Software Developer VI at General Atomics
Boulder, CO
$128,130–$229,358from the description
Jun 29, 2026
Boulder, CO
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior C++ software developer role focused on building infrastructure and services for remotely piloted aircraft systems. Day-to-day work spans the full development lifecycle — writing multi-threaded, socket-based applications on Linux, unit and integration testing, and documentation. The role suits a deeply experienced engineer, with embedded systems or FPGA/SoC background considered a plus, working fully onsite in Boulder, Colorado.
Senior level · 12+ years · Boulder, CO · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Staff, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $168,179 (middle half $132,051–$211,194). This posting is about at that midpoint.
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 (8)
The posting title is 'Staff Software Developer' but the experience level label says 'Senior (8+ years)' and the minimum experience requirement is 12 years with a bachelor's degree. The actual scope and requirements align with a Senior band; 'Staff' in this context appears to be a job-grade label at GA-ASI rather than a cross-team technical leadership role, so seniority is assessed as Senior.
The Secret clearance is listed as 'Desired' rather than hard-required, but the posting also states 'Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Security Clearance is required' — the ability to obtain is a hard gate; an active clearance is desired. Clearance is set to Secret accordingly.
Degree requirement is set to None because the JD explicitly states 'May substitute equivalent experience in lieu of education.'
The minimum experience figure of 12 years reflects the bachelor's-degree track (the most common path); the JD also accepts 10 years with a master's or 7 years with a PhD.
All desired/preferred skills (GitLab, Git, Bash, Python, embedded SW, SoC, ZYNQ, Xilinx SDK, PetaLinux, hardware interfaces, bootloader) appear under the explicit 'Desired skills' heading.
GitLab and Git are listed together as SCM tools; they are interchangeable for this requirement and are captured as alternatives of each other. Bash and Python are similarly listed as interchangeable scripting language options.
Ignored 3 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): TCP/UDP socket programming, embedded software development, SPI/I2C/UART/Ethernet interfaces.
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
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