Staff Engineer

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 DevSecOps Engineerto support our customers and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.

About the role:

As aStaff DevSecOps Engineer, you will spearhead initiatives related to developing and implementing end-to-end cluster and application lifecycles, setting the benchmark for security and efficiency. Raft is building a real-time data platform for the Department of Defense (DoD), aimed at enhancing operators' awareness of critical events. Central to this data platform is the aggregation of real-time data from various sensors. This data is ultimately presented as a mission planning and execution UI to empower operators to make time-critical and pertinent decisions. 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.

What we are looking for:

• 5+ years in software engineering, DevSecOps, platform engineering, or a related field
• Strong grasp of software engineering fundamentals and the full SDLC, including building, testing, debugging, and maintaining production software and distributed systems
• Hands-on Kubernetes and Docker experience, including Helm charts and networking (Calico, Cilium)
• Experience running stateful, data-intensive services and distributed data platforms (Kafka, Pinot, Flink) in containerized environments
• Experience with AWS or other cloud platforms and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible)
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines with GitLab and GitLab Runners, plus GitOps-based delivery
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Fluent Bit, Kibana, Loki)
• Strong troubleshooting, communication, and collaboration skills across software, systems, cybersecurity, platform, and test teams
• Comfortable in a fast-paced environment

• U.S. citizenship required.
• Existing Top Secret clearance required.
• Ability to work onsite in a secure environment.
• Willingness to travel to customer locations for integration, testing, and deployment activities.
• Ability to obtain CompTIA Security+ within the first 90 days of employment with Raft.

Highly preferred:

• Software & Data Engineering
  
  
  
  • Proficiency in Python, Go, Java, Scala, or similar languages
  • Experience with streaming and data tools (Kafka Streams, Apache Pinot, Apache Flink)
  • Experience with REST APIs, WebSockets, and integrating multiple data formats, protocols, systems, or sensor sources
  • Experience writing automated tests for backend and distributed applications
  
  
  
  
• DevSecOps & Platform Engineering
  
  
  
  • Experience with package and dependency managers (Maven, Gradle, NPM, Yarn)
  • Experience automating infrastructure and operations with Python or Go
  • Experience building security scanning and compliance checks into CI/CD pipelines
  
  
  
  
• Software Integration & Delivery
  
  
  
  • Experience integrating software components, subsystems, COTS, and FOSS
  • Experience on Agile/Scrum teams and supporting formal integration and testing events
  • Experience working with government customers or external engineering teams, including presenting technical status and documentation
  
  
  
  

Clearance Requirements:

• Active Top Secret Clearance

Salary Range: $150,000.00 - $210,000.00

Work Type:

• On customer site in Dulles, VA
• May require up to 25% travel

What we will offer you:

• 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
• Monthly box of yummy snacks to eat while doing meaningful work
• Remote, hybrid, and flexible work options
• Team off-site in fun places!
• Generous Referral Bonuses
• And More!

Our Vision Statement:

We bridge the gap between humans and data through radical transparency and our obsession withthemission.

Our Customer Obsession:

We will approach every deliverable like it's a product. We will adopt a customer-obsessed mentality. As we grow, and our footprint becomes larger, teams and employees will treat each other not only as teammates but customers. We must live the customer-obsessed mindset, always. This will help us scale and it will translate to the interactions that our Rafters have with their clients and other product teams that they integrate with. Our culture will enable our success and set us apart from other companies.

How do we get there?

Public-sector modernization is critical for us to live in a better world. We, at Raft, want to innovate and solve complex problems. And, if we are successful, our generation and the ones that follow us will live in a delightful, efficient, and accessible world where out-of-box thinking,and collaboration is a norm.

Raft's core philosophy isUbuntu: IAm, BecauseWe are. We support our"nadi"by elevating the other Rafters. We work as a hyper collaborative team where each team member brings a unique perspective, adding value that did not exist before. People make Raft special. We celebrate each other and our cognitive and cultural diversity. We are devoted to our practice of innovation and collaboration.