Application Solutions Lead for NIH - Hybrid

Job Description: Principal Software Engineer (Python / PostgreSQL / GraphQL / AWS)

Job Title: Lead Developer – Development & Support

Location: Bethesda, MD (Hybrid – 3 days on-site per week)

Position Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: 10–15 Years

Clearance: Able to obtain Public Trust clearance upon hire

About Us

Joining more than just a team – we are a product development community driven by

a shared vision. Our values shape who we are, what we do, and how we interact with our peers

and our customers. We're not just seeking any regular engineer; we want individuals who identify

with our core values and are passionate about software development.

Role Overview

Client is seeking a hands-on Principal Software Engineer to provide cross-stack technical

leadership on a multi-year cloud-native modernization initiative supporting a federal research client

within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This role operates as the senior engineering voice on a cross-functional team that spans

application development, cloud infrastructure, data integration, automation, and security. The

portfolio under modernization includes roughly twenty legacy applications transitioning from .NET,

Oracle, and SAP BusinessObjects on VM-based hosting to an AWS-managed,

microservices-based platform delivered through a federated GraphQL API layer and a

React/TypeScript frontend.

This position is ideal for engineers who can both write production-grade code and exercise sound

technical judgment when changes cross domain boundaries - reviewing architecture, APIs,

infrastructure, and data work side-by-side, and helping a newly integrated DevSecOps team

deliver coherent, secure, operable systems.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Code Review

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across modernization engineering work, including

application code, APIs, cloud infrastructure, automation pipelines, and database changes.

• Review pull requests that affect any layer of the stack; approve or recommend changes based

on implementation risk, API design, data impact, security posture, deployment readiness, and

architectural alignment.

• Enforce consistent engineering patterns for APIs, distributed services, cloud deployment, data

integration, observability, and secure configuration.

• Uphold the program's modern engineering and cloud architecture standards, including

microservice boundaries, schema governance, and infrastructure-as-code guardrails

Architecture & Engineering Execution

• Help engineering teams translate target architecture decisions into working, maintainable code

on the approved AWS technology stack.

• Guide design and implementation of containerized microservices using Python (FastAPI),

GraphQL subgraphs (Apollo Federation), and React/TypeScript frontends.

• Advise on data architecture decisions involving Amazon RDS PostgreSQL, AWS Glue data

pipelines, and legacy system integrations following the Strangler Fig migration pattern.

• Support secure-by-default cloud delivery on Amazon EKS using Terraform, GitHub Actions

CI/CD, and AWS-native services (Secrets Manager, CloudWatch, X-Ray, WAF, ALB).

• Contribute to and review Architecture Decision Records when implementation choices deviate

from approved patterns or introduce new technologies.

Cross-Team Coordination & Mentorship

• Partner with the project stakeholders to identify technical dependencies, blockers, and

sequencing issues during backlog refinement, sprint planning, and release coordination.

• Coordinate with the Enterprise Architect, application development leads, infrastructure and

operations engineers, and security personnel when changes require specialized review or have

architectural, operational, or compliance implications.

• Translate architecture and security guidance into practical, day-to-day implementation advice

for engineers across the team.

• Mentor engineers on cloud-native delivery practices, distributed system patterns, secure

development, observability, and operational ownership.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a technical

lead, staff engineer, or principal engineer capacity on production cloud systems.

• Proven ability to reason across the full stack - frontend, backend, API, database, cloud

infrastructure, automation, and security - and to evaluate the downstream impact of

cross-boundary changes.

• Demonstrated experience designing, building, or reviewing distributed systems and

microservice-style architectures, including API contracts, data ownership boundaries, and

inter-service communication patterns.

• Strong, hands-on proficiency in Python (FastAPI or equivalent framework) and a modern

frontend ecosystem (React with TypeScript preferred).

• Production experience with GraphQL APIs; familiarity with federated GraphQL (Apollo

Federation, schema composition, schema governance, breaking-change detection in CI) is

strongly preferred.

• Deep working knowledge of AWS cloud-native services, including EKS/Kubernetes, RDS

PostgreSQL, S3, IAM, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch, and VPC networking.

• Practical experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform), containerized delivery (Docker),

and CI/CD automation (GitHub Actions or equivalent).

• Experience integrating modern services with legacy systems (.NET, Oracle, SAP

BusinessObjects, or comparable) and executing incremental migrations using patterns such as

Strangler Fig.

• Working knowledge of secure software delivery, including identity federation (OIDC, SAML 2.0,

OAuth2), secrets management, RBAC, audit logging, and compliance evidence collection.

• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to explain technical tradeoffs clearly to

engineers, program leadership, and non-technical stakeholders.

• Collaborative technical leadership style suited to a cross-functional team where influence

comes from clarity, judgment, and trust rather than formal hierarchy.

Technical Skills

• Cloud Platform: AWS (EKS, RDS PostgreSQL, S3, Glue, IAM, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch,

X-Ray, WAF, ALB, Route 53)

• Languages: Python (FastAPI), TypeScript/JavaScript; working familiarity with .NET / C# for

legacy interop

• APIs: GraphQL (Apollo Federation), REST, API gateway design, schema governance and

versioning

• Frontend: React with TypeScript, component-based design systems
• Data: PostgreSQL, AWS Glue ETL, SQL/NoSQL patterns, integration with legacy Oracle and

reporting platforms

• DevOps Tools: GitHub Actions (preferred), GitLab CI, Jenkins, or equivalent CI/CD platforms
• Containers & Orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes (Amazon EKS), Helm
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform (modules, remote state, policy-as-code)
• Observability: Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack
• Security: OAuth2, OIDC, SAML 2.0, AWS Secrets Manager, IAM, container/image scanning,

dependency scanning, SAST/DAST integration in CI

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting federal modernization or compliance-driven environments (FISMA, NIST

800-53, FedRAMP Moderate/High).

• Background producing or guiding cATO-related technical evidence (control narratives, scan

results, IaC posture, observability artifacts).

• Hands-on experience with AWS Glue or comparable serverless ETL tooling for governed data

integration.

Exposure to event-driven architectures and change-data-capture (Kafka, Amazon MSK,

Debezium, etc.).

• Familiarity with Apollo Federation tooling, schema registries, persisted queries, and

breaking-change detection workflows.

• Prior experience working in or alongside cross-functional DevSecOps teams that integrate

infrastructure, application development, and security personnel.

Nice to Have

• AWS certifications (Solutions Architect Professional, DevOps Engineer Professional, or Security

Specialty).

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or comparable orchestration certification.
• Experience with zero-trust network architectures and federal identity integration (Entra ID,

OIDC, SAML 2.0 federation).

• Exposure to AI/ML-assisted development practices and developer productivity tooling.
• Experience contributing to Architecture Decision Records and engineering guardrails in

regulated environments.

• Familiarity with NIH or other federal research IT environments and their compliance, identity,

and networking base

Preferred Qualifications

NIH Familiarity: Current or recent experience working on-site or directly with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Facility Access: Possession of a current, active NIH badge (PIV card) for rapid onboarding and facility access.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Prior Work history at other Federal Government

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operates through key operating divisions and agencies split across public health and human services.

See below agencies:

Operating Divisions & Agencies

• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): Protects public health and safety by controlling and preventing disease, injury, and disability.
• NIH (National Institutes of Health): Conducts and supports medical and behavioral research through 27 separate institutes and centers.
• FDA (Food and Drug Administration): Ensures the safety and efficacy of drugs, medical devices, the food supply, cosmetics, and tobacco products.
• CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services): Administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance marketplaces.
• ACF (Administration for Children and Families): Promotes the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities.
• ACL (Administration for Community Living): Focuses on maximizing the independence, well-being, and health of older adults and people with disabilities.
• HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration): Improves access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable.
• SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration): Leads public efforts to advance behavioral health and reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness.
• IHS (Indian Health Service): Provides federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality): Conducts research to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, and more affordable.
• ASPR (Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response): Coordinates federal medical and public health preparedness and response for disasters and emergencies.
• ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health): Funds high-risk, high-reward biomedical and health breakthroughs.
• ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry): Protects communities from harmful exposures to hazardous and toxic substances

Requirements

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