Senior / Principal Model and Simulation Engineer

About Vantage Compute Vantage Compute is redefining code translation for mission-critical industries, helping defense partners move more quickly and reliably from algorithm to silicon. Our platform accelerates deployment of DSP, RF, communications, and embedded signal processing algorithms onto heterogeneous compute targets, including GPUs, FPGAs, ASICs, and edge SoCs. We also support automotive, aerospace, and semiconductor partners deploying complex algorithms onto constrained hardware with speed and rigor. About the Role: Help redefine how the DoD makes multi-billion-dollar force-design decisions. In this role, you’ll turn operational questions into extensible mission- and campaign-level simulations for our next-generation wargaming platforms. You’ll develop simulation frameworks, platform and effects models, scenario infrastructure, and evaluation workflows that allow defense users to explore force-design choices before making consequential real-world decisions. This is a deeply hands-on software-engineering role: you’ll spend most of your time designing, writing, reviewing, and shipping production C++ and Python. We’re seeking an experienced engineer who can own important parts of a cloud-distributed simulation environment, work directly with government users, and lead through technical execution. What You’ll Do: Design and implement mission- and campaign-level simulation capabilities in modern C++ and Python. Build and extend event-driven, discrete-event, agent-based, and constructive simulation frameworks. Own core framework functionality including event scheduling, simulation time, state transitions, platform abstractions, scenario execution, data collection, and deterministic replay. Develop models for platforms, sensors, weapons, communications, electronic warfare, jamming, command and control, logistics, and environmental effects. Extend AFSIM and comparable simulation environments through C++ plugins, framework services, SDK integrations, new platform types, and reusable model interfaces. Translate operational concepts, system specifications, and subject-matter expertise into maintainable software models with explicit assumptions and testable behavior. Modernize legacy campaign and mission-analysis tools and integrate them into a coherent simulation architecture. Build scenario-generation, Monte Carlo, sensitivity-analysis, campaign-execution, and evaluation workflows. Scale simulations across developer workstations, on-premises infrastructure, and cloud compute while preserving reproducibility and model provenance. Connect constructive simulations with distributed, operational, hardware-in-the-loop, or human-in-the-loop environments where appropriate. Establish verification and validation practices, reference scenarios, regression suites, and quantitative measures of model credibility. Work directly with government, Air Force, and broader DoD stakeholders to understand acquisition questions and deliver usable capabilities quickly. Collaborate with physics, backend, geospatial, AI, and product teams to integrate the simulation kernel into a larger interactive platform. Lead design and code reviews, mentor teammates, and improve architecture, documentation, testing, and release practices. Why Vantage Compute? Mission with impact: Build the models used to evaluate systems, explore operational concepts, and inform major force-design and acquisition decisions. Multidisciplinary engineering: Work across simulation, physics, software architecture, AI, geospatial systems, and defense operations. Velocity: Prototype quickly, iterate with users, and deliver meaningful capability in weeks rather than years. Ownership: Senior engineers own important systems from initial design through deployment and customer use. What We’re Looking For: Required Qualifications Five or more years of professional software-development experience building simulation, autonomy, robotics, game-engine, digital-twin, or similarly complex systems. Strong production experience in modern C++, with proficiency in Python for tooling, orchestration, analysis, or automation. Hands-on experience developing or extending a simulation framework—not only configuring simulation tools or analyzing their output. Experience with event-driven, discrete-event, agent-based, constructive, or distributed simulation architectures. Demonstrated ability to represent complex real-world entities, interactions, rules, and edge cases as clear software abstractions. Experience building plugins, SDKs, reusable model interfaces, framework services, platform types, or similar extension mechanisms. Strong understanding of software architecture, data structures, algorithms, APIs, testing, debugging, and performance engineering. Experience making substantial changes within a large existing codebase while maintaining ongoing delivery. Experience with model verification, validation, calibration, or regression testing. Ability to turn ambiguous operational or technical requirements