Staff 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 Staff Engineer to support our customers and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.

About the role:

As a Staff Engineer , you will spearhead initiatives related to developing and implementing end-to-end cluster and application lifecycles, setting the benchmark for security and efficiency. Raft is building a real-time data platform for the Department of Defense (DoD), aimed at enhancing operators' awareness of critical events. Central to this data platform is the aggregation of real-time data from various sensors. This data is ultimately presented as a mission planning and execution UI to empower operators to make time-critical and pertinent decisions. Key technologies include Kafka, Kafka Streams, Pinot, Java, Scala, and Kubernetes. Your involvement in this role will encompass hands-on collaboration with a team of accomplished individuals collectively striving towards excellence.

What we are looking for:

• 6-7 years experience with Kubernetes or Docker, with a proven track record
• Developed supporting tools and infrastructure as code for clustered and distributed application lifecycles
• Worked with clients architecting, developing, and implementing Kubernetes or Docker solutions both in the Cloud and on-premises
• Developed and implemented CI/CD pipelines
• Implement GitOps for Software Delivery
• Five years' experience with Docker and Kubernetes, provisioning production clusters and maintaining their compliance
• Experience with deploying and managing data-intensive platforms using popular streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or Flink
• Solid understanding of Helm Charts, Kubernetes networking technologies (Calico, Cilium, etc.), and related concepts.
• Hands-on operating stateful and data-intensive services in orchestrated environments
• Experience with AWS and/or other cloud computing solutions
• Experience with software packaging, build, and delivery approaches in distributed applications.
• Has experience Kubernetes monitoring (i.e. Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (i.e. Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform, Ansible, etc.)
• Has configured CI/CD pipelines using GitLab Runners
• Obtain Security+ within the first 90 days of employment with Raft

Highly preferred:

• Advanced expertise in writing custom Helm Charts
• Experience using a variety of package managers/dependency managers including Maven, Gradle, NPM, and Yarn
• Knowledge of Istio
• Experience supporting enterprise Cloud applications or infrastructure
• Experience in automation languages like Python or GoLang
• Comfortable provisioning and debugging complex CI/CD pipelines

Salary Range: $150,000.00 - $210,000.00

Clearance Requirements:

• Active Top Secret Clearance

Work Type:

• On customer site in Dulles, VA
• May require up to 25% travel

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
• Annual budget for your tech/gadgets needs
• Remote, hybrid, and flexible work options
• Generous Referral Bonuses
• And More!

Our Vision Statement:

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

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: IAm, BecauseWe 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.