Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to all U.S. Citizens. This position may be filled through the Direct Hire Authority for IT Specialist positions. All applicants who meet the qualification requirements will be forwarded to the selecting official for further consideration. Category Rating, Veterans Preference, Schedule A and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

This vacancy announcement will close at 11:59PM Eastern. This is a term position with a Not to exceed 13 months which can be extended up to ten years. Note: there is a full time permanent competitive position being announced at the same time for another position under FSA-2026-0014, if you would like to be considered for both. Applicants must apply for both announcements as they are two different appointment lengths in two different offices.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead the design, build, and improvement of large-scale, cloud-based systems that must be reliable, secure, accessible, and resilient. You’ll collaborate with cross-functional partners to deliver modern software practices, improve system quality, and help transform FSA into a modern digital organization. This role blends the mission of public service with the complexity and scale of major tech platforms. Your job is to make it easier and faster for the team to ship changes safely. If you like untangling complex systems and building the tools and patterns that let teams move faster, this is the role.

This position is in the Department of Education (ED) Federal Student Aid (FSA), As a Principal Software Engineer, GS-2210-15, you will be responsible for

• Designs, develops, tests, and delivers secure, scalable cloud-native information systems across the full system development life cycle, serving as a senior architect and technical leader for technology systems, and managing multiple complex and innovative IT projects supporting student aid.
• Leads the design and delivery of secure, scalable IT and AI solutions by translating technical specifications into programming requirements for diverse stakeholders, using languages like Python, Java, and JavaScript to build and maintain software and cloud infrastructure, applying modern architecture patterns, and managing projects to meet performance, budget, and compliance goals.
• Provides expert technical advice, leadership, and direction on all software delivery and data infrastructure related issues for the improvement of FSA products, platforms, and services. Determines project objectives and sets priorities; anticipates potential threats and opportunities.
• Applies expert-level IT and software engineering knowledge to advise agencies on modern development methodologies, tools, and practices; leads the design and implementation of compliant CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and deployment workflows to drive sustainable modernization and promote the adoption of innovative technologies across government.
• Architects, develops, and maintains software and cloud systems by applying programming expertise and automation practices to enable consistent, auditable deployments, while ensuring IT projects are delivered on budget and in compliance with technical and contractual requirements.
• Plans and executes large-scale IT transformation projects, applying monitoring, telemetry, logging, and service-level objectives (SLOs) to improve reliability in multi-tenant cloud environments, and uses qualitative and quantitative methods to assess and enhance project effectiveness and system performance.
• Ensures responsible use of AI and machine learning by identifying and mitigating risks related to bias, dual use, privacy, and civil rights, while supporting system resilience through incident response, troubleshooting, remediation, and post-incident analysis.
• Creates an inclusive and collaborative work environment that fosters innovation and creative problem-solving; designs and implements agile, human-centered software and systems as a solutions architect, while mentoring engineers and stakeholders, and partnering closely with product, data, security, operations, and vendor teams to deliver mission-driven technology solutions.

Conditions of employment

• You may be subject to serve a one-year probationary period.
• Must be a US Citizen
• Relocation will not be paid.
• Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.
• Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.

This position is in the HQ Washington Office. This position may fall under the Presidential Memorandum titled "Return to In-Person Work" which will require you to go into the office if you are located within 50 miles of a Department of Education facility in these locations: Washington, DC, Dallas, TX, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, Kansas City, MO, Chicago, Il, Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, New York City, NY. Salary range listed is for Lowest step Kanas City, MO and Highest San Francisco, CA. Actual salary will be based on location of selectee. Locality pay tables available at www.opm.gov .

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills, and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience. 

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-15, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the Principal Software Engineer, GS-2210-15
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:

1. Experience serving as a senior technical architect by writing production code, making key architectural decisions, and directing complex IT project work across engineering teams supporting the life cycle for large-scale cloud-based systems.
2. Experience in building or improving deployment pipelines, CI/CD automation, observability, test automation, and deployment reliability of at scale production systems, making programming or software engineering teams more efficient.
3. Experience in translating complex software and system concepts into actionable guidance for non-technical stakeholders and producing technical specifications trusted by software engineering teams.

Basic Experience Requirements

You must possess IT related experience (paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (e.g., IT certification), as appropriate) demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.
1.    Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2.    Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (i.e., any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3.    Oral Communication - Expresses information (e.g., ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (e.g., technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4.    Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1.    Ability to show proficiency with modern software development, testing, automation, and deployment tools, including continuous Improvement/ continuous development (CI/CD) pipelines, Infrastructure-as-Code, and automated testing frameworks.
2.    Skill in applying systems engineering concepts—through practical experience—to ensure performance, scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability of complex, cloud-based applications.
3.    Skill with designing modern software development, testing, automation, and deployment tools, including CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure-as-Code, and automated testing frameworks.
4.    Knowledge of software engineering concepts and the ability to apply them through practical coding, debugging, refactoring, and performance optimization in real-world, production environments.
5.   Ability to use state-of-the-art cloud, data, and security technologies to design, build, test, and deploy resilient services, including hands-on experience implementing modern architectural patterns.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your application and documentation submitted to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will refer the best qualified candidates to the Selecting Official of the job for further review and consideration. You will be evaluated to determine if you meet qualifications required, and on the extent to which your application shows that you possess the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with this position as defined below. Please be sure to give examples in your resume and explain how often you used these skills, the complexity of the knowledge you possessed, the level of people you interacted with, and the complexity and sensitivity of the issues you handled.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above), based on an evaluation of their applications; possessing the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position.

• Your resume should include relevant work experience, applicable education and your contact information. For current or previous federal employees, include the pay plan, series and grade.

You must submit (REQUIRED FOR ALL APPLICANTS):

• A resume demonstrating your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiating your responses to the occupational questionnaire. 

  Please limit your resume to 2 pages with the font size no smaller than 10 points.  If your resume is more than 2 pages, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed and considered for the qualifications determination. 

If you are claiming Veteran's Preference, you must submit: A copy of your DD-214 that shows active service and character of discharge, OR A certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions within 120 days from the date of application (Current Active Duty Members only); AND/OR The Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) AND all documents indicated on the form as proof of type of preference; AND/OR Proof of Sole Survivorship Preference (e.g., certificate of death or 100% disability as a result of serving in the armed forces).

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): Visit the https://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ictap.html  or https://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ctap.html for information on how to apply as a CTAP, or ICTAP eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section.

Next steps

Additional locations