ATAK Developer - Clearance Required
$110,000–$160,000 year
RemoteUnited States or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Job Summary
Design and deliver custom ATAK plugins for tactical applications operating in disconnected, contested, or low-bandwidth environments. Leverage Edge MLOps workflows to enable on-device machine learning for real-time decision support. Optimize software performance on low-resource devices and implement secure API integrations for seamless data exchange between mobile apps and central servers. Troubleshoot complex integration challenges, including data synchronization with intermittent connectivity, while ensuring all solutions align with DoD cybersecurity and STIG compliance requirements. Document technical designs and collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to define requirements. Requires an Active Secret clearance, 3-5 years of software development experience, and 2+ years of Android platform expertise.
Required Qualifications
- 3-5 years of software development experience, including mobile applications, plugin development, or backend systems
- 2+ years of experience developing for Android platforms (using Kotlin and/or Java)
- Familiarity with edge computing concepts, including resource optimization on low-powered devices and intermittent or contested network environments
- Proficiency in API integration and building highly-performant, secure software architectures
- Understanding of military systems, particularly related to aTAK/Tactical Assault Kits
- Knowledge of system security, particularly DoD cybersecurity guidelines and frameworks (e.g., STIGs, RMF compliance)
- Strong debugging, troubleshooting, and performance optimization skills for distributed systems and mobile apps
- Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within multi-disciplinary teams
- Active Secret clearance (or ability to obtain one)
- Percentage of Travel Required: Up to 10%
Desired Qualifications
- Experience implementing machine learning models for edge devices (e.g., TensorFlow Lite, ONNX Runtime, or PyTorch Mobile)
- Familiarity with Distributed Deep Learning (DDL) techniques and frameworks optimized for edge networks or contested environments
- Understanding of MLOps pipelines for deploying, monitoring, and retraining models at scale on decentralized systems
- Strong understanding of DoD cybersecurity standards and best practices, particularly surrounding STIG requirements and RMF processes
- Experience hardening applications and infrastructure for deployment in classified environments or contested tactical settings
- Familiarity with accompanying web applications (e.g., mission command dashboards or admin portals) to visualize and manage analytics, location, or operational data
- Skills in modern frontend frameworks (React, Angular, Vue) and backend/API development in frameworks like Flask, Django, or FastAPI
- Experience with geospatial software and tools, including GIS standards and libraries such as GDAL, GeoServer, or Mapbox
- Familiarity with TAK Server configurations, architectures, and plugins
- Background working in defense/DoD environments or direct experience supporting military operations
- Knowledge of tactical data link protocols (e.g., Link 16) and secure communication standards
- Strong scripting abilities in Python, Bash, or similar languages
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively to non-technical stakeholders or military leadership
- Experience with DevOps practices such as CI/CD automation, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and cloud deployments (AWS, Azure, GCP)
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