Principal Engineering Lead

Principal Engineering Lead

Mclean, Va

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 defense tech company dedicated to empowering U.S. military and government agencies with cutting-edge AI/ML and data solutions. We are a leader in autonomous data fusion and Agentic AI, 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 Principal Engineering Lead to support our Intelligence Community customer(s) and join our passionate team of high-impact problem solvers. This is a unique opportunity to lead a cross-functional engineering team, architect mission-critical solutions, and serve as the primary technical face of Raft to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Leveraging your lessons learned from being in the trenches, you’ll shape how software applications and data platforms are researched, architected, built, and deployed at scale—while providing expertise on design patterns, tooling choices, and AI/ML strategy across multiple teams. 


About the role:

As a Principal Engineering Lead, you’ll use your experience to guide a cross-functional engineering team on a path to enterprise deployments within the Intelligence Community. You’ll know where the pitfalls are and provide future-proof plans and mitigation strategies to your engineers. You’ll serve as the primary technical point of contact for NRO stakeholders—leading customer-facing demonstrations, presenting architectural strategies to senior leaders, and translating mission requirements into executable technical plans. You are equally comfortable in front of a customer as you are writing code, designing microservices, standing up data pipelines, and deploying AI/ML models in classified environments. You’ll be hands-on in writing plugins, applications, webhooks, and modules that help more than one team in an enterprise environment. You will mentor and grow engineers across distributed locations, drive agile practices, and champion cloud-native best practices.  

What we are looking for: 

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with a proven track record of leading engineering teams to production at enterprise scale, including work supporting Intelligence Community missions in classified environments 


• Demonstrated experience leading and mentoring cross-functional engineering teams 


• Ability to serve as a customer-facing technical leader: leading demos and presenting to senior stakeholders and mission partners 


• Experience building production applications at scale in multiple languages, with a JVM-based language (Java, Scala, Kotlin, Golang) being at least one of them 


• Experience with design patterns and architectural decision records (ADRs) 


• Ability to design abstract modules, interfaces, classes, and concepts that can be leveraged and customized by multiple software teams 


• Experience recommending tooling choices to multiple teams based on their requirements 


• Ability to explain highly complex technical details in plain language 


• Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines using various tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins, Concourse, etc. 


• Experienced in building applications that follow 12-factor app principles and/or the reactive manifesto 


• Experienced in deploying applications to Cloud Foundry and/or Kubernetes, including Helm chart development and container orchestration (Docker, OCI) 


• Experience with AWS services (S3, EC2, ECS, Lambda, Bedrock) and/or Azure, particularly analytics and AI/ML offerings 


• Strong background in AI/ML systems including model development, training, deployment, and MLOps 


• Experience with data engineering: batch and streaming ETL pipelines, data lakehouse architectures, and event streaming applications using Kafka, Flink, Pulsar, or similar technologies 


• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field 


• Active TS/SCI clearance 


• Previous work supporting Intelligence Community missions and familiarity with classified environments 

Highly preferred:

• Direct experience with National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) programs, data systems, or mission requirements 


• Track record of leading R&D initiatives that resulted in new business capture or competitive advantage 


• Experience building agentic AI workflows with tool calling, Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementations, and multi-step reasoning systems 


• Experience deploying and optimizing LLM infrastructure (vLLM, PyTorch, TensorFlow), RAG frameworks, and autonomous data fusion systems 


• Experience with data lakehouse technologies: Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, Apache Flink, Apache Trino, or PySpark 


• Experience implementing Common Core Ontology (CCO) standards and semantic modeling frameworks 


• Familiarity with graph databases (Neo4j, Neptune, ArangoDB) and graph processing frameworks including graph visualization tools, complex graph algorithms, or distributed graph processing 


• Familiarity with browser-based geospatial visualization libraries (e.g., Leaflet, OpenLayers, Mapbox) 


• Track record of speaking at public-facing conferences about software engineering, data engineering, or AI/ML 


• Having a knowledge radar of modern software trends and knowing their pros and cons 


• More than one war story of running into issues while building large-scale software applications 


• Security+ or similar DoD 8570 baseline certification or equivalent 


• Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, Information Technology, or a related field

Clearance Requirements:

• Active Top Secret clearance with ability to obtain and maintain SCI

Work Type:

• Onsite in Chantilly, VA 


• Ability to work from a SCIF at least 4 days a week 


• May require up to 30% travel 

Salary Range: $210,000.00 - $250,000.00


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 needs


• 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.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Raft Company Website? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.
Create alert

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Autofill with MyGreenhouse

First Name*

Last Name*

Preferred First Name

Email*

Phone

Country*

Phone*

244 results found
No results found

• 
  
  Afghanistan+93
• 
  
  Åland Islands+358
• 
  
  Albania+355
• 
  
  Algeria+213
• 
  
  American Samoa+1
• 
  
  Andorra+376
• 
  
  Angola+244
• 
  
  Anguilla+1
• 
  
  Antigua & Barbuda+1
• 
  
  Argentina+54
• 
  
  Armenia+374
• 
  
  Aruba+297
• 
  
  Ascension Island+247
• 
  
  Australia+61
• 
  
  Austria+43
• 
  
  Azerbaijan+994
• 
  
  Bahamas+1
• 
  
  Bahrain+973
• 
  
  Bangladesh+880
• 
  
  Barbados+1
• 
  
  Belarus+375
• 
  
  Belgium+32
• 
  
  Belize+501
• 
  
  Benin+229
• 
  
  Bermuda+1
• 
  
  Bhutan+975
• 
  
  Bolivia+591
• 
  
  Bosnia & Herzegovina+387
• 
  
  Botswana+267
• 
  
  Brazil+55
• 
  
  British Indian Ocean Territory+246
• 
  
  British Virgin Islands+1
• 
  
  Brunei+673
• 
  
  Bulgaria+359
• 
  
  Burkina Faso+226
• 
  
  Burundi+257
• 
  
  Cambodia+855
• 
  
  Cameroon+237
• 
  
  Canada+1
• 
  
  Cape Verde+238
• 
  
  Caribbean Netherlands+599
• 
  
  Cayman Islands+1
• 
  
  Central African Republic+236
• 
  
  Chad+235
• 
  
  Chile+56
• 
  
  China+86
• 
  
  Christmas Island+61
• 
  
  Cocos (Keeling) Islands+61
• 
  
  Colombia+57
• 
  
  Comoros+269
• 
  
  Congo - Brazzaville+242
• 
  
  Congo - Kinshasa+243
• 
  
  Cook Islands+682
• 
  
  Costa Rica+506
• 
  
  Côte d’Ivoire+225
• 
  
  Croatia+385
• 
  
  Cuba+53
• 
  
  Curaçao+599
• 
  
  Cyprus+357
• 
  
  Czechia+420
• 
  
  Denmark+45
• 
  
  Djibouti+253
• 
  
  Dominica+1
• 
  
  Dominican Republic+1
• 
  
  Ecuador+593
• 
  
  Egypt+20
• 
  
  El Salvador+503
• 
  
  Equatorial Guinea+240
• 
  
  Eritrea+291
• 
  
  Estonia+372
• 
  
  Eswatini+268
• 
  
  Ethiopia+251
• 
  
  Falkland Islands+500
• 
  
  Faroe Islands+298
• 
  
  Fiji+679
• 
  
  Finland+358
• 
  
  France+33
• 
  
  French Guiana+594
• 
  
  French Polynesia+689
• 
  
  Gabon+241
• 
  
  Gambia+220
• 
  
  Georgia+995
• 
  
  Germany+49
• 
  
  Ghana+233
• 
  
  Gibraltar+350
• 
  
  Greece+30
• 
  
  Greenland+299
• 
  
  Grenada+1
• 
  
  Guadeloupe+590
• 
  
  Guam+1
• 
  
  Guatemala+502
• 
  
  Guernsey+44
• 
  
  Guinea+224
• 
  
  Guinea-Bissau+245
• 
  
  Guyana+592
• 
  
  Haiti+509
• 
  
  Honduras+504
• 
  
  Hong Kong SAR China+852
• 
  
  Hungary+36
• 
  
  Iceland+354
• 
  
  India+91
• 
  
  Indonesia+62
• 
  
  Iran+98
• 
  
  Iraq+964
• 
  
  Ireland+353
• 
  
  Isle of Man+44
• 
  
  Israel+972
• 
  
  Italy+39
• 
  
  Jamaica+1
• 
  
  Japan+81
• 
  
  Jersey+44
• 
  
  Jordan+962
• 
  
  Kazakhstan+7
• 
  
  Kenya+254
• 
  
  Kiribati+686
• 
  
  Kosovo+383
• 
  
  Kuwait+965
• 
  
  Kyrgyzstan+996
• 
  
  Laos+856
• 
  
  Latvia+371
• 
  
  Lebanon+961
• 
  
  Lesotho+266
• 
  
  Liberia+231
• 
  
  Libya+218
• 
  
  Liechtenstein+423
• 
  
  Lithuania+370
• 
  
  Luxembourg+352
• 
  
  Macao SAR China+853
• 
  
  Madagascar+261
• 
  
  Malawi+265
• 
  
  Malaysia+60
• 
  
  Maldives+960
• 
  
  Mali+223
• 
  
  Malta+356
• 
  
  Marshall Islands+692
• 
  
  Martinique+596
• 
  
  Mauritania+222
• 
  
  Mauritius+230
• 
  
  Mayotte+262
• 
  
  Mexico+52
• 
  
  Micronesia+691
• 
  
  Moldova+373
• 
  
  Monaco+377
• 
  
  Mongolia+976
• 
  
  Montenegro+382
• 
  
  Montserrat+1
• 
  
  Morocco+212
• 
  
  Mozambique+258
• 
  
  Myanmar (Burma)+95
• 
  
  Namibia+264
• 
  
  Nauru+674
• 
  
  Nepal+977
• 
  
  Netherlands+31
• 
  
  New Caledonia+687
• 
  
  New Zealand+64
• 
  
  Nicaragua+505
• 
  
  Niger+227
• 
  
  Nigeria+234
• 
  
  Niue+683
• 
  
  Norfolk Island+672
• 
  
  North Korea+850
• 
  
  North Macedonia+389
• 
  
  Northern Mariana Islands+1
• 
  
  Norway+47
• 
  
  Oman+968
• 
  
  Pakistan+92
• 
  
  Palau+680
• 
  
  Palestinian Territories+970
• 
  
  Panama+507
• 
  
  Papua New Guinea+675
• 
  
  Paraguay+595
• 
  
  Peru+51
• 
  
  Philippines+63
• 
  
  Poland+48
• 
  
  Portugal+351
• 
  
  Puerto Rico+1
• 
  
  Qatar+974
• 
  
  Réunion+262
• 
  
  Romania+40
• 
  
  Russia+7
• 
  
  Rwanda+250
• 
  
  Samoa+685
• 
  
  San Marino+378
• 
  
  São Tomé & Príncipe+239
• 
  
  Saudi Arabia+966
• 
  
  Senegal+221
• 
  
  Serbia+381
• 
  
  Seychelles+248
• 
  
  Sierra Leone+232
• 
  
  Singapore+65
• 
  
  Sint Maarten+1
• 
  
  Slovakia+421
• 
  
  Slovenia+386
• 
  
  Solomon Islands+677
• 
  
  Somalia+252
• 
  
  South Africa+27
• 
  
  South Korea+82
• 
  
  South Sudan+211
• 
  
  Spain+34
• 
  
  Sri Lanka+94
• 
  
  St. Barthélemy+590
• 
  
  St. Helena+290
• 
  
  St. Kitts & Nevis+1
• 
  
  St. Lucia+1
• 
  
  St. Martin+590
• 
  
  St. Pierre & Miquelon+508
• 
  
  St. Vincent & Grenadines+1
• 
  
  Sudan+249
• 
  
  Suriname+597
• 
  
  Svalbard & Jan Mayen+47
• 
  
  Sweden+46
• 
  
  Switzerland+41
• 
  
  Syria+963
• 
  
  Taiwan+886
• 
  
  Tajikistan+992
• 
  
  Tanzania+255
• 
  
  Thailand+66
• 
  
  Timor-Leste+670
• 
  
  Togo+228
• 
  
  Tokelau+690
• 
  
  Tonga+676
• 
  
  Trinidad & Tobago+1
• 
  
  Tunisia+216
• 
  
  Turkey+90
• 
  
  Turkmenistan+993
• 
  
  Turks & Caicos Islands+1
• 
  
  Tuvalu+688
• 
  
  U.S. Virgin Islands+1
• 
  
  Uganda+256
• 
  
  Ukraine+380
• 
  
  United Arab Emirates+971
• 
  
  United Kingdom+44
• 
  
  United States+1
• 
  
  Uruguay+598
• 
  
  Uzbekistan+998
• 
  
  Vanuatu+678
• 
  
  Vatican City+39
• 
  
  Venezuela+58
• 
  
  Vietnam+84
• 
  
  Wallis & Futuna+681
• 
  
  Western Sahara+212
• 
  
  Yemen+967
• 
  
  Zambia+260
• 
  
  Zimbabwe+263

Location (City)*

Locate me

Resume/CV*

AttachAttach

Dropbox

Google Drive

Enter manuallyEnter manually

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

AttachAttach

Dropbox

Google Drive

Enter manuallyEnter manually

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

School*

Select...

Degree*

Select...

Discipline*

Select...

Add another

Please provide your LinkedIn profile.

Please provide your Github username

Will you now or in the future require sponsorship to work in the United States?*

Select...

Preferred Name

Do you have an active Security+ certification?*

Select...

If yes, please provide the verification code and the expiration date.

What is your current or most recent security clearance status?*

Select...

What is your salary expectation for this role.*

Would you like to receive our newsletter? We'll send you updates, news, and exclusive content directly to your inbox.*

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification


For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.
Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring
process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a
confidential file.


As set forth in Raft Company Website’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,
we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Gender

Select...

Are you Hispanic/Latino?

Select...

Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.
As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure
the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories
is as follows:



A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.


A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.


An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.


An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Veteran Status

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305


Page 1 of 1

OMB Control Number 1250-0005


Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.


Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)


• Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS


• Blind or low vision


• Cancer (past or present)


• Cardiovascular or heart disease


• Celiac disease


• Cerebral palsy


• Deaf or serious difficulty hearing


• Diabetes


• Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders


• Epilepsy or other seizure disorder


• Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome


• Intellectual or developmental disability


• Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD


• Missing limbs or partially missing limbs


• Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports


• Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)


• Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities


• Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)


• Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema


• Short stature (dwarfism)


• Traumatic brain injury

Disability Status

Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

Submit application

Powered by