Staff Platform Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Important Notice for Applicants:
At Bixal, we want to ensure a transparent and secure application process for all candidates. Official communication will come from an email address ending in @bixal.com or from @bixal.na.teamtailor -mail.com. Messages from other sources may be fraudulent, and you should exercise care to avoid any links or attachments included.

Bixal will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

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Why Bixal?

Bixal is a consulting company headquartered in Fairfax, VA, working alongside governments and organizations to help them deliver better services and experiences to the communities they serve. Using evidence-based knowledge and technology, Bixal empowers clients to deliver on their missions more effectively by fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

Our values:

• People-First : Emphasizing the importance of people in all aspects of work.

• Collaboration and Transparency : Valuing teamwork and open communication.

• Growth Mindset : Encouraging innovation and continuous improvement.

• Creating Lasting Impact : Focusing on meaningful outcomes and positive change.

About the role:

We are looking for a Staff Platform Engineer to be the senior-most technical authority on a government agency’s internal developer platform, owning target-state architecture, golden paths, and engineering standards that make secure, compliant infrastructure the easiest path to production for engineering teams. You'll work within existing DevSecOps/CI/CD environments (GitLab, Datadog, and the broader authorized toolchain), applying platform-as-product thinking and AI-assisted tooling to reduce friction across the developer journey.

This role offers you a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact on a mission-critical federal platform that aligns with Bixal's mission of delivering innovative, human-centered solutions. At Bixal, we support your professional journey, ensuring your experience reflects our purpose-driven culture and prepares you for future success.

Location:

This is a primarily remote position. While most of the work is expected to be conducted virtually, there is potential for occasional travel for on-site meetings and working sessions at the discretion of the client. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the US. Bixal does not provide visa sponsorship.

Compensation:

The salary range for this role is $150,000 – $155,000. In the spirit of transparency, most offers tend to land near the midpoint of the range. We make compensation decisions thoughtfully, considering your experience, the skills you bring, and our commitment to internal equity. Fairness and transparency are core to how we operate.

Responsibilities:

• Own target-state platform architecture, golden paths, and engineering standards across the platform engineering effort.

• Serve as the senior-most technical authority on the platform build, providing technical direction to the Platform Enablement team.

• Design and evolve internal platform capabilities that improve delivery speed, deployment safety, and reliability across engineering teams.

• Establish infrastructure automation, delivery pipelines, and secure provisioning patterns for mission-critical, FedRAMP-authorized systems.

• Standardize observability, environment consistency, and release controls across multiple applications.

• Reduce operational toil by building self-service platform capabilities and reusable engineering patterns (golden-path templates, IaC modules).

• Act as a hands-on platform leader, setting standards, driving adoption, and preventing fragmentation across teams.

• Partner with the client’s Product Owner and Staff Technical Product Manager on platform roadmap and prioritization.

• Participate in two-week Agile sprints, architecture reviews, and knowledge-sharing sessions.

• Other relevant duties as qualified and trained to perform.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree and at least eight (8) years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Demonstrated experience designing and evolving internal platforms that improve delivery speed, deployment safety, and reliability across teams.

• Deep expertise in infrastructure automation, delivery pipelines, environment design, and secure provisioning for mission-critical systems.

• Proven ability to standardize observability, environment consistency, and release controls across multiple applications.

• Experience reducing operational toil by building self-service platform capabilities and reusable engineering patterns.

• Demonstrated hands-on platform leadership: setting standards, driving adoption, and preventing fragmentation across teams.

• Solid experience with GitLab, Jira, Confluence, Datadog, and Terraform-based golden-path/IaC patterns.

• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Tier 4 High Risk Public Trust clearance.

Nice to Have Skills and Experience:

• Prior experience on federal digital services or similar large-scale, multi-team modernization contracts.

• Experience applying AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitLab AI features, AWS Bedrock) within FedRAMP-authorized boundaries.

• Experience with federal financial or benefits systems.

How We Support Our Team:

• Flex hours

• 401K with matching incentive

• Parental Leave

• Medical/dental/vision benefits

• Flex Spending Account

• Company provided short-term disability and life insurance

• Commuter benefits

• Paid Time Off (PTO)

• 11 Paid holidays

Our company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all individuals and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and business needs.