Lead Developer

As a Lead Developer, you will provide technical leadership for teams supporting Grants.gov application operations, maintenance, enhancements, forms development, chatbot capabilities, system-to-system integrations, release planning, deployment, testing, documentation, and production support. You will work closely with federal stakeholders, architects, product owners, scrum masters, developers, testers, operations staff, security teams, IV&V partners, helpdesk partners, and modernization teams to design, build, troubleshoot, and deploy reliable, secure, scalable, and user-centered solutions. You will help ensure development activities align with HHS EPLC expectations, security and privacy requirements, application performance needs, and the operational continuity requirements of a public-facing federal shared service.

• Lead application development, maintenance, and enhancement activities for Grants.gov, including web-based capabilities, system-to-system interfaces, forms processing, chatbot-related updates, and operational support features.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership to developers by guiding solution design, coding standards, code reviews, troubleshooting, defect resolution, refactoring, and secure development practices.
• Design, develop, test, and deploy approved application enhancements in accordance with HHS Enterprise Performance Life Cycle expectations and program change management processes.
• Support corrective and preventative maintenance for the Grants.gov application and chatbot to sustain availability, performance, usability, and uninterrupted service through rolling deployment practices.
• Develop and maintain Grants.gov forms and related processing capabilities, including validation, browser compatibility, Section 508 support, XML and PDF generation, and compatibility with current and prior form viewer versions.
• Support S2S technical coordination, including certificate coordination, diagnostics, error log review, interface troubleshooting, and issue resolution for partner organizations.
• Coordinate with operations, database, cloud, security, and application platform teams on deployments, configuration changes, performance tuning, monitoring, incident response, and production support needs.
• Support testing activities, including unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, defect triage, IV&V coordination, release readiness, and validation of production changes.
• Update and maintain technical documentation, development artifacts, system documentation, release notes, online help updates, troubleshooting guides, and other materials needed to operate and maintain the system.
• Analyze production issues, helpdesk escalations, stuck submissions, broken links, performance concerns, and application defects; recommend and implement timely fixes and long-term improvements.
• Partner with architects and modernization teams to identify technical improvements, reduce technical debt, improve maintainability, support cost-efficiency goals, and align legacy Grants.gov capabilities with future-state modernization objectives.
• Communicate technical status, risks, design considerations, alternatives, and recommendations clearly to technical teams, federal stakeholders, and non-technical audiences.

• Bachelor’s degree. Additional Four (4) years of exp needed in lieu of degree.
• 8+ years of experience in software development, application maintenance, systems integration, or technology modernization, including experience leading development teams or workstreams.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, testing, deploying, and maintaining enterprise applications in complex, mission-critical environments.
• Experience supporting application operations and maintenance, defect resolution, release planning, deployment coordination, performance tuning, and production support.
• Experience developing or supporting web applications, APIs, system-to-system integrations, data exchanges, forms processing, workflow capabilities, or user management functions.
• Working knowledge of secure software development, application lifecycle management, configuration management, quality assurance, DevSecOps practices, and change management processes.
• Ability to coordinate effectively with architects, product owners, scrum masters, developers, testers, operations teams, security teams, federal stakeholders, IV&V partners, helpdesk partners, and other contractors.
• Strong understanding of:
• Application design, coding standards, code reviews, refactoring, and maintainability
• Web application development, APIs, integrations, data exchange, and interface troubleshooting
• Unit, integration, regression, performance, accessibility, and security testing practices
• Release readiness, deployment planning, defect triage, incident response, and production support
• Technical documentation, system documentation, release notes, and operational knowledge transfer
• Experience using development and collaboration tools such as Git, Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, CI/CD tools, or similar platforms.
• Excellent technical communication, problem-solving, mentoring, and stakeholder coordination skills with the ability to explain complex technical issues to executive, federal, technical, and non-technical audiences.
• Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal or DoD “PUBLIC TRUST”; candidates must obtain approved adjudication of their PUBLIC TRUST prior to onboarding with Guidehouse. Candidates with an ACTIVE PUBLIC TRUST or SUITABILITY are preferred.

What Would Be Nice To Have:

• Experience supporting federal grants management systems, shared service platforms, or large public-facing government applications.
• Experience with HHS, ACF, CMS, HRSA, NIH, or other federal grant-making agencies.
• Knowledge of HHS Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC), federal IT governance, security documentation, ATO support, and compliance-driven development environments.
• Experience with FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST 800-53, POA&M management, incident response, security monitoring, vulnerability remediation, or other federal cybersecurity requirements from an application delivery perspective.
• Experience with Grants.gov-like capabilities, including funding opportunity posting, applicant registration, application submission, grantor user management, S2S integrations, form development, XML/PDF generation, SAM imports, or stuck submission troubleshooting.
• Experience supporting chatbot, AI-enabled customer support, website updates, broken link remediation, helpdesk escalation workflows, or public-facing user support capabilities.
• Experience supporting modernization, consolidation, transition-in, or multi-vendor integration initiatives involving multiple applications and stakeholder organizations.
• Relevant certifications such as: AWS Certified Developer, AWS Solutions Architect, or equivalent cloud certification; Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) or equivalent secure development certification; SAFe Practitioner, SAFe DevOps, or Agile software delivery certification; ITIL, Security+, or other relevant federal IT, cybersecurity, or service management certification.

Pulled from the full job description Referral program Tuition reimbursement AD&D insurance Parental leave 401(k) Health insurance Vision insurance, The annual salary range for this position is $113,000.00-$188,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.

What We Offer:

Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.

Benefits include:

• Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
• Parental Leave
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Group Term Life and Travel Assistance
• Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance
• Health Savings Account, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development, Certifications & Learning Opportunities
• Employee Referral Program
• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
• Care.com annual membership
• Employee Assistance Program
• Supplemental Benefits via Corestream (Critical Care, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Assistance and ID theft protection, etc.)
• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity Employer-Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation.

Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco.