Software Developer at Aquila Technology
Lexington, MA
—
Jul 22, 2026
Lexington, MA
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A defense-focused software developer role supporting test tooling for satellite payload software and hardware. Working within a small team, the developer will help define software architecture, then design, implement, and test real-time software that interfaces with hardware. The work is primarily onsite and requires strong skills in MATLAB, Python, signal processing, SQL, and XML, with C/C++ as a bonus.
Mid level · 3+ years · Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Posted 3 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $169,742 (middle half $134,780–$187,781).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is titled 'Software Developer' but the described work centers on test tooling development for satellite payload software and hardware — there is a genuine ambiguity between 15-1252 (Software Developers) and 15-1253 (Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers). 15-1252 was chosen as primary because the JD emphasizes designing, implementing, and testing real-time software and defining software architecture, which goes beyond pure QA.
Clearance: the posting's header states 'Must have an Active Secret/Top Secret Clearance to be considered,' making Secret the hard gate. The body later softens this to 'interim clearance is sufficient to start' and calls TS/SCI 'highly preferred' — the header language is treated as the binding gate. TS/SCI is listed under Nice to Have and is not marked required.
The '3 years – Program/Project Management OR Analysis' requirement from the Must Have section is a role-level experience gate and is captured in the overall years minimum (3 years). It names no specific technology and is therefore not emitted as a skill.
Signal Processing (including MATLAB Signal Processing Techniques such as Fourier Transforms and filters) is listed under Must Have with 3 years required; it is captured as a single skill since it is a domain/technique area rather than a named tool.
C/C++ appears only under 'Nice to Have' in both the Must Have/Nice to Have section and the dedicated Nice to Have callout, so it is marked preferred.
The role is 80% onsite near Lexington, MA; remote=false reflects this. The CBSA is Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, the metro encompassing Lexington.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.