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 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 Principal ML Ops 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. Your primary responsibilities will be to build MLOps pipelines and contribute to the development of a full-lifecycle ML platform.What we are looking for:

• 5 years of relevant hands-on experience
• 3 years' experience with Docker and Kubernetes, provisioning production clusters and maintaining their compliance.
• Practical experience with Machine Learning on Kubernetes
• Experience with AWS and/or other cloud computing solutions
• Experience building and maintaining machine learning platforms and pipelines
• Practical programming and scripting skills (Python preferred)
• Fast learner, analytical thinker, creative, hands-on, strong communication skills
• Able to work both independently and as part of a team
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Proven experience with modern software development and engineering practices including scrum/agile, Git, and DevOps
• Ability to obtain a Security certification within the first 90 days of employment with Raft

Highly preferred:

• Experience with data processing frameworks (Apache Spark preferred)
• Solid understanding of Helm Charts
• 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:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance 

Work Type: 

• Remote
• May require up to 25% travel

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.