Senior Engineer

This is a U.S. based position. All of the programs we support require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment. All work must be conducted within the continental U.S.

Who we are:

Raft ( is a customer-obsessed non-traditional defense tech company dedicated to empowering U.S. military and government agencies with cutting-edge AI/ML and data solutions. We are a leader in autonomous data fusion and Agentic AI, with a purposeful focus on Distributed Data Systems, Platforms at Scale, and Complex Application Development. With headquarters in McLean, VA, our range of clients includes innovative federal and public agencies leveraging design thinking, cutting-edge tech stack, and cloud-native ecosystem. We build digital solutions that impact the lives of millions of Americans.

We’re looking for an experienced Senior DevSecOps Engineer to support our development efforts and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers. This is a unique opportunity to help build a new software factory in the federal ecosystem and shape a game-changing organization where we put our customers and people first.

About the role:

As a member of the Raft team, you will work to establish a software factory platform using agile development practices. We will leverage GitOps processes to deploy a DevSecOps platform for different developer teams to push their software into production within the federal sector. Our framework will leverage open source and Cloud Native Computing Foundation Kubernetes framework to provide a lightweight, vendor agnostic system.

What you will do

• Develop Infrastructure as Code and Configuration as Code using GitCI
• Leverage AWS cloud infrastructure experience
• Create Helm charts and deploy to EKS
• Develop quick bash/Python/Perl/go scripts
• Eagerly look for opportunities to automate
• Integrate services with Kubernetes, and other third-party systems
• Learn new tools by building upon experience in foundational knowledge
• Use logs to pinpoint where issues are in the code
• Find an itch and contribute back to open source
• Be an active member in in daily scrum meetings, bi-weekly sprint planning, and quarterly milestone planning, and as-needed pairing sessions

What we are looking for:

• A passionate problem solver with demonstrated knowledge of DevSecOps principles, plus demonstrated knowledge in the following:
• Our senior level positions typically have 4-5+ years of industry experience
• 3-5 years of experience with Kubernetes, including EKS and other containerization tools such as Docker
• Knowledge of Istio, Custom Kubernetes Operators, Custom Helm charts, Custom Admission Controllers, Custom CRDs, or Custom Controllers
• 2+ years of experience building, operating and maintaining compliant computing environments in Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Azure and using terraform / helm for deployments.
• Know your way around Golang to develop cloud-based or server-side solutions
• Proficiency in basic programming languages such as Python to develop scripts, debug, and solve problems.
• Previous experience building CI/CD pipelines for use in a production, dev, and testing environment
• Previous experience with configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, or Ansible.
• Previous experience building and managing containers using technologies such as Docker
• Familiarization with DevSecOps tasks such as container security, hardening, baselining, and CI/CD
• Work as a DevSecOps Engineer focusing on problems at Scale involving Kubernetes
• Working knowledge to debug cluster-based computing architectures
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in CS, CE, or related field
  Required Certifications:
• CISM, CISSP, CISA, CCISO, CCNP Security, GLSC, or Security X
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

Highly preferred:

• Previous experience with DoD’s Platform One, Big Bang, and/or Iron Bank
• Ability to develop custom Kubernetes Operators

Clearance Requirements:

• Active Secret security clearance

Salary Range: $140,000-$180,000

Work Type:

• Remote with a preference for candidates based in Hawaii, DMV/NCR, Tampa, FL or Hanscom AFB, MA
• Foreign and domestic travel up to 35% to customer sites

What we will offer you:

• Highly competitive salary
• Fully covered healthcare, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) and company match
• Take as you need PTO + 11 paid holidays
• Education & training benefits
• Generous Referral Bonuses
• And More!

Our Vision Statement:

We bridge the gap between humans and data through radical transparency and our obsession with the mission.

Our Customer Obsession:

We will approach every deliverable like it's a product. We will adopt a customer-obsessed mentality. As we grow, and our footprint becomes larger, teams and employees will treat each other not only as teammates but customers. We must live the customer-obsessed mindset, always. This will help us scale and it will translate to the interactions that our Rafters have with their clients and other product teams that they integrate with. Our culture will enable our success and set us apart from other companies.

How do we get there?

Public-sector modernization is critical for us to live in a better world. We, at Raft, want to innovate and solve complex problems. And, if we are successful, our generation and the ones that follow us will live in a delightful, efficient, and accessible world where out-of-box thinking, and collaboration is a norm.

Raft’s core philosophy is Ubuntu: I Am, Because We are . We support our “nadi” by elevating the other Rafters. We work as a hyper collaborative team where each team member brings a unique perspective, adding value that did not exist before. People make Raft special. We celebrate each other and our cognitive and cultural diversity. We are devoted to our practice of innovation and collaboration.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.