Staff Software Engineer

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

Who we are:

Raft ( 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 Reston, 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 Software Engineer to support our customers and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.

About the role:

As a Staff Software Engineer, you are a beacon of knowledge and a go-to person for complex challenges. 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 making 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:

Expertise in several Big Data/Cloud/Enterprise Frameworks

Architected, developed and implemented end-to-end cluster and application lifecycles

Worked with clients architecting, developing, and implementing Kubernetes or Docker solutions both in the Cloud and on-premises

Developed and implemented CI/CD pipelines

Implemented GitOps for Software Delivery

Five plus years of experience with Docker and Kubernetes, provisioning production clusters and maintaining their compliance.

Experience building and managing data-intensive platforms using popular streaming technologies such as Kafka, Pinot, or Flink.

Hands-on data management technologies, including ETL processing, data governance, and data storage

Worked with AWS and/or other cloud computing solutions

Has built, deployed, and released automation or orchestration

Experience with Kubernetes monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (Fluentbit, Kibana, Loki) solutions

Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, etc.)

Deep knowledge of configuring CI/CD pipelines using GitLab Runners

Obtain Security+ within the first 90 days of employment with Raft

Highly preferred:

Strong hands-on experience with time-series data in PostgreSQL or similar SQL databases

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, Bash

Comfortable provisioning and debugging complex CI/CD pipelines

Experience with one or more web frameworks (Spring, Quarkus, Gin, Axium, Django, etc.) and associated languages (Java, Go, Rust, Python, etc.)

Clearance Requirements:

Active Top Secret Clearance

Work Type:

On customer site in Dulles, VA

May require up to 50% travel

Salary Range:

$130,000 - $210,000

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.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.