Staff Software Engineer

This is a U.S.-based position. All programs we support require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment. All work must be conducted within the continental U.S.

About us

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 specialize in autonomous data fusion and Agentic AI, focusing on distributed data systems, platforms at scale, and complex application development. Headquartered in McLean, VA, we serve innovative federal and public agencies by leveraging design thinking, modern tech stacks, and cloud-native ecosystems to build digital solutions that impact millions of Americans.

About the role

Raft is building mission-critical data platforms for the Department of War that process billions of events per day from hundreds of sensors and operational sources, delivering intelligence to operators who use it to make time-sensitive decisions. Our platform runs across multiple classification levels and deployment environments.

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

• 7+ years of relevant industry experience
• 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
• Experience in data management including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage
• Experience with building and deploying software in cloud-native environments
• Experience diagnosing and resolving container deployment issues within Kubernetes 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
• Active Secret Clearance to start and ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret clearance

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with Kubernetes
• Experience with monitoring (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (e.g., 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

Pay

Salary range: $140,000 – $190,000. Compensation is determined by a candidate’s comprehensive experience, demonstrated skill, and proven abilities.

Schedule

Hybrid in Rome, NY; Hanscom; or the National Capital Region (NCR). Domestic travel up to 35% to customer sites.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary
• Fully covered healthcare, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) with company match
• Take-as-you-need PTO + 11 paid holidays
• Education and training benefits
• Generous referral bonuses