---
title: 'FDA - Platform Engineer at Rackner'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/fda-platform-engineer-rackner-remote-tnh62bj7bhqg'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-18'
---

# FDA - Platform Engineer at Rackner

- **Company:** Rackner
- **Location:** Remote
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-09-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-18
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rackner/jobs/4673526005

## Job description

Senior Platform Engineer Location: Remote (U.S.) Clearance: U.S. Citizenship required; must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust (active Public Trust a plus) Employment Type: Full-time

Make an Impact on Federal Health:

- Join Rackner to build and operate the secure, cloud-native platform that powers data, analytics, and AI/ML for a federal health mission.
- You won't just run infrastructure — you'll own the internal developer platform that data scientists, data engineers, and application teams build on every day.
- Shape where it goes next: production-grade MLOps, self-service onboarding, and a paved road from commit to GovCloud.

Who You Are:

- 7+ years in Platform Engineering, DevSecOps, Site Reliability, or Cloud Engineering, with senior-level ownership of a production platform
- Built an internal developer platform / PaaS from the ground up for federal clients — and taken it to production (through ATO) in a federal program, not just contributed to one
- Extensive hands-on experience across both the open-source cloud-native/data ecosystem (Kubernetes, Terraform, ArgoCD, Karpenter/KEDA, Prometheus/Grafana/Loki, Trino, Dagster, dbt) and the AWS services that back them (EKS, S3, Glue, IAM/IRSA, ECR, SageMaker, Bedrock, Athena)
- Deep expertise with Kubernetes (EKS), GitOps (ArgoCD or Flux), and Terraform infrastructure-as-code
- Designs for self-service: golden paths, multi-tenancy, and onboarding that lets teams ship safely without a platform engineer in the loop
- Strong CI/CD background (GitLab CI, Jenkins, ArgoCD, and progressive delivery)
- Fluent automation and scripting (Python, Bash, Go)
- Working knowledge of federal compliance (NIST 800-53, FISMA, ATO processes); comfortable in GovCloud/regulated environments
- Treats documentation and knowledge transfer as part of "done" — clear docs and runbooks come naturally
- A people person and problem-solver who's comfortable being client-facing, wearing many hats, mentoring teammates, and growing into technical leadership

What You'll Do:

- Own the IaC + GitOps foundation — evolve Terraform and ArgoCD (ApplicationSets) so the platform is declarative, self-healing, and recoverable from scratch
- Build and operate a multi-tenant, self-service platform — golden-path app onboarding, tenant/environment management, an app & tooling catalog, and internal developer tooling/CLI
- Run Kubernetes on AWS GovCloud — Karpenter and KEDA autoscaling, ingress and Gateway API, cert-manager, and ALB integration across dev/pre-prod/production
- Architect and deploy AIOps/MLOps for data science and data engineering teams — GPU compute and scheduling, model training and serving, managed notebooks (e.g., SageMaker), GenAI/Bedrock workloads, and production-grade ML pipelines
- Enable the data lakehouse — Trino/Iceberg on Glue + S3, Dagster orchestration, dbt, and search — so teams have reliable, performant data access
- Deliver observability and SLOs — Prometheus, Grafana (including custom-built dashboards), and actionable alerting
- Automate security and compliance — secrets management, network policy, IRSA least-privilege, policy-as-code, vulnerability remediation, and ATO artifact generation
- Drive documentation and knowledge transfer — author and maintain platform docs, production-readiness standards, and runbooks
- Partner directly with government stakeholders and platform tenants — translate mission needs into platform capabilities, with room to grow into a technical leadership role

Preferred / Bonus:

- Hands-on MLOps/AIOps production experience for DS/DE teams — SageMaker, Bedrock, Kubeflow, MLflow, Ray, KServe/Triton/Seldon, or GPU workload scheduling
- Experience with federal health or other regulated federal data programs
- Data platform / lakehouse experience — Trino/Presto, Iceberg, Spark, Dagster/Airflow, dbt
- AWS GovCloud, IL4/IL5, FedRAMP, or air-gapped environment experience
- Policy-as-code (OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno), container security, SBOMs, and vulnerability scanning
- Kubecost/cloud cost management
- Experience establishing a documentation practice and production-readiness standards

Who We Are:

- Rackner is a cloud-native software consultancy delivering solutions for startups, enterprises, and the public sector
- We enable digital transformation through DevSecOps, platform engineering, AI/ML, and cloud-first innovation
- Join a team that thrives on solving high-impact problems and delivering secure, scalable systems for federal missions

Why You'll Love Working Here:

- Weekly Pay & Fully Remote
- Professional Growth – Paid certifications and training for relevant technologies
- Comprehensive Benefits – 401k (100% match up to 6%), PTO, medical/dental/vision, life & disability insurance
- Work-Life Perks – Gym/fitness membership, home office setup, swag, snacks, and social events

Hashtags for Visibility

#PlatformEngineering #MLOps #Kubernetes #GitOps #Terraform #AWSGovCloud #DevSecOps #FederalHealth #DataPlatform #ClearanceJobs #RacknerCareers #Remote

## About Rackner

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Rackner builds AI-enabled, cloud-native mission software for the US Government, applying DevSecOps, Kubernetes, and edge computing to high-consequence defense and civilian agency problems.
- **Entity Type**: Private (no disclosed funding; appears bootstrapped)
- **Headquarters**: Silver Spring, Maryland, United States (with offices in College Park, MD; Dayton, OH; Charlottesville, VA; Arlington, VA)
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Alexander Raul (CEO), DJ Gagner (CEO), Frank Hackenburg (President) – all University of Maryland graduates

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: IT Services & IT Consulting, Defense & Government Technology, Cloud-Native Software, DevSecOps, AI/ML
- **Target customers**: US Federal agencies (Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, HHS/FDA, Department of State, NOAA) and VC-backed hypergrowth startups
- **Mission statement**: “Delivering Decision Advantage Since 2015” – building mission-critical platforms that combine MLOps, DevSecOps, and cybersecurity at scale for organizations where failure isn’t an option.

## Products & Services
- **DevSecOps & Kubernetes Consulting**: Kubernetes Certified Service Provider, CNCF member. Helps organizations adopt cloud-native infrastructure and automate secure software delivery.
- **AI/ML Platform Development**: Custom inference models, MLOps pipelines, and AI-enabled decision advantage software for command and control systems.
- **Edge, IoT/Mobile & VR**: Engineering solutions that extend compute to the tactical edge.
- **Full-Stack Mission Software**: End-to-end development of cloud-native applications, from architecture to deployment, for both legacy modernization and greenfield innovation.
- **Federal Prime & Subcontracts**: Holds contracts with Platform One (DoD Software Factory), US Air Force, Army, Navy, USCIS, FDA, and others.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Headcount ~40 employees (+56.7% YoY as of mid-2026). Active job postings: 15 (as of July 2026).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external funding disclosed. Key partners: major public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP), Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), DoD Platform One.
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded from startups to Fortune 500 and then into federal contracting (2019 Air Force contract marked a turning point). Year-over-year headcount growth of 56.7% indicates aggressive hiring. High LinkedIn follower growth (+7.8% YoY to 5,777). Multiple active job postings spanning engineering, program management, and capture roles.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Kubernetes Certified Service Provider & CNCF member** – deep, certified expertise in container orchestration and cloud-native tech.
- **Government market access** – holds prime and subcontracts with key defense and civilian agencies, requiring security clearances (TS/SCI) and compliance.
- **Startup agility meets mission-critical reliability** – ability to move fast while meeting DoD security and compliance standards.
- **Top employer rating** – 4.5/5 on LinkedIn (10 reviews) with strong compensation (e.g., ML Engineer ~$154k, Software Engineer ~$143k) and culture scores.

## Strategic Focus
- Deepen AI/ML capabilities for defense decision-support systems.
- Expand DevSecOps platform offerings for more federal agencies.
- Continue to hire “lifelong learners” across engineering, operations, and leadership. Job postings emphasize TS/SCI clearance and cloud-native skills.
- Build reusable products and solutions alongside custom consulting services.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Values “mission obsession, engineering excellence, and effective communication.” Described as a remote-first, high-performance team where continuous learning is the operating model (free training, certifications).
- **Work Policy**: Remote-first with DC Metro headquarters; some roles require on-site presence in Dayton, OH or Charlottesville, VA for cleared work.
- **Perks**: Competitive salaries (LinkedIn estimated ranges: Software Engineer $143k, Senior DevSecOps Engineer $131k, AI/ML Engineer $154k). High employee satisfaction: 4.5/5 rating with strong scores on culture (4.4), compensation (4.5), and work-life (4.3).
- **Engineering focus**: Engineers work on bleeding-edge problems – Kubernetes, WASM, MLOps, edge computing – with real-world impact on national security. Open positions include Platform Engineer, MLOps Engineer, Senior Full Stack Software Engineer, and DevSecOps SME.

## Sources
1. [rackner.com](https://rackner.com/about/)
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rackner-solutions)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/rackner)
4. [greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rackner)

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