---
title: 'Software Engineer at CoVar'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-covar-durham-e0xnxda82mcn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Software Engineer at CoVar

- **Company:** CoVar
- **Location:** Durham, NC
- **Posted:** 2026-06-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/covar/jobs/5175407007

## Job description

Software Engineer

## About CoVar

CoVar is a small, mission-driven AI/ML R&D software company based in Durham, NC and McLean, VA. We build advanced software and machine learning systems that help the Department of Defense detect threats in high-stakes environments and enable biomedical researchers to accelerate discoveries that save lives. Our team is composed of curious, passionate engineers who care deeply about using AI to solve real-world problems that matter.

## About this position

We are looking for a motivated, detail-oriented Software Engineer who thrives in an environment where reading, understanding, and improving complex codebases is just as important as writing new code. In this role, you will develop and maintain real-time, computationally intensive applications involving data processing, real-time communications, and machine-learning algorithm integration.

You’ll work closely with a team of ML engineers and software developers, contribute to system architecture and performance optimization, and help ensure our tools are robust, efficient, and production ready. You will have the opportunity to work on meaningful, high-impact projects in a close-knit engineering team. If you enjoy building systems end-to-end, optimizing performance, and understanding how software interacts with hardware at a deep level, you’ll fit right in.

Important Note:

This is a software engineering role and not a prompt engineering role. Candidates with strong LLM prompting skills but limited understanding of software engineering fundamentals will not be successful here.

## Minimum qualifications

- B.S. in Computer Science or related field, preferably M.S., Ph.D, and/or 3+ years of experience
- Expertise in Python with a minimum of two years of demonstrated hands-on professional development experience and exposure to scientific/computational libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch, etc.
- Experience developing real-time, computationally-focused applications
- Working knowledge of SQL and experience with one or more of MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite
- Strong fundamental understanding of computing hardware architectures and how they influence software architectural decisions
- Experience with software development processes, including version control, documentation, testing, and code review
- Excellent technical communication skills and a customer-service mindset
- Ability to work in Durham, NC (relocation assistance available)
- Eligibility for US security clearance (US citizenship is required)

## Preferred qualifications

- Linux application development
- Experience with embedded systems or deploying AI/ML solutions on edge hardware (highly desirable)
- Familiarity with real-time systems, edge hardware optimization, and performance profiling
- Experience with signal processing, pattern recognition, image processing, and/or machine learning techniques
- Prior Department of Defense project experience

## Benefits

- Competitive salary, cash bonus, equity structure, and 401k with employer contributions
- Excellent health care coverage, including dental and vision plans
- Parental leave
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Flexible work schedule
- Tuition support
- PTO and paid holidays

Visit us: www.covar.com

## About CoVar

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: CoVar is a small AI/ML R&D software company that creates customized algorithms and decision-support tools for defense, healthcare, and industrial applications.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped; no public funding rounds disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Durham, North Carolina, United States (with additional office in McLean, Virginia)
- **Founded**: 2011
- **Founders**: Mark Hibbard and Martin Milner; expanded through acquisition of New Folder Consulting (2013) with Dr. Peter Torrione and Dr. Kenneth D. Morton, Jr. as chief technologists.

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Defense & Space, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Aided Target Recognition
- **Target customers**: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), biomedical researchers, industrial operators (B2G/B2B)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Deliver more than cutting-edge technology – a one-of-a-kind company that delivers unique smart sensing and automation solutions to our clients.”

## Products & Services
For each major offering:
- **ODIN**: AI-powered decision support tool that turns battlefield data into real-time, actionable insight on friendly forces, adversary activity, ISR coverage, and mission progress.
- **ACES**: Multi-tiered automatic target recognition (ATR) software with patented algorithms for detecting tiny unresolved distant targets, mid-range objects, and providing targeting information.
- **BullsEye**: Software architecture that decouples mission capability from specific airframes and payloads, enabling rapid AI-powered ISR upgrades via software updates.
- **ATLAS (Advanced Targeting & Lethality Aided System)**: Custom machine learning algorithms for detecting threats in infrared and RGB imagery at extreme distances, developed for the U.S. Army.
- **Custom AI/ML Solutions**: Tailored algorithms for defense, healthcare (e.g., disease cure discovery), and industrial monitoring (e.g., machinery to prevent injuries and environmental catastrophes).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (privately held)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not disclosed; revenue not publicly available. Notable contract: Direct-to-Phase II SBIR from the U.S. Air Force and a DARPA contract for Predictive Psychological Architectures for Decision-Making (PPADM) program (announced April 2026).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external investors reported. Key partners include DARPA, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and biomedical research institutions.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 25.8% YoY (26 employees as of mid-2026); LinkedIn followers increased 71% year-over-year; active job postings grew 50% quarterly; DARPA and SBIR contract wins signal expanding government trust.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Specific moats or differentiators**: Over a decade of experience in custom AI/ML for defense; patented algorithms for aided target recognition at extreme distances; ability to decouple software from hardware (BullsEye); deep relationships with DoD and DARPA; small, agile team with high technical expertise (51% of staff in technical roles).

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities and direction for growth**: Continue expanding AI/ML solutions for defense (especially real-time battlefield decision support and autonomous target recognition), while growing healthcare and industrial monitoring applications. Emphasis on software-driven upgrades over hardware replacement.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Small, tight-knit team of engineers and scientists; values integrity, creativity, dependability, and diversity; passionate about solving serious problems with cutting-edge technology.
- **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: Flexible work schedule; likely on-site/hybrid given defense contracts (offices in Durham, NC and McLean, VA).
- **Notable perks or engineering culture**: Competitive salary, cash bonus, equity structure, 401k with employer contributions; excellent health/dental/vision plans; opportunity to work on high-impact national security and biomedical projects; constant experimentation and prototyping at the edge of AI/ML.

## Sources
1. [covar.com](https://covar.com/) – Homepage and technology areas
2. [covar.com/about-us](https://covar.com/about-us/) – About Us (history, values)
3. [covar.com/careers-local](https://covar.com/careers-local/) – Careers page (benefits, culture)
4. [linkedin.com/company/covar-llc](https://www.linkedin.com/company/covar-llc) – Company details, workforce, growth
5. [theorg.com/org/covar](https://theorg.com/org/covar) – Org chart, team structure

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