Founding Platform Engineer

This full-time opportunity is based in Arlington, VA (hybrid) with an early-stage start up building mission-critical software for government and enterprise customers. The team is developing next-generation AI systems that combine large language models, knowledge graphs, distributed systems, and secure cloud infrastructure to help users make better decisions from complex, large-scale data. If you're looking for a role where you'll own architecture instead of maintaining legacy systems, this is worth a look.

This is an opportunity to join as one of the earliest engineers and help shape both the product and the engineering culture. Rather than hiring for a narrow specialty, the team is looking for a highly technical generalist who enjoys solving problems across AI, backend engineering, cloud infrastructure, and production systems. You'll work directly with the founders, influence major technical decisions, and build technology that will be deployed in high-impact, security-conscious environments. If you thrive in ambiguity, enjoy wearing multiple hats, and want significant ownership with minimal bureaucracy, you'll fit in well.

Required Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of software engineering experience
• Startup or early-stage company experience
• Strong development experience
• Experience building distributed or cloud-native applications
• Experience with AWS or other major cloud platforms
• Strong understanding of software architecture and production systems
• Comfortable working across multiple areas of the stack
• Clearance Eeligibility required

Desired Skills & Experience

• Experience with AWS GovCloud
• Kubernetes, Docker, or Infrastructure-as-Code experience
• Knowledge graphs, graph databases, or large-scale data platforms
• Experience building secure or regulated systems
• Government, defense, or enterprise software experience

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