Software Engineer (SWE), Level 3

Columbia, MD

Software Engineer, Level 3

An active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph is required for this role

👋🏼 Hey!

Bitwise is a leading provider of mission-focused intelligence solutions that advance national security for the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. We're a small and growing company, so you can expect to hop in on the ground floor with us and be a consequential member of the team. You'll be more than a contract performer for us — you'll also be asked for ideas to improve our company and improve your career, and you'll contribute to our team culture. We value growth and community above almost all else, so we gather regularly for game nights, happy hours, tech talks, and plenty more. We think you'll like it here!

Remember, Bitwise is not a cult. 🖖🏼

🎯 What We Look For

Bitwise hires talented engineers who are driven by purpose and who value a culture of technical excellence, growth, and overall wellness. We deliver new and innovative intelligence solutions to our customers at the very forefront of our country's national security missions. And we do it every single day. Our work matters, and so will you.

We ask that every new hire be able to:

Contribute meaningful thought leadership — if not right away, over time
Interact with our customers and earn their confidence in your abilities
Be detailed, even if that means taking a little more time to get it right
Contribute their ideas and ideals to improve all aspects of our company
Allow us to invest in their education so we both grow together
Know and live our core values every single day

💡 About this Role

You will be at the cutting edge of AI-driven software development, building and advancing a production-grade agentic platform designed to power intelligent, autonomous workflows. This isn't a research role — this is hands-on, high-impact engineering work where your code runs in production and the results matter.

You'll work directly alongside cyber analysts to understand their operational challenges and translate those needs into powerful technical solutions. That means designing and building agentic integrations that leverage multiple AI models, APIs, and data sources — and doing it in Python, in production, at scale. You'll develop tools and workflows within modern agentic frameworks like PydanticAI, Langgraph, and DeepAgents, using agentic primitives such as skills, prompts, and subagents to create adaptive, context-aware capabilities.

Beyond the agent work, you'll design and implement real-time analytics pipelines using Apache Kafka for stream processing and Elasticsearch for indexing and querying. You'll maintain and troubleshoot a platform serving real users with real operational needs, integrating diverse data sources and external APIs through MCP tools to enable seamless, scalable system interoperability.

If you want to shape how intelligent agents operate, learn, and deliver impact in complex national security environments — this is that role.

This position is located in Columbia, MD.

📋 Requirements

12 years of software development experience, or 16 years in lieu of a B.S. in a technical discipline
Strong Python proficiency with hands-on experience building and maintaining production applications that serve hundreds to thousands of users
Solid understanding of AI development concepts, including prompt engineering, context management, structured outputs, and tool/function calling
Experience developing resilient, scalable stream processing applications using modern messaging and event-streaming platforms
Experience leveraging AI coding assistants for code generation, refactoring, debugging, and automation
An active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph

🌟 Preferred Skills

Experience with agentic workflows and multi-agent orchestration
Background in cybersecurity or familiarity with security operations workflows
Experience managing deployments in AWS Cloud with Kubernetes
GitLab CI/CD automation
Experience with retrieval systems such as RAG, vector databases, or semantic search
Experience analyzing cybersecurity-related data sets, including network traffic and OS events
Knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems
Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations

🏝️ Benefits at Bitwise

Top salaries because we're top performers
Pick your PTO — Everyone values time and money differently, so we give you the flexibility to choose between 3 and 5 weeks of PTO with a corresponding adjustment to your pay. Your choice, your balance.
All 11 federal holidays, paid!
Up to 2 snow days, paid!
We'll quadruple (4x!) the first 6% you contribute to your 401(k), giving you up to a 24% company match. Contributing less than 6%? Unclaimed matches come right back to you as extra income, giving you a guaranteed 24% that goes to your retirement, to your paycheck, or both. C'mon now! 🚀
100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances. That's a lot. Already covered on health insurance? No problem — we'll trade you this benefit for a boost to your salary instead.
$5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and even student loan repayments.
Spot bonuses for obtained certifications, customer recognition, and just about anything else that makes us go "Hot damn!". We hope to say that many times about you. 🔥

💰 Salary Range

$282,000 – $332,000

This range includes our flex income and depends upon your annual work hours.

Salary is determined on an individual basis following the interview process and considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education, and certifications.

🛎️ What to Expect After Applying

You'll get an email from us right away to acknowledge your application. After that, we'll:

Send over additional company materials for you to review
Schedule a video call to talk about you, our company, and your place in it
Craft a delightful offer package for you and record a video walkthrough
Work closely with you through onboarding. We'll keep it joyful and easy.

ℹ️ Disclaimers

Bitwise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.

Compensation for this position, including all compensation options, will be determined on an individual basis following the interview process.

If you require accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please reach out to us.