Senior Applications EngineerLocation: We prioritize candidates who reside in the Denver, CO metro area (hybrid as needed) but we are open to exceptional remote talent.
Department:EngineeringAbout the RoleAs the
Senior Applications Engineer, you will build containerized ETL applications deployed and orchestrated in Kubernetes. This isn't a one-size-fits-all integration problem: each source system has its own quirks, protocols, and failure modes, and you will figure out reliable extraction strategies and pair it with efficient data translation methods.
Work Model: We prioritize candidates who reside in the Denver, CO (hybrid as needed) but we are open to exceptional remote talent.
- Locals: Onsite as needed for collaborative workspace time.
- Remote: Quarterly travel to hub locations for team syncs and alignment.
Our Performance CultureWe measure performance across two key dimensions:
How you perform your role (Our Core Values) and
What your role entails (Your Execution).
How You'll Work - Our Core ValuesAt Simplesense, we value high-trust autonomy. We look for builders who can comfortably navigate ambiguity and are deeply driven by our shared national security mission.
- People Always - Win as One Team: We foster a culture of psychological safety and mutual support. We operate as an integrated team where we assume noble intent as our default setting, ensuring that even the toughest feedback is rooted in trust. We trade our silos for a shared mission because collective impact always outweighs individual achievement.
- Empathize - Obsess Over the Customer: We don't just solve technical problems; we empathize and advocate for the operators using our products. We look beyond the surface to build what our customers-both internal and external-actually need to succeed, not just what they asked for.
- Focus - Ruthlessly Prioritize with Urgency: We focus on the highest-impact work and ruthlessly say no to distractions. We build resilient systems so that our solutions can repeat and scale under pressure.
- Let's Go - Catalyze the Change You Seek: We don't wait for the industry to change; we drive it. We seek to understand why things are the way they are, but we never use "the way it's always been" as an excuse. We aren't afraid to change course when the data or our mission demands it.
What You'll Do- Build and maintain resilient, containerized NodeJS applications responsible for extracting, translating, and loading operational technology data.
- Interface with legacy and modern building management protocols including BACnet, MQTT, HTTPS (REST), SignalR (WebSockets), and raw TCP client connections.
- Translate disparate data formats into our common data model for storage in Postgres.
- Ensure seamless data flow from our on-premises/edge environments into PostgreSQL and through to cloud-based RDS using logical replication.
- Write exceptionally well-tested code with a heavy emphasis on reliability, automated testing, and clean error recovery.
- Participate in code reviews and collaborate with the team on shared libraries, patterns, and tooling that make it faster and more reliable to onboard new system integrations.
- Support and troubleshoot production ETL applications, including diagnosing connectivity issues with on-prem/legacy OT systems.
- Partner with infrastructure teams to streamline deployments using Kubernetes, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible.
What You'll BringRequired Qualifications:- Experience: 5+ years of software engineering experience with a strong focus on backend data pipelines, ETL architecture, and API integrations.
Technical Skills:- Expert-level proficiency in NodeJS building production applications using async patterns, error handling, testing (unit/integration), and package management.
- Comfort working with multiple communication protocols such as REST APIs, MQTT, WebSockets, and low-level TCP socket programming. BACnet experience is a strong plus.
- Experience with containerization and container image best practices.
- Experience with relational databases (Postgres preferred) and experience designing or working with data pipelines.
- Experience deploying, configuring, and troubleshooting containerized applications in a K8s environment (deployments, services, config maps/secrets, health checks, resource management).
- Experience authoring and maintaining CloudFormation templates for provisioning AWS resources in a repeatable, automated way.
- Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with building management systems (BMS) and industrial control system architectures, including an understanding of how operational technology data is structured, generated, and communicated across these systems.
- Preferred Qualifications:
- Strongly prefer candidates residing in the Denver, CO metro area.
- Prior experience working within DoD, Air Force, Space Force, or fast-paced Federal contractor/dual-use startup environments.
- Relevant technical certifications such as AWS Certified Security - Specialty, GIAC GICSP/GRID, or CISSP.
- Experience with Operational Technology (OT), ICS/SCADA environments, OT/CS security tooling (e.g., Nozomi), automating DISA STIG/NIST 800-53 frameworks, and familiarity with DoD Zero Trust strategy.
What Success Looks Like- 30 Days: You are fully onboarded to our architecture and have shipped a small, well-tested improvement to an existing ETL integration, demonstrating comprehension of our NodeJS patterns and deployment process.
- 60 Days: You have independently built and deployed a new ETL application for an additional system integration, from protocol investigation through Kubernetes deployment, and proposed at least one improvement to our shared tooling or patterns.
- 90 Days: You are a major contributor to our ETL application portfolio, actively shaping architectural decisions about scaling the framework, and have a complete understanding of our CI/CD pipeline. You understand the user problems our pipelines solve, ensuring the data being delivered is accurate, timely, and useful to the teams and tools depending on it.
Compensation and BenefitsPay Range: $134k-$190k per year. Compensation is determined based on experience, skill level, and location. We review ranges regularly to ensure market competitiveness.
Competitive Benefits- Equity
- Medical, Life, Short-Term Disability, and AD&D insurance
- Medical travel coverage
- Dental coverage
- Vision coverage
- 401k matching
Our Typical Hiring Process- Find Your Fit: Your journey starts here. Explore and apply to our open positions to find the right role for your skills.
- Initial Chat: A brief call with our recruiting team to learn about your background and answer your initial questions about Simplesense.
- Values & Vision: A conversation with a hiring manager to discuss how your aspirations align with our mission and goals of the team.
- Show Your Skills: Complete a technical assessment that reflects the work you'd be doing.
- Team Interview: Interview with the team to discuss your experience and see if we're a great match.
- Final Handshake: A final conversation to ensure we've answered all your questions before making a decision.
- Welcome to Simplesense!
