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 McLean, VA. Our range of clients include 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 Principal Platform Engineer to support our customer and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers.

About the role:

As a Principal Platform Engineer, you have senior software engineering experience building and operating hybrid-infrastructure developer platforms (private and commercial cloud infrastructure) at an Individual Contributor Level. You have experience deploying Kubernetes in multiple ways and supporting automation of platform management at enterprise scale. You will be developing platform APIs that make common software operations scalable and repeatable. You will also be maintaining the underlying services required to host containerized applications.

What we are looking for:

• Five-plus years of hands-on experience leading teams building and developing containerized services deployed in production on orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes, Mesos, etc.
• In-depth experience building developer platform services and APIs that scale in production
• Extensive experience building production services using Cloud Infrastructure Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud
• Experience in Identity and Access Lifecycle Management Operations and Controls
• Deep understanding of modern microservices architectures, design patterns, resiliency techniques, and optimizations
• Able to manage, report, and facilitate certification of access for all in-scope resources (including SaaS, AWS, Azure, CSS managed applications, tools, and systems)

Clearance Requirements:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance

Work Type:

• Remote
• 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
• 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.

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.