Staff Engineer
maybe under a generic "About the company" but we don't have a heading for that. The instruction says do NOT repeat job title as heading, and do NOT put Job ID/requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it. So we can include a short paragraph at top with that info. - "Who we are: Raft (https://TeamRaft.com) 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." This is company description. Could be placed under a heading? Not listed. Could be part of "About the role"? But we have "About the role:" heading later. The company description could be placed before that as a
. It's substantive. - "About the role: As a Staff Engineer, you are a beacon of knowledge and a go-to person for complex challenges. Your role is pivotal in decision-making processes, high-level architecture designs, and setting the course for technical excellence within teams. You're expected to think critically, solve intricate problems, and mentor Senior and below Engineers. Raft is building a real-time data platform for the Department of Defense (DoD), aimed at enhancing operators' awareness of critical events, including instances like the Chinese balloon and Cessna over the White House incidents. Central to this data platform is the aggregation of real-time data from over 750 sensors. This data is subsequently enriched, rendered queryable, and ultimately presented as a common operational picture to empower operators in making time critical and pertinent decisions. Our system efficiently handles the processing of over a billion events daily, all achieved with millisecond-level latency. 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." That's the role description. - Then bullet list: "Build data infrastructure and platforms using streaming frameworks such as Apache Kafka, Flink, and Kafka Streams Build Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) pipelines to enable comprehensive data operations Leverage software engineering principles to architect, develop, and implement large scale streaming applications" These are responsibilities. - Then "What we are looking for:" list: "Five plus years of relevant hands-on industry experience In-depth experience with building and managing fault-tolerant, data-intensive platforms using popular streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or Flink Experience with large-scale relational and non-relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch to handle low-latency requirements Working experience in data management including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage Experience with building and releasing software in cloud-native environments Experience using a variety of package managers/dependency managers including Maven, Gradle, and NPM Deep knowledge of software design and architecture patterns Obtain Security+ certification within the first 90 days of employment with Raft" These are requirements/qualifications. - Then "Highly preferred:" list: "Experience with Kubernetes Experience with monitoring (i.e. Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (i.e. Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions in cloud-native environments Solid understanding of Helm Charts Experience or knowledge of service mesh technologies, such as Istio Experience with supporting enterprise Cloud applications or infrastructure Experience in automation languages like Python or GoLang Tech Lead Experience" These could be considered "Skills" or "Preferred Qualifications". We could put them under "Skills" or "Qualifications". The instruction: Use headings for sections like About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we need to map. We have About the role (we have that). Responsibilities (the bullet list after About the role). Requirements (the "What we are looking for:" list). Qualifications maybe overlapping with Requirements; but we could treat Requirements as mandatory, Qualifications as preferred? Or we could combine. The instruction says prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones. So we could have About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements (including both mandatory and preferred), Benefits, Pay, Schedule. But we also have Skills heading; maybe we can put preferred under Skills. Let's decide: Use sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. That seems reasonable. Now extract content for each. About the role: The paragraph after "About the role:" up to before the bullet list. We'll include that as
content. Responsibilities: The three bullet points: Build data infrastructure..., Build ETL pipelines..., Leverage software engineering principles... We'll put as
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Requirements: The list under "What we are looking for:" (mandatory). We'll put as
- .
Skills: The "Highly preferred:" list. We'll put as
- .
Benefits: The list under "What we will offer you:" includes: 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, Team off-site in fun places!, Generous Referral Bonuses, And More! We'll include those as bullet points.
Pay: Salary Range: $160,000 - $210,000 plus note about determination. We'll include that as
. Schedule: Work Type: Remote with occasional onsite presence as required. May require up to 25% travel. We'll include as
. Also need to include the U.S. citizenship and location info as a short
at top. We must not include boilerplate like EEO, vision statement, etc. Remove those. We must not include duplicated lines. Check for any repeated content: The "What we will offer you:" includes "Highly competitive salary" which is similar to Pay section but we can keep both as they are distinct: Benefits list includes that as a benefit; Pay section includes specific range. It's okay. Now produce HTML fragment. Structure:
U.S. based position requiring U.S. citizenship; work must be conducted within the continental U.S.
Who we are: Raft (https://TeamRaft.com) 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 are a beacon of knowledge and a go-to person for complex challenges. Your role is pivotal in decision-making processes, high-level architecture designs, and setting the course for technical excellence within teams. You're expected to think critically, solve intricate problems, and mentor Senior and below Engineers. Raft is building a real-time data platform for the Department of Defense (DoD), aimed at enhancing operators' awareness of critical events, including instances like the Chinese balloon and Cessna over the White House incidents. Central to this data platform is the aggregation of real-time data from over 750 sensors. This data is subsequently enriched, rendered queryable, and ultimately presented as a common operational picture to empower operators in making time critical and pertinent decisions. Our system efficiently handles the processing of over a billion events daily, all achieved with millisecond-level latency. 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.
Responsibilities
- Build data infrastructure and platforms using streaming frameworks such as Apache Kafka, Flink, and Kafka Streams
- Build Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) pipelines to enable comprehensive data operations
- Leverage software engineering principles to architect, develop, and implement large scale streaming applications
Requirements
- Five plus years of relevant hands-on industry experience
- In-depth experience with building and managing fault-tolerant, data-intensive platforms using popular streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or Flink
- Experience with large-scale relational and non-relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch to handle low-latency requirements
- Working experience in data management including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage
- Experience with building and releasing software in cloud-native environments
- Experience using a variety of package managers/dependency managers including Maven, Gradle, and NPM
- Deep knowledge of software design and architecture patterns
- Obtain Security+ certification within the first 90 days of employment with Raft
Skills
- Experience with Kubernetes
- Experience with monitoring (i.e. Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (i.e. Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions in cloud-native environments
- Solid understanding of Helm Charts
- Experience or knowledge of service mesh technologies, such as Istio
- Experience with supporting enterprise Cloud applications or infrastructure
- Experience in automation languages like Python or GoLang
- Tech Lead Experience
Benefits
- 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
- Team off-site in fun places!
- Generous Referral Bonuses
- And More!
Pay
Salary Range: $160,000 - $210,000. The determination of compensation is predicated upon a candidate's comprehensive experience, demonstrated skill, and proven abilities.
Schedule
Work Type: Remote with occasional onsite presence as required. May require up to 25% travel.
Check for any leftover boilerplate: We removed vision statement, customer obsession, equal opportunity, etc. Also removed "This is a U.S
- .
Benefits: The list under "What we will offer you:" includes: 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, Team off-site in fun places!, Generous Referral Bonuses, And More! We'll include those as bullet points.
Pay: Salary Range: $160,000 - $210,000 plus note about determination. We'll include that as
- .
Skills: The "Highly preferred:" list. We'll put as