Principal Platform Engineer

Principal Platform Engineer

Clarity Innovations is a trusted national security partner, dedicated to safeguarding our nation's interests and delivering innovative solutions that empower the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense (DoD) to transform data into actionable intelligence, ensuring mission success in an evolving world.

Our mission-first software and data engineering platform modernizes data operations, utilizing advanced workflows, CI/CD, and secure DevSecOps practices. We focus on challenges in Information Warfare, Cyber Operations, Operational Security, and Data Structuring, enabling end-to-end solutions that drive operational impact.

We are committed to delivering cutting-edge tools and capabilities that address the most complex national security challenges, empowering our partners to stay ahead of emerging threats and ensuring the success of their critical missions. At Clarity, we are people-focused and set on being a destination employer for top talent, offering an environment where innovation thrives, careers grow, and individuals are valued. Join us as we continue to lead innovation and tackle the most pressing challenges in national security.

Location: On-site Herndon / Hybrid / Remote with travel to edge locations

Overview:

We are seeking a Platform Engineer to lead the implementation, optimization, and maintenance of IT systems. This role encompasses technical expertise in systems engineering, infrastructure engineering, hardware setup, installation, configuration, and secure network integration. The ideal candidate will bring expertise in systems lifecycle management, cybersecurity, performance tuning, and cross-functional collaboration in support of mission-critical environments.

Position Description:

As a Platform Engineer you will build and maintain the infrastructure powering our edge computing environments. This role focuses on deploying, automating, and scaling distributed infrastructure at remote edge locations, ensuring reliable performance close to end users and devices.

You will collaborate with software engineers, operations, and security teams to create resilient, low-latency platforms that support applications running at the edge. The position requires expertise in on-premises hardware setup/install/configuration, secure network integration, container orchestration, automation, and observability for distributed systems.

This position will work closely with a platform engineering team at the forefront of prototyping infrastructure designs to support the next generation of cyber network operations. In this role, you will contribute to engineering leadership and systems design of elegant solutions to pressing operational challenges. You will contribute to developing a platform that simplifies complex infrastructure management across cloud-native and on-premises environments. The role presents unique opportunities, such as regular customer interaction to iterate, streamline, and multiply platform capabilities to meet customer objectives of broad deployment and exceptional flexibility.

Responsibilities:

• Automate edge provisioning and configuration using tools like Ansible, Terraform, or custom deployment pipelines.
• Develop scripts and automation tools to enhance system management, provisioning, and deployment tasks.
• Implement monitoring and observability for distributed edge clusters to ensure uptime, performance, and security.
• Monitor system performance and capacity metrics; analyze logs and trends to anticipate and resolve system issues proactively.
• Lead incident response, root cause analysis, and long-term remediation efforts for complex system or infrastructure issues.
• Work with developers to optimize workloads for deployment at edge locations (e.g., containerized applications, AI/ML inference).
• Build CI/CD pipelines for remote software updates and over-the-air deployments to edge nodes.
• Ensure infrastructure resilience and redundancy, including failover and disaster recovery at edge sites.
• Optimize resource usage to handle power, cooling, and bandwidth constraints common in edge environments.
• Support secure remote management and compliance for distributed systems.
• Manage system security, access controls, and user permissions across diverse platforms, ensuring compliance with cybersecurity best practices.
• Plan and execute system upgrades, migrations, and capacity expansions to meet business needs.
• Act as a senior technical liaison among customers, vendors, and internal stakeholders, translating business needs into systems solutions.
• As part of a team provide design, deployment, and management of edge infrastructure at remote sites, including compute, storage, and networking components.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation on system configurations, processes, and lifecycle changes.
• Install, configure, and upgrade operating systems, enterprise applications, and middleware services.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Able to obtain and maintain a TS Security Clearance (note, only US citizens are eligible for security clearance)
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical discipline
• 3+ years hands-on experience deploying and managing on-prem or edge computing environments with distributed nodes.
• Deep understanding of systems administration and networking fundamentals across Linux, Windows, and/or virtualized platforms
• Strong background in containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, OpenShift).
• Knowledge of secure routing protocols and networking for distributed systems, including VPNs, SD-WAN, and firewalls.
• Proficiency in automation and infrastructure-as-code tools (Ansible, Terraform, Bash, PowerShell etc.).
• Strong problem-solving skills for hardware, software, and network-related issues.
• Familiarity with CI/CD workflows for distributed deployments.
• Comfortable working onsite in Herndon 3–4 days per week.
• Willingness and eligibility to travel OCONUS up to 10-20% annually.
• Willingness and eligibility to travel CONUS 5% annually

Preferred:

• Experience with edge-specific hardware (industrial PCs, IoT gateways, ruggedized servers).
• Knowledge of resource-constrained environments (limited bandwidth, power, or intermittent connectivity).
• Understanding of security for remote sites (zero-trust networking, remote attestation).
• Experience with SDN, network virtualization, and automation in secure or classified environments.
• Experience implementing observability solutions for monitoring hardware, VMs, and on-prem services (using Prometheus, Grafana, etc)
• Exposure to DoD or federal cybersecurity frameworks (e.g., RMF, NIST 800-53, DISA STIGs).
• Exposure to advanced threat detection, incident response, and network forensics.
• Hands-on experience with load balancers, WAN optimization, and systems segmentation strategies.
• Current Top Secret security clearance SCI eligibility
• Familiarity with the Cyber Operations Domain
• Experience writing Automated Tests (e.g., unit tests, acceptance tests, system/integration tests)

What We Offer:

• Competitive compensation and benefits package
• Opportunities to develop, deliver, and optimize mission-critical edge computing platforms
• Career growth in distributed systems and hybrid-cloud infrastructure
• Collaborative engineering culture solving real-world challenges at scale

Salary Range: $106,000 - $293,000

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.