Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Consulting (U. S. Air Force)

About this role

About Skylight Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services. We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world. If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists. The work we do matters. About the job At Skylight, software engineers design, implement, and maintain software systems to improve government services for users. This software is built to meet the needs of regular users of government services as well as Skylight’s partners in government. A consulting software engineer focuses on advisory engagements where the deliverable is guidance, assessment, or technical strategy rather than delivering code. Skylight has partnered with the U.S. Air Force across multiple legacy modernization efforts. The work spans modernization of legacy systems, new capability development in multi-vendor environments, iteration on established platforms, all inside an agile transformation and broader organizational change. You’ll assess legacy systems, shape the technical strategy for modernizing them, and pair directly with government engineers to raise the bar on how software gets built. Expect to spend your time in architecture reviews, working sessions with vendors and Air Force teams, and hands-on demonstrations of modern, AI-assisted engineering practices. What to know going in Your first 30 days are about working with the Skylight team and government personnel, learning the client’s domain and organization, and enabling your government partners. Access to users varies from team to team, so you’ll need to get creative about how you reach them. The client is early- to mid-transformation, so expect organizational and operational change along the way. This role is contingent on Skylight being awarded the underlying contract. If we’re not awarded the contract, we’ll let you know promptly and discuss whether there are other opportunities that fit. What you’ll do Assess legacy applications and their technical environments to identify technical debt, instability, and other opportunities for improvement, then design, document, and communicate solutions Own the modernization strategy, technical direction, architectural decisions, and test strategy for the modernization, in collaboration with government engineers and partner vendors but accountable for the result Advocate for and model lean-agile engineering practices such as API-first design, simple design, continuous integration, version control, and automated testing Guide teams toward secure, compliant software that meets federal security standards and defends against common vulnerabilities Pair with and coach government engineers so modern practices, including AI-assisted development, stick after you’ve moved on Collaborate with product managers, researchers, and designers so technical recommendations serve user and mission needs What we’re looking for Basic qualifications Ability to write clean, working, and reusable code Understand the different pieces of software systems and how to fit them together, while keeping performance, reliability, and availability in mind Familiar with how to build secure, compliant software and defend against common vulnerabilities Experience evaluating existing systems and communicating technical findings and recommendations to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders Comfort holding architectural decision rights on a multi-vendor engagement, and making the tradeoffs legible to non-technical stakeholders Experience working in agile software development Interest in mentoring, coaching, and pairing with government partners so they can carry the work forward Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery A mindset and work approach that alig