Senior Engineer

This is a U.S.-based position requiring U.S. citizenship; all work must be conducted within the continental U.S.

About us

Raft is a customer-obsessed, non-traditional small business specializing in Distributed Data Systems, Platforms at Scale, and Complex Application Development, headquartered in McLean, VA. We serve innovative federal and public agencies, leveraging design thinking, cutting-edge technology stacks, and cloud-native ecosystems to build digital solutions that impact millions of Americans.

About the role

Raft is building a real-time data platform for the Department of Defense (DoD) to enhance operators' awareness of critical events, such as the Chinese balloon and Cessna over the White House incidents. The platform aggregates real-time data from over 750 sensors, enriches and indexes it, and presents a common operational picture to empower time-critical decision-making. The system processes over a billion events daily with millisecond-level latency using technologies like Kafka, Kafka Streams, Pinot, Java, Scala, and Kubernetes.

• Architect, develop, and implement end-to-end cluster and application lifecycles.
• Collaborate with clients to architect, develop, and implement Kubernetes or Docker solutions in both cloud and on-premises environments.
• Develop and implement CI/CD pipelines and GitOps for software delivery.

Requirements

• 3+ years of relevant industry experience.
• 3+ years' experience with Docker and Kubernetes, including provisioning production clusters and maintaining compliance.
• Experience building and managing data-intensive platforms using streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or Flink.
• Experience with data management technologies, including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage.
• Experience with AWS and/or other cloud computing solutions.
• Experience with Kubernetes monitoring (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (e.g., Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
• Experience configuring CI/CD pipelines using GitLab Runners.
• Able to obtain a Security+ certification within the first 90 days of employment.
• Active Secret or Top Secret clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain TS.

Preferred qualifications

• Solid understanding of Helm Charts.
• Experience using 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.

Schedule

Hybrid work in Arlington, VA; Rome, NY; Hanscom, MA; or Tacoma, WA. May require up to 25% travel.

Pay

Salary range: $110,000 – $180,000. Compensation is based on a candidate's comprehensive experience, demonstrated skill, and proven abilities.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary.
• Fully covered healthcare, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Take-as-you-need PTO plus 11 paid holidays.
• Education and training benefits.
• Annual budget for tech/gadgets.
• Monthly snack box.
• Remote, hybrid, and flexible work options.
• Team off-site events in fun locations.
• Generous referral bonuses.

Our vision and culture

We bridge the gap between humans and data through radical transparency and mission obsession. Our core philosophy is Ubuntu: I Am, Because We Are. We support our team ("nadi") by elevating each other through hyper-collaboration, celebrating cognitive and cultural diversity, and fostering innovation. Our customer-obsessed mentality ensures we treat every deliverable as a product and approach interactions with clients and teammates alike with this mindset.