SME Software Engineer at Bridge Core (BCore)
Herndon, VA
$190,000–$225,000from the description
Jul 5, 2026
Herndon, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior full-stack software development role on a government-facing enterprise IT program, building automation capabilities, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code solutions that run both on-premises and in cloud environments. The work spans Java and C# development, modern front-end and back-end frameworks, and DevOps tooling. Suited to a highly experienced developer comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders and working within a cleared government context.
Principal level · 16+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · Bachelor's required · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $158,337 (middle half $126,441–$180,105). 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 (9)
The title 'SME Software Engineer' carries no standard seniority level word, so the title states no level. However, the 16-year minimum experience requirement combined with the expectation of architecting enterprise cloud solutions, interfacing with senior leadership, and establishing CI/CD pipelines supports a Principal-level classification.
The role requires a TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance ('TS/SCI with Poly' is stated in the header), which is the most restrictive clearance gate and will significantly constrain the candidate pool.
React, Node.js, TypeScript, and .NET are listed under Required Qualifications with the framing 'such as', but they appear in a hard-requirements section — the qualifier indicates interchangeability among modern frameworks, not optionality. They are treated as hard gates.
Cloud platform experience (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle) is required; AWS is listed as the primary named option with Azure as the most prominent alternative. All four are captured in alternatives.
Python and PowerShell are listed as required scripting languages with 'preferably Python or PowerShell' — both are named in the required section; Python is the primary with PowerShell as an alternative. PowerShell also appears separately under Desired Qualifications, but its primary appearance is in the required section.
Ansible and PowerShell appear explicitly under Desired Qualifications and are marked as preferred accordingly.
Jira, GitHub, and Jenkins are listed as examples of DevOps tools within the required section ('e.g., Jira, GitHub, Jenkins') — the 'e.g.' signals these are illustrative but the section placement makes DevOps tooling a hard gate; the named tools are captured as required with the understanding that equivalents would be accepted.
The alternative occupation code 15-1244 is noted as a secondary possibility given the infrastructure-as-code and DevSecOps framing, but the primary day-to-day work is clearly software development (full-stack, CI/CD pipeline development, automation), making 15-1252 the clear primary.
Requires a TS/SCI 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.
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