Senior CNO Software Developer

About the role

MANTECH seeks a highly technical and mission-focused Senior CNO Software Developer to join our team in Columbia, MD. In this role, you will develop advanced CNO capabilities that directly support national security. You’ll work in a collaborative environment focused on solving complex technical challenges in support of our customer’s most critical missions.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Engineering Leadership & Governance: Champion and enforce engineering best practices and security standards across the enterprise; direct the implementation of standardized validation frameworks, secure coding methodologies, and GitLab CI/CD pipelines to minimize technical debt and maximize operational efficacy; exercise final technical decision-making authority to scale capabilities across simultaneous software development projects.
• Architecture, Innovation & Modernization: Oversee complex system architecture design, ensuring scalability and security across core infrastructure and tool suites; lead the design of high-fidelity analysis engines, automated software validation frameworks, and automated infrastructure using IaC (Ansible, Vagrant) and containerization (Docker) to modernize mission-critical platforms.
• Technical Mentorship & Excellence: Foster a culture of technical excellence by mentoring engineers at all levels; drive continuous professional development through targeted code review leadership, architecture design reviews, and cross-project knowledge-sharing initiatives to elevate the collective technical capabilities and process improvements of the development team.
• Mission Alignment & Stakeholder Liaison: Act as the primary technical advisor to government and internal stakeholders, translating complex operational mission requirements into actionable technical designs; ensure strict alignment between project goals, delivery timelines, and risk profiles, leveraging experience as a lead developer to bridge the gap between technical execution and strategic mission objectives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field (e.g., Information Systems, Network Engineering) from an accredited college or university.
• 8+ years of technical work experience in cyber software engineering or specialized technical roles.
• A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline may be substituted for 2 years of experience.
• 3+ years of experience leading technical initiatives, engineering workflows, or serving as a Tech Lead across multiple simultaneous software development projects.
• Expert-level experience programming in C, C++, Go, Java, or Python.
• Active and current TS/SCI clearance, polygraph eligible.
• Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time.

Qualifications

• Proficiency with Software Version Control (Git/GitLab) and the architecture of automated testing and continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines tailored for restricted software development environments.
• Advanced experience with containerization (Docker) and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) frameworks (e.g., Ansible, Vagrant).
• Hands-on experience with enterprise virtualization technologies (vSphere/ESXi) and automated software validation frameworks.
• Deep technical understanding of low-level platform internals (e.g., Linux, Windows, Android), socket-level programming, and network traffic analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to explain complex technical requirements, systems architecture, and operational mission risk profiles to development teams and non-technical leadership alike.
• Experience with industry-standard reverse engineering tools and binary analysis methodologies.
• Experience designing and maintaining distributed data systems and automated analysis pipelines.
• Strong understanding of CNO environments and offensive capability development.
• Proficiency with enterprise agile workflow management and documentation tools.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills.
• Advanced certifications in project management, software engineering, or technical security domains.