Senior Engineering Manager (Java)
Software Engineering, Other Engineering
Remote
USD 135,900-153k / year
Posted on Sep 18, 2026
About Nava
Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.
As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.
Position summary
Nava’s Software Engineering Manager is responsible for the career growth of their direct reports, ensuring reports receive guidance, relevant feedback and are correctly compensated. As a manager at Nava, you are also a technical contributor as either an individual contributor or a technical lead. Although the focus is on technical leadership, the incumbent is also a technical contributor who engages with cross-functional leadership, technical delivery teams, users, and vendors to ensure the successful design, development, and delivery of technology-based solutions in support of Nava’s culture and mission: Be Active Stewards, Pursue the Root Cause, Think Long-Term, Build Together, Inclusion is Essential and Progress Takes Work.
What you'll do
Engineering Management/Technical Leadership
- Writing code and performing code reviews
- Writing and reviewing technical specifications
- Working closely with cross-functional product teams to identify and mitigate technical risks
- Guiding the engineering team on planning, estimation, prioritization, trade-offs, and balancing technical debt and meeting project milestones
- Review architecture and designs from other project teams
- Designing technical roadmaps
- Proposing and enforcing technical architecture
- Maintaining production systems
- Handling on-call duties and systematically debugging and resolving issues when they occur
Contributing to growing Nava’s client portfolio
- Working on business development bids
- Participating in client stakeholder meetings related to growth
- Working with government stakeholders to get buy-in on technical initiatives
- Strategizing with leadership on ways to grow projects
- Attending conferences and networking with potential clients
- Reviewing strategy plans and outlining technical requirements for potential work
Required skills
- At least 10 years of experience working in an agile, multidisciplinary team environment, preferably designing and building medium to large-scale on Cloud platforms
- 1 or more years experience as a People Manager
- Experience designing and implementing production-grade, cloud-native microservices and RESTful APIs using Java, Spring Boot, and containerized deployment patterns
- Experience with using relational databases, preferably Postgres, using JDBC and ORM mappers like Hibernate
- Experience with DevOps, preferably with Jenkins CI/CD
- Experience utilizing AWS cloud native services and data engineering
- Tenacity to dive into problems and iterate on working code
- Highly resourceful, reliable, and detail-oriented
- Ability to think strategically around trade-offs and short-term vs. long term benefits
- An adaptive, empathetic, collaborative, and positive mindset
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, technical and otherwise
- Prior experience working with stakeholders
Compensation
$135,900—$153,000 USD
Other requirements
All roles at Nava require the following:
Legal authorization to work in the United States
Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired
Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future
May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract
Perks working with Nava
Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs
Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost
Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge
Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO
Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus
Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home
Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools
Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through a virtual visit program (depending on available providers)
Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest
401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan
Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities
Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs
Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses
Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills
Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs
Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team
Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable
Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care
Location
We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time.
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Please contact the recruiting team at recruiting@navapbc.com if you would like to request any form of reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.
We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Nava is committed to providing equal employment opportunities without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, gender and/or gender identity or expression, color, creed, religion, religious creed, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran or military status, sex, sexual orientation, reproductive health autonomy, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, genetic information, domestic violence victim status, marital status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nava prohibits any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all employees, applicants, contractors, and temporary workers of Nava.