Applications Developer

About the Company

Agency/Client:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

Program:

• Sampling Program Enhancement / GENESIS Modernization

SMX Services & Consulting is seeking two Senior Applications Developers to support the modernization of USDA NASS's mission-critical GENESIS application. GENESIS currently relies on legacy SAS/AF and SCL technologies. The modernization effort will replace the legacy environment with a modern, browser-based user interface and modular service-oriented backend while maintaining the functionality required for NASS's sampling operations.

About the Role

Position Overview

These are hands-on senior development positions. The selected developers will contribute across frontend development, backend services, API development, enterprise integration, data access, automated testing, security, accessibility, and migration from the legacy application.

Location:

• Remote — supporting USDA NASS, Washington, DC

Duration:

• 24-month engagement

Openings:

• 2

Minimum Experience:

• 7 years

Previous USDA/NASS Experience:

• Strong plus

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Applications Developers will:

• Lead development of the modernized GENESIS application.
• Build modern frontend user-interface components.
• Develop backend application services.
• Develop RESTful APIs and modular services.
• Implement sampling parameter-entry capabilities.
• Implement sample-size management and sample-creation workflows.
• Support replication, review, approval, and export functionality.
• Build data-exchange components and enterprise-system connectors.
• Support Sample Master export modernization.
• Integrate with NASS enterprise databases and downstream systems.
• Develop functionality supporting Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server.
• Support modular sampling algorithm services.
• Enable interoperability with statistical tools including R, Python, and SAS.
• Implement robust logging, metrics, debugging, and error handling.
• Develop automated unit and integration testing.
• Support parallel testing against the legacy GENESIS system.
• Help ensure deterministic and reproducible system outputs.
• Implement secure coding practices.
• Support RBAC, authentication, and audit logging.
• Ensure Section 508 accessibility requirements are incorporated into development.
• Participate in peer reviews and coding-standard development.
• Produce technical documentation.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and risk discussions.
• Provide knowledge transfer to NASS personnel.

These responsibilities directly support the SOW's required modernization of the frontend, backend/API architecture, sampling services, integrations, testing, security, documentation, and knowledge transfer.

Qualifications

Required Development Experience

• Minimum 7 years of hands-on software-development experience.
• At least 3 years building and supporting enterprise-scale web applications.
• Experience leading development activities involving at least one of:
• Application modernization
• Cloud migration
• Service-oriented architecture
• Ability to translate business requirements into technical tasks.
• Ability to develop reasonable level-of-effort estimates.
• Strong communication skills for working with statisticians, architects, engineers, and government technical SMEs.

Required Skills

Core Technical Skills

Strong experience is sought in:

• C#
• .NET
• .NET Blazor
• Java and/or Python where applicable
• Modern browser-based application development
• React, Angular, or Vue
• RESTful APIs
• Microservices
• Service-oriented architecture
• Backend orchestration
• Enterprise integration patterns
• Microsoft Azure or comparable cloud platforms
• CI/CD pipelines
• Docker/containerization
• Automated testing frameworks
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Sybase
• ORM/data-access frameworks
• Secure data-access patterns
• RBAC
• Authentication
• Audit logging
• Secure coding practices
• FedRAMP-aligned development practices

C#/.NET Blazor should receive particular attention during recruiting. Section 3 of the SOW explicitly requires replacing the legacy SAS/AF interface with a modern responsive browser-based UI built using C# and .NET Blazor.

Preferred Skills

Preferred Background

Strong candidates may also have experience with:

• USDA or USDA NASS
• Federal application modernization
• SAS/AF or SAS environments
• Statistical/sampling applications
• Legacy application modernization
• Azure
• Highly regulated data environments
• Section 508/WCAG accessibility
• Federal security requirements
• Large enterprise database applications

Pay range and compensation package

Pay Rate:

• $65.47/hour

Equal Opportunity Statement

Security & Eligibility

• Candidates must be U.S. Citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents and be able to satisfy USDA fingerprinting, background investigation, PIV, confidentiality, and security-training requirements.
• The information is unclassified but includes highly sensitive PII.