below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays less than
63%
of similar roles. Most pay
$174,600–$214,525
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$188k
versus about
$195k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About General Dynamics
General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company offering a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation, ship construction, land combat vehicles, and information technology. It serves customers in the U.S. government, allied governments, and a diverse array of commercial markets.
General Dynamics currently has
1161 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$124,397–$153,102
across 1008 roles with salary data.
The Senior Principal Software Engineer joins the engineering team to provide technical leadership and ownership of the full software development lifecycle. This role involves taking software from R&D prototypes to production-quality products, specifically focusing on C2, device management, or platform control software for proprietary hardware. Key responsibilities include designing software interfaces for FPGA-based systems, managing stateful system designs like state machines and fault handling, and building CI/CD pipelines. The candidate will utilize technologies including Kubernetes, Helm charts, Docker, Podman, and Linux-based embedded software development. Core competencies include API design, service-oriented architecture, and hardware-software co-design workflows. The work involves solving complex technical problems related to optical, RF, or communication system modem hardware while driving software platform reuse across multiple programs and product lines.
What does a Software Engineer earn in Maryland?
Median $170000 from 57 postings across 11 companies.
Own the full software development lifecycle from prototype and R&D to production-quality delivery.
Provide technical leadership to software engineers and mentor them into long-term subject matter experts.
Develop C2, device management, or platform control software for custom and proprietary hardware.
Design software interfaces for FPGA-based systems and bespoke embedded hardware.
Architect stateful systems including state machines, operational sequencing, and fault handling.
Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and manage Kubernetes operations using Helm charts.
Implement enterprise software design principles such as API design and service-oriented architecture.
Develop embedded software within a Linux environment.
What we're looking for
U.S. citizenship is required.
Ability to obtain a Department of Defense TS/SCI security clearance is required.
Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering or a related STEM field plus 10 years of relevant experience is required.
Master's degree plus 8 years of relevant experience is required.
Demonstrated ownership of the full software development lifecycle (preferred).
Proven technical leadership of software engineers (preferred).
Track record of taking software from prototype/R&D maturity to production-quality, maintainable, deliverable products (preferred).
Strong grounding in software engineering best practices including testing, version control, design review, documentation, and technical debt management (preferred).
Java
Go
Python
C++
Distributed Systems
Software Architecture
Databases
Operating Systems
Data Structures
Algorithms
AI
ML
Cloud Infrastructure
Performance Tuning
Debugging
Agentic AI
Cloud Native
System Design
API
Event-driven Systems
Identity and Access Management
Platform Engineering
Automation
Security
Resiliency
Testing
Refactoring
Certificate Management