Principal Software Engineer

About the Role

KBR is seeking an experienced Principal Software Engineer to support the MSEIT contract at Space Systems Command (SSC). This position blends hands-on software development with technical leadership and architecture support across multiple mission-focused software teams supporting U.S. Space Force capabilities.

Instead of being limited to a single application or team, you will collaborate across development efforts to address complex technical challenges, accelerate delivery, improve architectural consistency, and support integration across mission systems.

The role requires comfort with production code, architectural decision reviews, mentoring development teams, and working alongside systems engineers, product owners, and mission stakeholders. You will act as a technical force multiplier for engineering practices, architectural approaches, and software quality.

The program emphasizes modern software engineering practices, event-driven architectures, cloud-native technologies, DevSecOps, and CI/CD-oriented delivery.

Responsibilities

• Full Stack Development: Design, develop, test, and maintain mission-critical software applications across front-end, back-end, and service layers.
• Technical Leadership: Provide hands-on technical leadership and engineering guidance across multiple software teams.
• Architecture Development: Define and evolve application, integration, data, and event-driven architectures aligned to enterprise mission objectives.
• Event-Driven Systems Design: Design and implement scalable event-driven architectures for distributed mission systems.
• Enterprise Integration: Develop and guide integration patterns that support interoperability across mission applications and operational environments.
• Front-End Development: Build modern user interfaces using Angular and related technologies.
• Back-End Development: Design and implement scalable services, APIs, and distributed application components.
• Cross-Team Problem Solving: Support teams with complex software, performance, scalability, integration, and architectural challenges.
• DevSecOps Collaboration: Partner with platform engineering and DevSecOps teams to improve delivery pipelines, automation, observability, and deployment practices.
• Engineering Excellence: Promote best practices in software design, code quality, testing, maintainability, resiliency, and security.
• Technical Mentorship: Mentor engineers through design reviews, architecture discussions, code reviews, and collaborative development.
• Mission Collaboration: Work with systems engineers, product owners, users, and operational stakeholders to translate mission needs into technical solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, or a related technical field
• 10+ years of professional software development experience
• Extensive experience designing and developing distributed software systems
• Strong full stack development experience across modern web and enterprise application architectures
• Expert-level experience with Angular or similar modern front-end frameworks
• Strong experience designing and implementing scalable backend services and APIs
• Extensive experience with Kafka and event-driven architecture patterns
• Strong understanding of asynchronous messaging, event streaming, and distributed systems design
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise integration patterns
• Experience working within Agile software development environments
• Strong understanding of DevSecOps practices and CI/CD delivery pipelines
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and projects
• Strong communication, leadership, and technical mentoring skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

Preferred Qualifications

• Active Secret or higher clearance
• Master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, or a related technical field
• Experience supporting Space Systems Command (SSC), Space Operations Command (SpOC/CFC), or related DoD programs
• Experience supporting SATCOM, mission systems, operational C2 systems, or space-related applications
• Experience with microservices architectures and service-oriented design
• Experience with Kubernetes-based deployment environments
• Experience developing applications within cloud-native environments
• Familiarity with API gateways, service meshes, and modern integration frameworks
• Experience participating in architecture review boards and technical governance activities
• Familiarity with AI-enabled mission systems or data-driven operational platforms
• Experience working across independently contracted software development teams
• Experience with Kafka Streams, Apache Flink, RabbitMQ, NATS, or similar event-processing technologies
• Experience implementing observability platforms using OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, or similar technologies
• Experience with software supply-chain security, SBOM generation, and DevSecOps security tooling
• Experience working within software factory or platform engineering environments
• Experience supporting large-scale modernization or enterprise transformation efforts
• Certifications such as INCOSE CSEP/ESEP

Work Environment

• Location: El Segundo, CA (work-from-home flexibility with on-site support as required)
• Travel Requirements: Minimal
• Working Hours: Standard, 40 hours per week (full-time)

Compensation

For California only, the salary range for this position is approximately $150,000 to $190,000. The offered rate will be based on the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities and/or experience and in consideration of internal parity.

KBR may offer bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation to certain job titles or levels, per internal policy or contractual designation. Additional compensation may include sign on bonus, relocation benefits, short term incentives, long term incentives, or discretionary payments for exceptional performance.

Trinzic Transition Notice

Trinzic will be the future independent company created through the planned spin-off of KBR’s Mission Technology Solutions business, expected in January 2027. Candidates who join the Mission Technology Solutions business before the spin-off will transition to Trinzic when the separation is complete and will not need to reapply for employment.