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 Senior Data Engineer to support our customers and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.
About the role:
As a Senior Data Engineer, you will be responsible for designing, building and maintaining extract, transform, and load (ETL) pipelines to enable comprehensive data operations, from ingest to query. You will use your in-depth understanding of data architecture, database management, and data processing workflows, ensuring efficient and secure handling of our data resources.
What we are looking for:
- 10 plus years of hands-on data engineering experience
- Extensive experience in designing, building and managing ETL pipelines
- Experienced in building ETL pipelines for comprehensive data operations, meeting and exceeding business value requirements, potentially demonstrated through significant experiences or one exceptionally impactful event
- Experience with Cloud-based systems and/or AI/Machine Learning Development
- You’re an expert with SQL and at least one other programming language such as Scala, Python or Java
- Demonstrated experience with technologies like Spark, Kafka, Kubernetes, Ansible, Docker, GIT, Linux, Suricata, Zeke, Kibana, Logstash, Elastic Search, Neo4J, Terraform, Artifactory, GitLab, network engineering, AWS Cloud, Airflow, Postgres
- Experience with React, Angular, Python, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, & Material UI
- Experience with Agile software development, agile methodologies, agile project management, Software project management, defensive cyber military operations, software development life cycle management, program/project management, systems engineering, strategic planning, cross-functional team.
- Certifications: SAFe for Teams Certification, & AWS certifications (Associate Solutions Architect, & AWS Specialty Security within a year of start date) or be able to demonstrate AWS competence using the CLI and Boto.
- Able to obtain a Security+ certification within 90 days of employment
- Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or a related field
Highly preferred:
- Bachelor's degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field
- Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams through ambiguous requirements to deliver value to the customer
- Understanding of data security practices and policies, with the ability to design and implement security measures
- Exceptional problem-solving abilities and strong analytical skills
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, able to effectively collaborate with team members and stakeholders
- Ability to adapt to changing business requirements and learn modern technologies quickly
- Advanced certification related to data management or data engineering would be a plus
Clearance Requirements:
- Active Secret security clearance
Work Type:
- Hybrid - Colorado Springs, CO
- May require up to 10% travel
Salary Range:
- $140,000 - $225,000
- 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.
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.