Who we are:

Raft (https://TeamRaft.com) is a customer-obsessed non-traditional small business 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:

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.

• Architect, develop and implement end-to-end cluster and application lifecycles
• Work with clients architecting, developing and implementing Kubernetes or Docker solutions both in the Cloud and on-premises
• Develop and implement CI/CD pipelines
• Implement GitOps for Software Delivery

What we are looking for:

• 5+ years of relevant industry experience
• 5+ years' experience with Docker and Kubernetes, provisioning production clusters and maintaining their compliance.
• Experience with building and managing data-intensive platforms using popular streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or FlinkExperience in data management technologies including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage
• Experience with AWS and/or other cloud computing solutions
• Experienced with building, deployment, release automation, or orchestration
• Experience with Kubernetes monitoring (i.e. Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (i.e. Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform, Ansible, etc.)
• Experience with configuring CI/CD pipelines using GitLab Runners
• Able to obtain a Security+ certification within the first 90 days of employment with Raft

Highly preferred:

• Active Secret or Top Secret clearance with ability to obtain and maintain TS.
• Solid understanding of Helm Charts
• Experience using a variety of package managers/dependency managers including Maven, Gradle, NPM, and Yarn
• Knowledge of Istio
• Experience with supporting enterprise Cloud applications or infrastructure
• Experience in automation languages like Python or GoLang
• Comfortable provisioning and debugging complex CI/CD pipelines

Clearance Requirements:

• Active Secret or Top Secret clearance with ability to obtain and maintain TS.

Work Type:

• Hybrid - Colorado Springs, CO
• May require up to 25% travel

Salary Range: $170,000.00 - $200,000.00

• The determination of compensation is predicated upon a candidate's comprehensive experience, demonstrated skill, and proven abilities

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 with the mission.

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 is Ubuntu: I Am, Because We 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.