Software Engineer II (Java Focus)

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.

• Design, build, and maintain backend services using Python (FastAPI/Flask) and/or Java (Spring Boot, Micronaut).
• Develop and maintain RESTful APIs and service integration layers supporting mission-critical systems.
• Own feature-level delivery across development, testing, deployment, monitoring, and iterative improvement.
• Design and optimize relational and NoSQL database schemas to support scalable workloads.
• Troubleshoot system issues across development and staging environments and contribute to root-cause analysis.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployments, and automated testing workflows.
• Participate in architecture discussions and drive improvements in reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Collaborate with DevOps, security, and platform teams to deliver secure, production-ready services.
• Document technical decisions, API specifications, and service behavior.
• Support junior engineers through code reviews and knowledge sharing.

• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 3–6 years of professional backend development experience.
• Strong proficiency in either Python or Java (experience in both is a plus).
• Experience building backend services using frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, Spring Boot, or Micronaut.
• Strong understanding of REST API design and serialization formats (JSON, etc.).
• Experience working with SQL and NoSQL databases and optimizing query performance.
• Familiarity with cloud environments (AWS preferred) and containerization (Docker).
• Experience with Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing practices.
• Ability to independently own feature delivery while collaborating across cross-functional teams.
• Strong communication skills and engineering discipline.

• Experience with Kafka or event-driven / streaming architectures.