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# Lead Software Engineer

- **Company:** THE JUDGE GROUP, INC.
- **Location:** Reston, VA, United States
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Salary:** $175,000.0 - $185,000.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Algorithmic Trading, Amazon Web Services, Systems Engineering, C++ (Programming Language), Software as a Service, Cloud Computing, Databases, Data Structures, Distributed Data Store, Distributed Systems, Uptime, Enterprise Messaging Systems, Network Architecture, Performance Tuning, Software Engineering, Systems Architecture, Caching, Backend, Solid Principles, Kubernetes, Information Technology, Golang
- **Published:** July 18, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.dice.com/job-detail/acd6138e-2214-42f5-904f-8ac12867e033

## About the Role

* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
 * 5+ years of professional software development experience
 * Strong proficiency in C++ development within production environments
 * Experience building and supporting distributed systems at scale
 * Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and software design principles
 * Experience developing on Linux/Unix platforms
 * Background in backend systems engineering and networked applications
 * Experience with database-backed applications and large-scale system design
 * Proven ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues
 * Strong verbal and written communication skills, * Experience with high-concurrency and low-latency architectures
 * Cloud platform experience (AWS or similar)
 * Containerization and orchestration technologies such as Kubernetes
 * Experience with Go (Golang)
 * Familiarity with distributed databases, caching technologies, and messaging systems
 * Experience influencing architecture and technical standards
 * Demonstrated success mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives, Successful candidates typically bring experience from environments where performance, scalability, uptime, and reliability are critical, including:
 * Large-scale SaaS platforms
 * Cloud infrastructure organizations
 * Financial technology platforms
 * Trading systems
 * Telecommunications
 * Network infrastructure
 * Digital media platforms
 * Gaming infrastructure
 * Data-intensive backend systems

## Description

The Judge Group is seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to join a high-performing engineering organization building large-scale, distributed backend systems that support millions of real-time transactions daily.

This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges involving scalability, performance, reliability, and distributed computing. You will work alongside talented engineers to design, build, and optimize mission-critical platforms operating in high-volume production environments.

The successful candidate will combine deep C++ expertise with strong systems design skills and the ability to mentor engineers while influencing architecture and technical direction.
What You'll Do

 * Design, develop, and maintain high-performance backend applications using C++
 * Lead the design and implementation of distributed systems and scalable services
 * Drive engineering best practices around performance, reliability, maintainability, and observability
 * Collaborate with product, infrastructure, and engineering teams to define technical solutions
 * Participate in architecture reviews and technical decision-making
 * Mentor software engineers and provide technical leadership across projects
 * Troubleshoot complex production issues and drive root cause analysis
 * Optimize system performance, scalability, and availability
 * Contribute to long-term platform strategy and modernization initiatives


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