--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer - Open Source (RD217) at Defense Unicorns' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-open-source-rd217-defense-unicorns-united-states-5mednsj0y6cp' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-05' --- # Senior Software Engineer - Open Source (RD217) at Defense Unicorns - **Company:** Defense Unicorns - **Location:** United States - **Compensation:** $149k–$201k - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-09-03 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/defenseunicorns/jobs/5229931007 ## Job description Role Description: Defense Unicorns seeks an experienced Software Engineer to help build, maintain, and steward our open source products and the broader ecosystems they depend on. You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, engineers, community contributors, and end users to ensure we’re building the right solutions—and building them well. As an Open Source Software Engineer, you’ll operate at the intersection of community stewardship, product development, and technical execution. You’ll help lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of cloud native software that has direct impact on mission outcomes. You bring strong Golang experience, a love for cloud native technologies and a willingness to learn TypeScript to support our broader OSS ecosystem. Over time, you may also contribute across additional languages and communities, including Rust, as our open source work evolves. Responsibilities: - Work with internal engineers and open source community contributors on features, bug fixes, reviews, and releases through clear communication, collaboration, and responsible stewardship - Engage with open source communities, industry partners, and standards bodies via common platforms (e.g., Slack, GitHub, etc.) to help move our projects and their upstream ecosystems forward, including facilitating community meetings with our internal and external users - Amplify the voice of our projects within the ecosystem by delivering a mission-focused end-user experience and collaborating with users to produce case studies, blogs, or conference presentations - Proactively identify and resolve ambiguity across product requirements, community needs, and upstream project constraints - Comfortable working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment  ✨🦄 - Build and integrate secure, interoperable cloud native software for defense environments while contributing improvements back to relevant open source projects where appropriate - Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across open source codebases, APIs, and contributor workflows - Develop comprehensive documentation, including design proposals, contribution guides, user documentation, and maintenance guides - Stay abreast of emerging cloud native, open source, and secure software supply chain technologies to inform product enhancements and ecosystem contributions - Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team - Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints Travel Expectations/Requirements: 5-15% The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise. Preferred Experience and Qualifications: - 5+ years experience with software engineering - Experience building or maintaining open source software tools, especially in cloud native, software lifecycle, or software supply chain domains - Proficient in Go, with interest in learning TypeScript, and contributing across additional modern languages such as Rust - Strong understanding of system design, library and software APIs, Kubernetes, and cloud architecture (e.g., AWS, Azure) - Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively - Experience contributing to open source projects and participating in open source communities. Involvement with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Apache Software Foundation (ASF), Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), or similar communities is a huge plus - Familiar with core Kubernetes concepts, including but not limited to controllers, operators, and CRDs - Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States. Remote - USA $148,750—$201,250 USD ## Who We Are Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market. ## What We Do We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily. Who We Serve Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products. ## What We Work On - Kubernetes - Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure) - Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi) - Continuous Delivery and automation tooling - GitOps - Containers - CNCF projects and open source products and packages - Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping - Building and improving security delivery - Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications ## Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy Health: - Medical/Dental/Vision - Premiums are 100% Company Paid - Health Savings Account - Life Insurance - Disability Insurance Financial: - 401k Retirement Plan - Company Stock Options - Home Office Budget Leave: - We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s - Paid Parental Leave Learning: - Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions - Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees) Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed. At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. [CCPA DISCLOSURE](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DzT00w2uadYw9TfdorHuEsvPccZvn_g4/view?usp=drive_link) ## About Defense Unicorns ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Defense Unicorns delivers secure, scalable, and vendor-lock-free software deployment solutions for mission-critical, air-gapped, and classified environments, primarily for the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B) - **Headquarters**: Colorado, United States - **Founded**: 2021 - **Founders**: Rob Slaughter (CEO), Jeff McCoy (CTO), Andrew Greene (Co-founder) ## Core Business - Primary industry/industries: Defense technology, software development, national security, cloud-native infrastructure - Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense agencies, system integrators, and mission teams operating in air-gapped, classified, or highly secure environments - Mission or purpose statement: "Advance freedom globally by transforming how the U.S. defense and intelligence community buys, builds, delivers, and sustains mission capabilities." ## Products & Services - **[UDS (Unicorn Delivery Service)]**: An open-source, platform-agnostic software delivery platform that enables the packaging, deployment, and management of modern cloud-native applications into air-gapped, edge, and classified environments. It automates security compliance, vulnerability scanning, and continuous ATO (cATO) workflows. - **[Zarf]**: An open-source, air-gap-native software delivery tool that was the company’s first product, designed to simplify deploying containerized applications in disconnected environments. - **Professional Services & Mission Support**: Custom engineering, platform integration, and mission-specific deployment support for DoD agencies and system integrators. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: $1 Billion+ (achieved unicorn status in January 2026) - **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $171.5M across two rounds - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Bain Capital (led Series B of $136M in January 2026), Ansa Capital and Sapphire Ventures (co-led $35M Series A in February 2024) - **Growth Signals**: Headcount of 150+ employees (35.9% YoY growth), 35,000+ LinkedIn followers (42.4% yearly growth), 34 active job postings, and a growing list of DoD and intelligence community clients. ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep domain expertise**: Founded by veterans of Kessel Run and Platform One, the team has firsthand experience building and deploying software within the DoD, giving them unique credibility and insight. - **Open-source, vendor-lock-free philosophy**: Their products (UDS, Zarf) are open-source, ensuring no proprietary vendor lock-in, which is a critical requirement for national security systems. - **Air-gap specialization**: Their core technology is purpose-built for the most challenging deployment environments (disconnected, classified, edge), a niche that few commercial software companies can serve. - **Continuous ATO integration**: Security and compliance are built directly into the software delivery pipeline, dramatically reducing the time to get new capabilities into the hands of warfighters. ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling the platform**: With the $136M Series B, the company is aggressively investing in product development, engineering, and go-to-market teams to expand UDS capabilities and customer reach. - **Expanding mission delivery**: Hiring across multiple "Mission Manager" and "Account Executive" roles focused on specific military branches (Air Force, Army, Navy, Space, USSOCOM), indicating deep vertical integration into each service branch. - **Open-source ecosystem growth**: Continuing to build and nurture the open-source community around UDS and Zarf to drive adoption and create partnership opportunities across the defense software ecosystem. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven culture**: The company operates with a single belief: "a value not lived is not a value at all." Core values include "We Take Extreme Ownership," "We Innovate to Impact," and "We Are MISSION Driven." - **Remote-first environment**: Most roles are fully remote from anywhere in the United States, with support for home office setup. Onsite requirements are clearly noted when needed for mission support. - **Comprehensive benefits**: 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees (shared cost for dependents), company equity options, 401k, life and disability insurance, and generous paid parental leave. - **Generous time off**: Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s. - **Career growth**: Financial support for training, conferences, and professional subscriptions. - **SkillBridge program**: Authorized DoD SkillBridge provider, offering internships and apprenticeships for service members transitioning to civilian careers. - **Engineering-driven**: "Engineer Driven" is a core identity, with a strong emphasis on solving hard technical problems for national security. ## Sources 1. [defenseunicorns.com - About Us](https://defenseunicorns.com/company/) 2. [defenseunicorns.com - The Airgap Software Company](https://defenseunicorns.com/) 3. [defenseunicorns.com - Careers](https://defenseunicorns.com/careers/) 4. [Greenhouse - Jobs at Defense Unicorns](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/defenseunicorns) 5. 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