Staff Data Engineer

Who we are:

Raft (https://goraft.tech) is a customer-obsessed non-traditional small business with purposeful focus on Distributed Data Systems, Platforms at Scale, and Complex Application Development, with headquarters in Reston, 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.

Our team is rapidly growing and looking for an experienced Staff Data Engineer to support our customer and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers. We enjoy the challenges of human-centered design, security, and scale to create better outcomes for our federal agency partners. We are a remote-first and work completely in the open source.

About the role:

Senior Data Engineers on our Distributed Systems team are focused on building data platforms that make it easy for different types of user personas to access data from a central control plane. This includes building backend services, connecting OSS projects in a repeatable and performant way, and extending feature sets. Experience involving data engineering and all things data. Utilizing new tools like DuckDB, Apache Pinot, Apache Superset, and others while also being a subject matter expert on Spark, including but not limited to Delta Lake, Databricks, GraphX, etc. As the Senior Data Engineer you will be working closely with Technical SMEs on the government side to build the next generation of data platform for mission-critical SOCOM needs.

Required Qualifications:

• Subject Matter Expert on Spark. Should have multiple years of experience in Spark
• Must have used Databricks products as well as know the comparable Open Source alternatives to Databricks
• Must have educational background in CS/EE/Math etc.
• Must keep up to date with trends in the Data Engineering, Data Streaming, and Data Search areas within the community
• If you could grab a coffee with any special person, your answer is Martin Kleppmann
• You love understanding broad requirements, putting them into smaller consumable chunks, and proving that they are achievable by building POCs

Highly preferred:

• Hands-on experience with SparQL / RDF
• Experience building Apache Pinot POCs
• Knowing the operational pros and cons in Custom Off The Shelf (COTS) products and their Open Source Software (OSS) alternatives

Clearance Requirements:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET clearance or higher

Position Type and Location:

• Remote (Tampa, FL Preferred)

What we will offer you:

• Highly competitive salary
• Fully covered healthcare, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) and company match
• Unlimited 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.