Lead, Software Application

Description

The company is a defense technology firm working to rebuild the US drone manufacturing base. It designs and makes high-performance unmanned systems that have been tested in combat and are produced at large volume.

Its work centers on first-person-view drones for modern warfare, and it aims to get new capability to warfighters within months rather than years.

You would own the applications that operators and engineers use to plan missions, configure the system, and record and analyze flight data. These include web, desktop, and Android tools plus the backend services behind them. You would be responsible for their development, quality, and delivery, and for building out the team that works on them.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team covering app and backend work, including hiring, mentoring, and managing performance.
• Take full ownership of application development across Windows, Linux, macOS, and web, using modern cross-platform stacks.
• Own the backend, including services, APIs, data pipelines into the analytics datalake, identity and tenancy, and software updates.
• Design the tools to work offline as a normal state, whether or not they have a connection to the backend.
• Make the major architecture decisions: front-end design, build versus adopt, data model, tenancy and security, and where state lives, locally or on the backend.
• Set and enforce standards for code review, testing, CI/CD, observability, and on-call work.
• Stay hands-on by reviewing code and owning architecture, not only process.

Requirements

• Have led a software team as a hands-on manager, owning both people management and technical direction.
• Have a strong background in application development (modern web and cross-platform desktop) and in the backend behind it (services, APIs, data, identity, CI/CD, observability), and can lead and review work across both.
• Have built applications that work offline, using local-first state, syncing when a connection returns, and staying fully usable while disconnected.
• Show sound judgment on application architecture, build versus adopt, data modeling, and security trade-offs.
• Can act as the link between the team and leadership, setting expectations upward and removing blockers.
• Are a player-coach who still writes code and reviews pull requests, and who is technically credible across front-end, service, and data.
• Have shipped cross-platform desktop software (Electron or similar) to real users.
• Have Android development experience, particularly with device-facing or field-tool applications.
• Have worked on defense, industrial, robotics, or field-deployed apps and backends.
• Have depth in data pipelines and analytics, including streaming, time-series, and telemetry at scale.
• Have experience with identity, access, and tenancy for multi-customer or multi-tenant systems.
• Have helped build a team spanning app and backend development from a small starting group.

Conditions

The US base salary range for this role is $198,000 to $277,000 USD.

That range is an estimate based on many compensation factors and covers base salary only. The actual figure may depend on experience, education or training, critical skills, and business needs.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability.

Benefits

• Highly competitive equity grants form part of the total compensation package.