Senior Software Engineer

People who do well here tend to approach problems similarly.

• They are comfortable operating without full clarity .
• They pay attention to what actually happens, not just what was intended.
• They are willing to be wrong, adjust quickly, and improve based on real feedback.
• They take responsibility for outcomes, not just implementation.

This is not a good fit for someone who needs tightly defined problems or prefers distance from how their work is used.

Some roles require an active Secret, Top Secret, or Top Secret/SCI clearance.

Where required, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain the appropriate clearance level.

U.S. citizenship is required for all positions.

Torch.AI does not sponsor employment visas.

If you do not currently hold a clearance but are eligible, sponsorship may be available depending on role and mission requirements.

Most roles are based at our headquarters in Leawood, KS.

Some hybrid/remote positions across the Arlington, VA, Washington, DC, and Maryland (DMV) region are available.

Limited travel (<10%) may be required for some roles.

We offer competitive, performance-aligned compensation tied to technical depth, clearance level, and mission impact.

• Competitive base salary
• Quarterly performance bonuses
• Equity participation within the first 12 months
• Unlimited PTO + 11 paid company holidays
• Professional development in a high-growth, mission-driven environment
• Weekly in-office catering at HQ

• 401(k) plan (no current employer match, but under consideration)
• PPO, HSA, and TRICARE Supplement medical options
• Above-market HSA contributions
• HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care FSA options
• Dental and vision plans above national averages
• Employer-paid life insurance (1× salary)
• Employer-paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
• Voluntary Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity coverage
• Up to $300/month in tax-advantaged commuter benefits

Torch.AI is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer committed to building a team that reflects the mission we serve.

If you want to build AI systems that move from ingestion to actionable insight and know exactly why they produced the answer they did, we should talk.

• Architect, design, and lead development of scalable backend services using Python (FastAPI/Flask) and/or Java (Spring Boot, Micronaut) supporting production-grade mission systems.
• Define and maintain REST API layers, integration patterns, and microservice contracts across distributed environments.
• Lead system reliability improvements including observability, performance tuning, fault tolerance, and security hardening.
• Diagnose and resolve complex production issues, driving structured root-cause analysis and long-term remediation.
• Guide CI/CD strategy, deployment automation, and infrastructure alignment in partnership with DevOps teams.
• Design and optimize relational, NoSQL, and search data models to support high-scale and latency-sensitive workloads.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards across code quality, testing, documentation, and secure SDLC practices.
• Mentor engineers, lead architectural reviews, and influence technical direction across services and platforms.
• Collaborate with cloud, platform, and security teams to deliver hardened, high-performance applications.
• Produce clear technical documentation, design artifacts, and planning materials aligned to mission execution.
• Support system scaling, database optimization, and long-term modernization initiatives.

• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in either Python or Java (experience in both is a strong plus).
• Proven success designing, deploying, and supporting backend services in production environments.
• Strong experience architecting distributed systems and RESTful APIs.
• Experience deploying cloud-native systems (AWS preferred) using containerization and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong database experience including schema design, performance optimization, and data modeling across SQL and NoSQL systems.
• Strong understanding of secure SDLC practices and application security fundamentals.
• Experience leading technical initiatives, mentoring engineers, and driving engineering discipline.
• Ability to communicate technical tradeoffs clearly to engineering and mission stakeholders.

• Experience with orchestration and integration pipelines (Airflow, NiFi).
• Experience with Kafka or other streaming/event-driven architectures.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and hardened cloud deployments.
• Experience supporting secure or classified environments (e.g., C2S, SC2S, AC2SP).
• Familiarity with AI/ML interfaces, data platforms, or LLM-enabled services.
• Experience operating within multi-language ecosystems (Python and Java together).
• Experience modernizing legacy systems into scalable microservice architectures.