Demo

Senior Software Engineer

Bluestaq
Washington, DC Full Time
POSTED ON 10/8/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 11/4/2026
Why This Role Matters

Senior Software Engineers are the technical anchors of our teams. You'll be the go-to person for a domain or service, ensuring that what we ship is not only functional but well-designed, tested, and sustainable. Your work will directly impact mission readiness, and your mentorship will shape the next generation of engineers at Bluestaq. You'll balance hands-on delivery with technical leadership, raising the bar for code quality and system design.

Key Responsibilities

  • Own features and modules that span multiple components/services and require coordination with other teams or roles
  • Design and implement non-trivial features with clear tradeoffs (performance, readability, complexity, security)
  • Write solid tests (unit, integration, basic end-to-end) and help improve test coverage and reliability
  • Identify and address code smells, refactoring opportunities, and tech debt in your area
  • Understand core architecture patterns in use (microservices, event-driven, SPA, component-based UI) and work within them effectively
  • Operate independently within your product area: scope work, make reasonable design decisions, and proactively raise risks
  • Act as an escalation point for junior engineers when debugging issues or clarifying designs
  • Mentor others via pairing, feedback, and sharing context, not just fixing things yourself
  • Lead medium-sized features from idea → design → implementation → production → follow-up
  • Debug complex issues that span multiple components or services, including production incidents
  • Make incremental improvements to architecture, patterns, and tooling in your domain

Required Qualifications

  • Strong proficiency in multiple programming languages and frameworks
  • Proven ability to design and deliver complex features across the full stack
  • Deep understanding of software architecture patterns and design principles
  • Experience with automated testing strategies and test-driven development
  • Track record of mentoring junior engineers and improving team practices
  • Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across distributed systems
  • Experience with cloud platforms, containerization, and modern deployment practices
  • Excellent communication skills and ability to explain technical concepts clearly

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with microservices architectures and distributed systems
  • Familiarity with event-driven architectures and asynchronous processing
  • Background in performance optimization and scalability
  • Experience working on government, defense, or mission-critical systems
  • Knowledge of security best practices and secure coding standards
  • Contributions to open-source projects or technical communities
  • Experience with observability tools and practices (logging, metrics, tracing)
  • Familiarity with customer-facing environments, including Technical Exchange Meetings (TEMs) or similar collaborative forums with stakeholders

Required Experience and Education:

  • PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 0 years of software engineering or related experience, OR
  • Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 2 years of software engineering or related experience, OR
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 4 years of software engineering or related experience, OR
  • Associate degree in a related field and 6 years of software engineering or related experience, OR
  • High School Diploma/GED and 8 years of software engineering or related experience.

Location Requirement

Colorado Springs, CO

  • Washington, DC
  • Dallas, TX
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • Colorado Springs is our HQ with an established office — 3–4 days on-site per week.
  • DC, Dallas, and Salt Lake City-based roles will be remote until offices are established there, and then will require 3–4 days on-site.

You use modern AI tools with judgment: integrating them into workflows where they're impactful, reviewing their outputs, and handling proprietary or sensitive data responsibly.

Salary Range (CO): $100,000 USD - $155,000 USD

Clearance Requirement: This position may require an active TS/SCI Clearance. Current clearance holders are strongly encouraged to apply. If you don't currently hold one, Bluestaq will sponsor eligible candidates through the clearance process based on program needs.

Relocation: Relocation assistance is available for full-time positions.

About Bluestaq

At Bluestaq, we build secure data platforms that matter for space missions, national defense, healthcare systems, and commercial innovation. Founded in 2018, we've become a leader in enterprise software and secure data management by staying focused on what counts: modern architecture, operational excellence, and mission impact.

We're engineers, problem-solvers, and builders who take the mission seriously, but not ourselves. We automate the repeatable, question the status quo, and design systems that are as reliable as they are scalable. Whether we're supporting space, defense systems, or healthcare advancements, we build with the same principles: cloud-native solutions, security by design, and relentless simplicity.

What We Offer:

For full-time positions

  • 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision for you and your dependents
  • Up to 6% match to 401(k) contributions with additional discretionary 4% profit share on day one. Roth options available; no vesting period.
  • Every role is eligible for an annual performance bonus
  • $200,000 employer-paid life insurance, plus short- and long-term disability coverage
  • $5,000 annual professional development budget per employee
  • 20 days PTO, plus 8 paid holidays
  • Pet insurance, onsite gym, and flexible schedule

Bluestaq is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We prohibit unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees on the basis age 40 and over, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, military or veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by state or local law.

Bluestaq will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities and employees whose work requirements interfere with a religious belief unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to Bluestaq or a direct threat. Employees needing such accommodation are instructed to contact Human Resources immediately at contact.us@bluestaq.com.

Applications will be accepted for 60 days beyond the posting date, or until the position is filled, whichever comes first.

Salary : $5,000 - $200,000

If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Senior Software Engineer?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Senior Software Engineer career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$123,167 - $152,295
Income Estimation: 
$146,673 - $180,130
Income Estimation: 
$123,167 - $152,295
Income Estimation: 
$146,673 - $180,130
Employees: Get a Salary Increase
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at Bluestaq

  • Bluestaq Washington, DC
  • Why This Role Matters Principal Software Engineers define 'how we build' at Bluestaq for entire classes of systems. Your architectural decisions, reference... more
  • 8 Days Ago

  • Bluestaq Washington, DC
  • Why This Role Matters Senior Staff Software Engineers are the connective tissue across engineering at Bluestaq. You don't just own a system—you influence h... more
  • 8 Days Ago

  • Bluestaq Dallas, TX
  • Why This Role Matters Senior Staff Software Engineers are the connective tissue across engineering at Bluestaq. You don't just own a system—you influence h... more
  • 8 Days Ago

  • Bluestaq Dallas, TX
  • Why This Role Matters Principal Software Engineers define 'how we build' at Bluestaq for entire classes of systems. Your architectural decisions, reference... more
  • 8 Days Ago


Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Senior Software Engineer jobs in the Washington, DC area that may be a better fit.

  • Precise Software Solutions, Inc. Washington, DC
  • Precise Software Solutions Inc. is seeking a Senior AI Engineer to provide hands-on, senior-level engineering for secure AI-enabled applications for the U.... more
  • 6 Days Ago

  • Millennial Software Chantilly, VA
  • Job Type Full-time Description About Millennial Software: Millennial Software is revolutionizing the landscape of security and defense by leveraging our co... more
  • 8 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!