Principal MLOps Engineer

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 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 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 MLOps 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 deploy ML infrastructure, build MLOps pipelines, and contribute to the development of a full-lifecycle ML platform. 

What we are looking for:

• 7+ years of relevant hands-on experience
• 5+ years experience with Docker and Kubernetes, provisioning production clusters and maintaining their compliance.
• 5+ years experience supporting enterprise Cloud applications or infrastructure (AWS, Azure, etc.)
• Solid understanding of Helm Charts
• Practical experience with Machine Learning on Kubernetes
• Experience managing clusters with GPU machines
• 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:

• Currently Cleared or a Clearance in the past 
• Experience with or managing KubeFlow deployments  
• Knowledge of Istio
• Comfortable provisioning and debugging complex CI/CD pipelines
• Prior experience with Terraform 

Clearance Requirements:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance 

Work Type: 

• Remote (Local to Tampa, FL is highly preferred)
• May require up to 30% 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
• 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. 

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.