Principal Software Engineer - Factory Platforms

Job Description

Job Description

Union Technologies is reindustrializing America’s defense manufacturing base with a first-of-its-kind Factories-as-a-Stockpile™ model, integrating advanced robotics, manufacturing, and software into sovereign factory systems at scale. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, UNION is dedicated to restoring America’s industrial strength and guaranteeing deterrence for the century ahead.

We recently emerged from stealth with $50M in funding led by top-tier venture investors and strategic partners. Read more in our Press Release

Location: Dallas, TX · Hybrid 3-days-on-site • Relocation assistance available

Clearance: Eligible for DoD Secret (we will sponsor) • U.S. Person per ITAR

About Us:

We are a venture-backed defense-tech manufacturer building the next-generation domestic artillery production line. Our first factory launches in 2026 and will operate on a custom Factory Operating System that unifies planning, real-time machine data, quality, inventory, and traceability, built to CMMC Level 3 standards. You'll join a seasoned founding team (ex-Tesla, Anduril) with a clear mission: restore American industrial capacity and give our servicemembers a decisive edge.

Why This Role Exists:

We've validated our pilot manufacturing execution system (MES) and are now hiring a principal engineer to lead system architecture, help build and mentor the engineering team, and deliver robust, production-grade software that runs 24/7 on the factory floor. You'll report directly to the Head of Software Engineering (co-founder) and serve as the technical north star for the software organization.

What You'll Do:

- Architect the Factory OS core – design scalable, event-driven services using Go, Kafka, and Kubernetes; ingest and integrate with real-time data from PLCs via OPC UA and similar protocols.

- Write production code daily – remain roughly 60% hands-on; set high standards for code quality, testing, and CI/CD.

- Drive technical roadmapping – decompose roadmap epics, define non-functional requirements (availability, traceability, cybersecurity), and guide sequencing and prioritization.

- Mentor and unblock engineers – conduct reviews, pair program, and share deep experience across manufacturing and distributed systems.

- Partner cross-functionally – work closely with Manufacturing, Controls, and QA to model workflows, machine state transitions, part genealogy, and statistical process control (SPC) data.

- Champion security and compliance – design systems that meet CMMC Level 3 and ITAR constraints, including authentication, privileged access control, tamper-evident logging, FIPS-validated crypto, segmentation of data and control planes, and CI/CD attestation.

- Prototype user interfaces – collaborate with and guide the front-end team to build intuitive operator UIs using HTMX, Wails, or React, targeting tablets, overhead displays, and workstation monitors.

- Design for scale – plan multi-factory deployment, high-availability database clusters, and GitOps-based Kubernetes environments.

- Evaluate and integrate third-party tools – assess vendors for machine connectivity, barcode/RFID, and MES capabilities; define and enforce technical requirements.

The Stack You'll Work With:

- Backend: Go, gRPC, Protocol Buffers, pub/sub (Kafka, RabbitMQ), Avro, schema registries, service versioning, authentication systems

- Data & Storage: PostgreSQL, graph databases (e.g., Neo4j), object storage (MinIO, S3-compatible), search indexing (Elasticsearch, Solr)

- DevOps: Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, Istio, Rancher, GitHub Actions, Linux systems, Docker and VM-based deployments, image registries (e.g., Harbor), CI/CD pipelines, testing environments

- Edge I/O: OPC UA, MTConnect, MQTT, industrial PLC drivers

- Frontend: HTMX with Go templates, React (TypeScript), Tailwind CSS, WebSockets, UI/UX tooling

- Observability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus/Grafana, Loki

- Security: HashiCorp Vault, Mozilla SOPS, FIPS 140-3 cryptographic modules, TLS, OAuth2, MFA

Required Qualifications:

- 10+ years of professional software development experience, with 3+ years in a Staff or Principal Engineer role on production systems.

- Proven leadership and ownership of a mission-critical, high-throughput distributed system (e.g., manufacturing, industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, or finance).

- Expertise in Go or a statically typed systems language (Rust, C++, Java), and a willingness to adopt Go.

- Deep understanding of event streaming systems (Kafka, Pulsar) and data modeling for complex real-world processes.

- Hands-on experience operating and debugging Kubernetes clusters in production.

- Strong security mindset; familiarity with frameworks such as FedRAMP, CMMC, or NIST 800-171.

- Comfortable working in a hardware-integrated environment, including time on the shop floor.

- U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency; ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

- MES/MOM or SCADA integration background

- Experience with graph databases (e.g., Neo4j) for product genealogy or BOMs

- Familiarity with real-time analytics platforms (e.g., Apache Flink, Materialize)

- Prior work in defense, aerospace, or highly regulated manufacturing (e.g., AS9100, ISO 13485)

- Contributions to open-source Go or CNC/automation projects

- Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code security (e.g., Terraform Sentinel, Open Policy Agent)

- Proficiency in React (TypeScript) and UI/UX tooling (e.g., Figma, Storybook)

- Experience with ETL pipelines and database migrations

- Familiarity with CI pipelines for secure, air-gapped, or regulated deployment environments

What Success Looks Like After 12 Months:

- Factory OS deployed to the shop floor, actively processing thousands of machine events per second, and with uptime exceeding 99.95%.

- Traceability chain throughout product lifecycle, queryable in seconds.

- Coding standards, design docs, and mentorship systems resulting in doubled productive output from the team.

- Engineering team productivity has significantly increased, enabled by your mentorship, architectural clarity, and technical standards.

- CMMC Level 3 gap assessment passed with minimal software-related findings and a clear roadmap to close remaining gaps.

- A multi-factory deployment plan and predictive digital twin roadmap are approved by company leadership.

Join us in transforming the future of manufacturing.

Compensation Range: $175K - $262K