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 (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 Platform Engineer to support our customers and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.
About the role:
As a Platform Engineer, you possess fundamental experience working with hybrid infrastructure developer platforms. You will lead development efforts and support teams utilizing Kubernetes. You are a proactive problem solver with a passion for cloud technologies. This role is critical in ensuring that our cloud infrastructure supports our clients effectively while enabling the development teams to thrive.
- Support Role: Assist teams with their cloud infrastructure (AWS Commercial, GovCloud) needs, providing guidance and troubleshooting
- Design and Architecture: Contribute to the design and architecture of cloud infrastructure, focusing on provisioning and maintaining services at scale
- Rapid Prototyping: Implement proof of concepts for new capabilities to demonstrate feasibility
- Apply Best Practices: Refactor existing code bases enabling better developer experiences and decreasing operational overhead
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with clients and key stakeholders to provide strategic input, helping navigate needs and trade-offs in building resilient digital solutions
What we are looking for:
- Minimum 3 years of relevant hands-on experience
- Experience building production services using Cloud Infrastructure Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) preferred, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud
- Working experience building developer platform services and APIs that scale in production
- In-depth experience developing containerized services deployed in production on orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes, Mesos, etc.
- Experience building developer platform services and APIs that scale in production
- Deep understanding of modern microservices architectures, design patterns, resiliency techniques, and optimizations
- Experience in Identity and Access Lifecycle Management Operations and Controls
- Manage, report, and facilitate certification of access for all in-scope resources (including SaaS, AWS, Azure, CSS managed applications, tools, and systems)
- Strong problem-solving skills are essential for addressing complex technical challenges
- Solid understanding of networking concepts relevant to cloud environments.
- Proficient in Git for version control and collaboration
- Bachelor Degree in computer science, Mathematics, or equivalent technical degree; or equivalent industry experience
- Ability to obtain a Security+ within the first 90 days of employment with Raft
Highly preferred:
- Cloud Infrastructure Experience: Three years of experience building production services with cloud infrastructure such as AWS with terraform
- CI/CD Expertise: Strong experience in CI/CD practices, including writing automation scripts for deploying applications at scale. Github / Gitlab runners
- Programming Skills: Proficiency in modern programming languages such as Python3 (required). With experience with Test Driven Development (TDD) with PyTest preferred
- Infrastructure Management: Experience managing infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform. Experience refactoring legacy terraform is helpful
- Database Knowledge: Familiarity with relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and non-relational databases (DynamoDB)
- Data Intensive Platforms: Experience building data-intensive platforms using open-source technologies
- Team Collaboration: Enjoy collaborating with teams to plan story points, sprint themes, etc.
- Tools: Gitlab, Gitlab Runners, Git, AWS CLI, BOTO3, Python3, Pytest, Terraform, Bash Scripting, Ubuntu / RHEL/ AMZN2, Windows Server, MsSQL, DynamoDB, RDS, Lambda, ALB / ELB
- Certifications: Security+, AWS Solutions Architect, AWS DevOps Engineer
Clearance Requirements:
- Active Secret security clearance
Work Type:
- Langley AFB, VA
- Primary hours will be night shift (3rd shift, Tu-Fr 0000-1000), to include weekends and federal holidays
- May require up to 10% travel
Salary Range:
- Earn a total compensation package of $110,000 - $180,000, comprising a competitive base salary and a generous bonus plan
- 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
- 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.
Top Skills
What We Do
Raft is a digital consulting firm with niche expertise in the rapid delivery of modern, user-first, scalable, and data-intensive digital solutions. We accelerate the missions of our federal partners through human-centered design (HCD) and agile development practices, bringing deep technical expertise in DevSecOps, Kubernetes management, cloud-native microservice architectures, and secure, open source delivery.
We put our people and our culture first. We work with some of the smartest, hardest working experts in their field. We owe it to them to make sure our team is free of meaningless restrictions and internal politics so they can focus on what they love, finding innovative solutions.
We build off the Open-Source and resist vendor lock in. That way you’re not paying us to reinvent the wheel, our solutions play nice with others and are always adaptable.
We know digital innovation doesn’t always operate during bank hours, so neither do we. (It's also why we don’t dress like bankers.) We aren’t afraid to go the extra mile or put in the extra time to find a solution. We get it right the first time; we won’t waste our time (and your money) trying to fix something that’s fundamentally broken. It’s kind of like making an exceptional cup of coffee, if the beans are roasted wrong, it doesn’t matter how much pumpkin spice you dump in your cup, it’s still not going to taste great.
And above all else we’re up for a challenge; it’s in our DNA. Ask us about something that’s never been done, or better yet something that can’t be done, and we’ll find a way to do it. It’s just who we are.
If you need a partner that’s looking toward the future and not the past, don’t go traditional, go Raft.
Why Work With Us
Raft partners with public agencies to solve hard complex problems that impact the lives of millions of Americans. We work hard to make it easy for humans to connect with data.
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