Agile and DevOps methodologies and tools
- Demonstrated aviation domain expertise (data, models, and/or operations) and a track record of delivering impactful mission outcomes against complex sponsor challenges
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Creative problem solver able to operate effectively amid ambiguity
- Ability to collaborate effectively with teammates, technical partners, and stakeholders
- US citizen capable of obtaining and maintaining a US government clearance
Benefits
- Competitive benefits
- Career development
Company overview
MITRE is a not-for-profit corporation that operates federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) for various U.S. government agencies. Founded in 1958, MITRE serves as a critical bridge between government requirements and technological innovation, providing objective analysis and solutions to complex national security and public interest challenges. The organization's work spans multiple domains including cybersecurity, aviation, healthcare, defense systems, and critical infrastructure protection. MITRE operates two primary FFRDCs: one for the Department of Defense and another for the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Homeland Security. The corporation is renowned for developing technical standards and frameworks, most notably the MITRE ATT&CK framework for cybersecurity threat modeling. With a workforce of engineers, scientists, and technical specialists, MITRE focuses on solving problems of national importance through applied research, systems engineering, and advanced technology development, maintaining strict objectivity by not manufacturing products or competing with private industry.