Associate Software Developer – Early Career / Student Talent

Overview

FTI Defense is seeking an early career Software Developer to support the Naval Safety Command in Norfolk, VA. This is an excellent opportunity for a recent Bachelor’s graduate, a student currently pursuing a Master’s degree, or a Master’s graduate or PhD student who wants to take the software development skills they have built through academics, research, internships, or significant technical projects and apply them to real world, mission focused solutions supporting the U.S. Navy.

We are particularly interested in candidates who have completed a substantive capstone, research project, internship, thesis, or academic development project utilizing some or all of the technologies and skills needed for this role. You do not need years of commercial software development experience. We are looking for strong technical foundations, meaningful hands on development experience, intellectual curiosity, and a desire to grow as a developer while contributing to AI centric and data driven solutions. As a member of FTI’s team supporting the Naval Safety Command, you will work alongside Software Engineers, Data Scientists, and technical experts to develop and maintain software and data solutions supporting the Navy’s safety mission.

The primary work location is the Naval Safety Command in Norfolk, VA, with the ability to perform some aspects of the position remotely. Candidates must be U.S. Citizens and have a DoD Secret clearance or above. 

Responsibilities

What You Will Work On

• Design, develop, document, test, and debug new and existing software applications and solutions.
• Develop and maintain data pipelines and support data transformation activities.
• Analyze code, identify the causes of errors, troubleshoot problems, and improve existing applications.
• Participate in the full software development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, and implementation.
• Work with Software Engineers, Data Scientists, and end users to prototype, refine, test, and deploy solutions.
• Help productionize analytical and AI models developed by Data Scientists and integrate them into operational applications and workflows.
• Write modular functions, classes, packages, and reusable software components.
• Use Git and modern source control practices to collaborate with other developers.
• Develop automated tests and quality checks that improve software reliability and maintainability.
• Support dashboard development, data visualization, recurring reporting, and other customer facing analytical products.
• Participate in technical discussions with customers and learn how operational requirements are translated into production software solutions.

Education/Qualifications

What We Are Looking For

• U.S. Citizenship and have an active Department of Defense Secret clearance or above. 
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field. Candidates currently pursuing a Master’s degree, as well as Master’s graduates and current PhD students, are also encouraged to apply.
• Hands on software development experience gained through a capstone, academic project, graduate research, internship, research assistantship, personal development project, or other substantive technical work.
• Experience developing software using Python, R, C#, Angular, or comparable programming languages and frameworks.
• Experience writing modular code, including functions, classes, or packages.
• Exposure to Git or another modern source control platform.
• Familiarity with software testing, debugging, data transformation, or software quality practices.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts and collaborate with both technical and nontechnical team members.

 Additional Experience That Would Be Valuable

• Experience does not need to come from a traditional software development job. Capstone projects, academic projects, research, internships, and substantive personal development projects all count.
• Exposure to Databricks, Apache Spark, data pipelines, automated testing, Agile or Scrum development, Qlik, Tableau, or Python based visualization tools is beneficial but not required.
• Experience developing applications or pipelines incorporating machine learning, AI, predictive analytics, or large data sets would also be valuable.

 Turn What You Have Learned Into Real World Experience

If you have been building applications, developing data pipelines, writing code, working with large data sets, or creating software through your degree program, capstone, research, internship, or personal projects, this is an opportunity to take those skills into an operational environment.

At FTI, you will work alongside experienced Software Engineers and Data Scientists while contributing to solutions supporting a real-world Navy mission. You will continue developing your technical skills while gaining experience building solutions designed to move from development into operational use.

For an early career developer interested in the intersection of software engineering, data, AI, and national security, this is an opportunity to get your foot in the door with a company focused on developing AI centric solutions.