Junior Software Developer

We hire for attitude over experience!
About Lulius Innovation
Lulius Innovation builds software products for Army Aviation and other parts of the military: readiness, training, and records tools that operators, maintainers, and commanders depend on. Our products run under DoD security requirements, deploy from schoolhouses to operational units, and are growing fast, with new capabilities in active development. We're a small, veteran-owned team, and we're hiring a junior software developer to build alongside us.
If you learned or started to program alongside AI, that is not a mark against you. It's how we work. What we do require is that you understand, and own, every line the agent helps you write. You should be able to read a component and know why it re-renders, follow a request through a function API to the database and back, and spot when generated code is wrong, insecure, or quietly solving the wrong problem.
What you'll do
Build features across the full stack: React and Next.js interfaces, Node.js and Express services, and PostgreSQL data models.
Write the code yourself, using AI coding tools to assist with planning, testing, and refactoring, and review every change before it goes up for code review.
Write and maintain tests, fix bugs, and track problems down across the browser, the API, and the database.
Build, run, and debug our products locally in Docker and Docker Compose, the same way they run in the field.
Work in Git with the team's branching, commit, and pull-request practices, and take part in code reviews in both directions.
Write code that holds up under a DoD security posture: input validation, access control, audit trails, and no secrets in the repo.
Learn the military mission well enough to build what operators, maintainers, and commanders actually need.
The stack
Our products are containerized JavaScript from front to back, PostgreSQL, Tailwind and shadcn/ui, Zustand for state, and Highcharts for visualization, all running in Docker on Linux. You don't need all of it on day one. You need enough of the fundamentals that the rest is learnable, and the curiosity to go learn it.
What you bring
Working knowledge of JavaScript​: promises and async/await, modules, closures, and how the event loop shapes a Node.js server.
Hands-on React: components, props and state, hooks, and how rendering works. Next.js experience is a strong plus.
Node.js fundamentals: building REST APIs, handling requests and errors, and managing configuration across environments.
Basic SQL and relational data: you can write a join, read a schema, and reason about a migration before you run it.
Experience using AI coding assistants to support your own work, and the judgment to verify their output instead of trusting it.
Comfort with Git, the command line, Linux, and containers, or a clear willingness to get comfortable fast.
Something you built, with or without AI, that you can walk us through line by line: a GitHub repo, a deployed app, a class project, or work from an internship or bootcamp.
Eligibility for a Government background check and CAC issuance for access to DoD systems.
Military experience would be phenomenal, but it is not required. If you've served, especially in Army Aviation, you already understand the people we build for: how a unit runs, why readiness data has to be right, and what it costs when software gets in the way. That perspective makes you a better developer here from day one. If you haven't served, that's fine too. We'll teach you the mission, and a fresh set of eyes has its own value. Veterans, transitioning service members, Guard and Reserve members are strongly encouraged to apply.
DoD SkillBridge
Lulius is a DoD SkillBridge partner. If you're a service member in your final 180 days of service, you can apply to spend that time training and working with us through SkillBridge (the Career Skills Program for Soldiers), keeping your military pay and benefits while you build real experience on our products. With positions just outside Fort Rucker and in Reno/Tahoe, plus a remote option, many transitioning service members can do it close to where they already are. Talk to your command and transition office about eligibility, then reach out to us to set it up.
How we'll get to know you
In interviews, expect to walk us through something you built: how it works, where AI assisted, and what you had to fix when it got things wrong. We may ask you to extend it live with your own tools. We're looking for understanding and judgment, not memorized syntax.
Location and details
This is a full-time position based in Reno/Tahoe, Nevada, or in Daleville, Alabama, just outside Fort Rucker and close to the Army Aviation schoolhouses and units we build for. Remote is also an option for the right U.S.-based candidate. You'll work with our engineering team in Reno and Huntsville, with occasional travel to Fort Rucker, Redstone Arsenal, and supported units. Lulius Innovation is a veteran-owned small business headquartered in Reno/Tahoe, Nevada, building for Army Aviation and the broader military.
How to apply (bot check: please read)
To defeat bot and auto-generated applicants, we only review candidates who complete their application on our website. LinkedIn Easy Apply submissions without a matching application on our site will not be considered. Apply here, and include your resume, a link to your work, and a few lines on how you use AI in your work and what it has taught you:
https://www.luli.us/#/entry/junior-software-developer-agentic
Do you have a Kick-ass Work Ethic? Apply!

Work arrangement
Yes