Federal Associate Developer 2027

Come forge the future like an IBMer

Ready to think boldly, work with some of the world's most recognized brands, and kick-start your career? Welcome to the IBM's Associate Program for university hires.

From day one, you'll collaborate with global clients and contribute to projects that help organizations solve their toughest challenges across digital transformation, cloud strategy, AI adoption, and process redesign - working alongside a global cohort of diverse, ambitious peers. As an Associate, you'll have access to industry-recognized certifications, digital badges, and a minimum of 40 hours of structured learning per year on IBM's AI-driven learning platform - supported by coaches, mentors, and thriving professional communities across practices. IBM's culture of internal mobility means you'll have the freedom to explore new technologies, industries, and career paths as your interests evolve.

Bring your curiosity. Grow your skills. Build what's next -  like an IBMer.

About the Team

In this role, you will join IBM's US Federal team to deliver secure, mission-critical technology solutions for government agencies. You'll work with federal, state, and local clients while developing specialized expertise in government compliance and security standards. This role offers unique career growth in a high-demand sector where your contributions directly impact public services and government missions.

As a Federal Associate Developer 2027 at IBM, you'll work with clients to co-create solutions to major real-world challenges by using best practice technologies, tools, techniques, and products to translate system requirements into the design and development of customized systems.

In your role, you may be responsible for:

• Working across the entire system architecture  to design, develop, and support high quality, scalable products and interfaces for our clients
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand requirements and define technical specifications for generative AI projects
• Employing IBM's Design Thinking to create products that provide a great user experience along with high performance, security, quality, and stability
• Working with a variety of relational databases (SQL, Postgres, DB2, MongoDB), operating systems (Linux, Windows, iOS, Android), and modern UI frameworks (Backbone.js, AngularJS, React, Ember.js, Bootstrap, and JQuery)
• Creating everything from mockups and UI components to algorithms and data structures as you deliver a viable product

These positions are anticipated to start between March and August of 2027.

Candidates must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Federal security clearance while in IBM Consulting-Federal.

To give yourself the best opportunity for success, we advise applying only to roles that align with your skills and experience, rather than applying broadly across all entry-level positions. You’ll receive a status update email for each application, so be sure to check your IBM Careers account regularly — it’s the best way to get a centralized view of which roles you have active applications against.

The below requirements are a guideline. If you have transferable skills we encourage you to apply to this role.

• Demonstrated programming proficiency in 1 of the following (Java, C++, Python, Scala, R, SAS, SQL, Hadoop, HTML, SPSS, VBA, Tableau, Spark, Angular, ReactJS), as well as systems design/development, and information technology course work
• Exposure to web services, API and Java application frameworks such as Springboot 
• Ability to translate business requirements into technical solution 
• Familiarity with generative AI modeling, ethics, and methodologies 
• Familiarity with Microservices architecture, infrastructure concepts and cloud platforms AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, and Google Cloud 
• Willingness to travel up to 100%

• Proficiency in working with Git repositories for version control and collaborative development