Cyber Software Engineer at Actalent
Manassas, VA
$65–$85/hrfrom the description
Jul 14, 2026
Manassas, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A contract role building and maintaining secure software for Department of Defense cyber programs, primarily in C++ and/or Java within containerized, Linux-based environments. Day-to-day work spans designing microservices, managing Kubernetes deployments, analyzing network traffic, and supporting capabilities such as deep packet inspection — all within Agile and DevSecOps workflows. A DoD Secret clearance (or the ability to obtain one) is required, meaning U.S. citizenship is mandatory.
Mid level · Remote · Secret clearance · Contract
“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
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 $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). 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 (10)
The JD requires a Bachelor's degree 'or equivalent relevant experience,' so no hard degree gate is set.
Clearance is gated as 'ability to obtain a DoD Interim Secret Clearance' — classified as Secret since candidates must be eligible and expected to obtain it; U.S. citizenship is explicitly required.
C++ and Java are listed together as 'C++ and/or Java' throughout the required section — emitted as a single must-have requirement with each as an alternative for the other.
CI/CD, gRPC, Boost.Asio, Pcap++, deep packet inspection, network reconnaissance, Agile, DevSecOps, and embedded systems all appear under 'Additional Skills & Qualifications' (the secondary, preferred section) and are marked accordingly.
The posting is listed as a Contract role through Actalent (a staffing firm); the work environment description references DoD cyber programs.
Seniority is assessed as Mid: the JD names no level in the title, states no minimum years, and the required skills (containerization, networking fundamentals, microservices) reflect independent but not senior/lead-level scope.
Per caller instruction, remote=true and no metro is inferred despite the posting's mention of Manassas, VA.
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.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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