Senior Software Engineer

About the role

About ExTrac

ExTrac is a decision intelligence company used by governments, defence organisations, financial institutions, and corporates operating in complex, fast-moving environments. Our capabilities fuse curated data sources, domain-specific AI, and deep human expertise to transform information overload into clear, actionable foresight.

Our ambition is to become the analytical backbone that organisations rely on when geopolitical uncertainty becomes an opportunity or a strategic risk. More at extrac.ai.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer based in the Washington DC area to work across ExTrac's backend services and the infrastructure they run on. This is a generalist role by design: one week you might be shipping a Go or Python service, the next hardening a deployment pipeline or Terraform module.

What the job involves

Cloud infrastructure and delivery

Build and maintain ExTrac's AWS infrastructure using infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation), working to the standards and conventions

Deploy, scale, and troubleshoot containerised workloads in production (Docker, Kubernetes, Argo).

Build and improve CI/CD pipelines so features land frequently and safely across multiple environments.

Pick up workstreams from the US infrastructure roadmap and own them through to delivery.

Backend service delivery

Take a well-scoped problem, shape the requirements with your lead, write a technical design, and ship it to production.

Develop and own Go and Python microservices that support data collection, processing, and querying.

Design and maintain APIs used by internal teams and customers.

Contribute to system design and architecture discussions, bringing evidence from what you have built and run.

Reliability, observability, and security

Instrument the services and infrastructure you own (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana) so you know when latency, cost, or reliability are slipping before customers do.

Take part in incident response and post-incident reviews, and turn what you learn into fixes that prevent recurrence.

Implement and maintain infrastructure and application controls that support US compliance frameworks such as FedRAMP and CMMC.

Treat security as an engineering fundamental, and make the case for addressing technical debt rather than living with it.

Comfortable supporting out of hours incidents via an on-call rota.

Working across the US and UK teams

Work closely with the Lead DevOps Engineer on US infrastructure priorities.

Partner directly with the UK backend team through code reviews, design discussions, and shared delivery across time zones.

Work with the analysts and product managers who use and shape our products, turning what they hit in practice into changes in the system.

You should apply if

You are a genuine generalist. You have built and operated production backend services in Go or Python, and you are just as comfortable in a Terraform module, a CI pipeline, or a Kubernetes manifest.

You can own a workstream end to end once the why is clear: you work out the what and the how, flag trade-offs and risks early, and deliver without close supervision.

You treat quality, security, and observability as fundamentals rather than optional extras, and you are interested in the discipline that regulated infrastructure requires.

You communicate clearly in writing and enjoy working in a distributed team, where good documentation and reliable follow-through matter as much as good code.

You want to work on things that matter. Our software sits underneath decisions taken by governments, defence organisations, and institutions operating where being wrong or late carries real consequences.

Where this role can take you

The work follows the problem, so you will build depth across backend services and infrastructure rather than being funnelled into one.

You will be part of our growing US Engineering team, with real influence over how it works as it grows.

Working alongside the Lead DevOps Engineer and the UK team, strong performance means larger areas of ownership, more architectural say, and a path toward a Lead Engineer role in a team or specialism.

ExTrac values IC and management paths equally, taking on reports is not the price of progression.

Requirements

Due to the compliance requirements of the US customers this role supports, applicants must be US nationals who are resident in the United States.

Working pattern - remote working located on the East Coast with the ability to travel to the DC area for the occasional collaborative working session with other East Coast Colleagues.

4+ years of professional software engineering experience across backend development and cloud infrastructure, with experience owning features end to end in production.

Proficiency in building microservices using Go or Python.

Hands-on experience with AWS and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform or CloudFormation).

Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and automating deployment workflows.

Working experience with Docker and Kubernetes in production.

Solid understanding of distributed systems, databases, and software engineering patterns.

Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and observability tools (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana).

Strong communication and collaboration skills, including clear technical writing and comfort working with a team based in the UK.

Able to work with regular overlap with UK hours (e.g. US Eastern mornings).

Desirable

Experience with compliance frameworks such as FedRAMP or CMMC.

Experience with Elasticsearch and PostgreSQL.

Experience operating multi-tenant systems where data isolation is a hard requirement.

Experience working in software for defence, government, or other compliance-constrained environments.

Located in DC, Maryland, Virginia or Pennsylvania US states.

Interview Process

Initial Intro Interview - 30 minutes

Technical Assessment covering codingl and system design skills- 1.5 hours

Competency-based Interview with Hiring Manager - 30 minutes

CTO Interview - 30 Minutes

Benefits

Competitive salary based on skills and experience.

Participation in Employee Stock Options Programme

A generous benefits package, including medical health insurance and 401(k).

$500/year education budget with more expensive items (like conferences) covered with manager approval.

33 days of leave across the year inclusive of national holidays.

A role that combines mission-driven purpose with cutting-edge technology in a fast-growing company.

ExTrac AI provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome people from all backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and abilities.

ExTrac AI is committed to a fair and transparent hiring process. We confirm that this advertisement is for an active, existing open role within our organization. Please be advised that we may use artificial intelligence-driven tools to assist our recruitment team in screening, assessing, and selecting candidates for this position but all hiring decisions will be made by a member of our team.