What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Platform Engineer position at clarityinnovates?
Clarity Innovations is a trusted national security partner, dedicated to safeguarding our nation’s interests and delivering innovative solutions that empower the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense (DoD) to transform data into actionable intelligence, ensuring mission success in an evolving world.
Our mission-first software and data engineering platform modernizes data operations, utilizing advanced workflows, CI/CD, and secure DevSecOps practices. We focus on challenges in Information Warfare, Cyber Operations, Operational Security, and Data Structuring, enabling end-to-end solutions that drive operational impact.
We are committed to delivering cutting-edge tools and capabilities that address the most complex national security challenges, empowering our partners to stay ahead of emerging threats and ensuring the success of their critical missions. At Clarity, we are people-focused and set on being a destination employer for top talent, offering an environment where innovation thrives, careers grow, and individuals are valued. Join us as we continue to lead innovation and tackle the most pressing challenges in national security.
Principal Platform Engineer – Big Data (TS/SCI w/ CI Poly)
Position Overview
We are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to lead the design, engineering, and evolution of a secure, scalable Big Data platform supporting mission-critical federal workloads. This role operates at the intersection of platform architecture, data infrastructure, and DevSecOps, ensuring high availability, performance, and compliance within classified environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Architect, design, and oversee implementation of large-scale Big Data platforms (data ingestion, transport, transformation, storage, and access)
- Lead platform engineering efforts across Kubernetes-based environments, ensuring scalability, resiliency, and automation
- Define and enforce platform standards for CI/CD, infrastructure as code (IaC), and GitOps practices
- Integrate and optimize data pipelines across distributed systems, including cross-domain and secure data transfer solutions
- Drive observability strategy (monitoring, logging, tracing, SLOs) across platform and data services
- Ensure compliance with federal security requirements (e.g., RMF, STIGs, Zero Trust architectures)
- Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and strategic guidance to engineering teams and stakeholders
- Collaborate with government and contractor teams to align platform capabilities with mission needs
Required Qualifications
- Active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph
- 10 years of experience in platform engineering, infrastructure, or data engineering roles
- Deep experience with Kubernetes, containerization, and cloud-native architectures
- Strong background in Big Data ecosystems (e.g., data lakes, streaming, ETL/ELT pipelines)
- Experience with DevSecOps tooling (CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, IaC such as Terraform)
- Familiarity with secure data architectures, including cross-domain solutions
- Experience operating in classified or highly regulated environments
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with observability platforms (e.g., Elastic, Prometheus, Grafana)
- Knowledge of service mesh technologies (e.g., Istio)
- Familiarity with federal cloud environments (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government)
- Prior experience supporting DoD or IC programs
Key Attributes
- Strategic thinker with hands-on technical depth
- Strong leadership and communication skills
- Ability to operate in high-security, mission-driven environments