Senior Principal Platform Engineer; K8s SME​/Tech Lead

Senior Principal Platform Engineer (K8s SME / Tech Lead)

Fort Meade, MD

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 Dev Sec Ops  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.

The technical lead partners with the program manager to ensure team members are empowered to do their best work building solutions for our customer.

Rather than being the smartest person in the room or the team’s best engineer, the technical lead enables their team to sustainably and efficiently make and implement the best possible technical decisions. A good technical lead shapes their team with the right tools and attributes to deliver the best possible product for Clarity's customers.

Assess, maintain, and nurture a healthy team culture

Meet one-on-one with team members monthly at a minimum

Collaborate with each team member’s manager to provide effective mentorship and establish tailored development plans

Provide feedback on team members’ performance to managers

Work with talent acquisition to ensure the team is staffed with appropriate technical talent

Verify onboarding process is defined and followed for all new members

Ensure team members understand their roles and responsibilities

Apply team members’ technical strengths to corresponding work whenever possible

Establish and assess team members’ technical performance expectations

Promptly resolve performance issues in coordination with a team member’s manager

Keep the team on target; communicate priorities and ensure their tasking aligns with it

Implement Clarity’s engineering processes, standards, and quality expectations for your team, including tailoring and documenting deviations where appropriate

Review your team's code

Write enough code to maintain awareness of your team’s developer experience

Raise any issues impacting delivery, such as staffing, budget, or scope, to the PM

Ensure your team defines and adheres to design, development, versioning, release, and deployment workflows

Oversee your team’s documentation of design and architecture decisions

Establish and communicate the product vision

Represent the team in external, technical engagements

Ensure the team’s backlog is well-documented, groomed, and prioritized

Provide time for team to work on enablers like maintenance tasks and automation for building, testing, and deploying

Deliver regular demonstrations of technical progress to customer

Identify opportunities for on-contract growth based on observed gaps in

Act as a key contributor to proposals within or related to the program's scope and customer base

Active US TS/SCI security clearance with CI polygraph or higher

More than 10 years of industry experience in a platform engineering or Dev Ops role. Experience with either in the cyber operations domain is a bonus.

Experience communicating with customers and end-users

Experience delivering and managing capabilities in operational / production environments

Experience leading software design and architecture

Experience evaluating technologies and making informed decisions

Strong technical understanding of programming languages and tools in use

Strong understanding of at least one Agile methodology (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.