--- title: 'Senior Data Platform Engineer at DEFCON AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-platform-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-rjjmm1y0kf5r' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-06' --- # Senior Data Platform Engineer at DEFCON AI - **Company:** DEFCON AI - **Location:** United States - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-10-01 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-06 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/defcon/jobs/5253336007 ## Job description ## ABOUT DEFCON AI RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF DISRUPTION. DEFCON AI is an insights company that leverages artificial intelligence, mathematical optimization, data analytics, and software engineering for resilient optimization of complex systems. In today’s dynamically changing world, DEFCON AI’s technology aligns outcomes with operational goals, better decision making, and empowers customers to anticipate assess, and mitigate the impacts of disruptions. If your answer to “the two records disagree” is never overwrite, this role was built for you. ## About the Role As a Senior Data Platform Engineer, you’ll own the durable view of every resolved entity on the platform: the storage layer that holds what we know, where each fact came from, how confident we are in it, and how that picture has changed over time. When two sources disagree, both are kept with their evidence. When someone asks what we believed on a given date, and why, the platform can answer. You’ll join the analytics and AI engineering team behind a system that ingests records from dozens of disparate sources, resolves them to the right entity, highlights what analysts should review first, and provides transparent, explainable recommendations that users can trust. Operating within a secure government cloud environment, the platform depends on a storage layer that never quietly erases a disagreement between sources. Upstream matching is probabilistic. A match arrives with a confidence score rather than a yes, and the storage layer carries that uncertainty forward rather than collapsing it into one clean record. Sources change shape without warning and there is no shared key to join on, so this is a current data-engineering problem rather than a classic warehousing one. The seniority this role calls for is about judgment, not tooling breadth: knowing why you never overwrite, and being able to reconstruct a past decision with its evidence a year later. If your instinct when records disagree is to preserve both and let a human decide, you’ll be at home here. This is a fully remote role with occasional travel to DEFCON AI headquarters, customer sites, and partner facilities as needed. ## Key Responsibilities - Design and build the storage layer that preserves source disagreement and history rather than resolving them away at write time - Build the first release’s result and evidence store: saved per-person results linked to the originating record, prior results and human feedback retained separately, and configuration versions on every result - Implement provenance and lineage across every node and edge against the platform’s evidence-record contract - Store the versioned rule library and configuration, and record on every result the exact rule versions and ordered context supplied to any model-assisted step - Ensure every write is traceable to its origin and every decision is reproducible - Carry match confidence and other uncertainty forward through the platform rather than collapsing it into a single value - Support point-in-time questions: what did we believe about this entity on this date, and on what evidence - Define, with entity resolution and ML teammates, what the storage layer needs to receive and what it must serve downstream Required Qualifications - 6+ years in data engineering or data platform engineering, including production experience with versioned, temporal, or historized data models - Experience designing storage where history, provenance, and source disagreement are first-class rather than resolved away - Comfort building on probabilistic upstream output rather than a clean shared key - Strong Python and SQL, with production experience on PostgreSQL or comparable - US Citizenship Required - Active US Secret clearance ## Preferred Qualifications - Experience building the storage layer downstream of an entity-resolution or record-linkage system - Bi-temporal, event-sourced, graph, or temporal data modeling in production - Federal, government, or regulated-industry experience where a historical decision had to be reproducible on demand - Active Top Secret clearance What Success Looks Like - A durable view that never silently overwrites a disagreement between sources - “What did we believe on this date, and on what evidence” is answerable a year later - The storage layer holds up as probabilistic match output flows in, rather than assuming a clean join ## What We Offer - A fully remote, results-based environment - Competitive salary, bonus, and equity package - 100% employer paid, comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family - Unlimited PTO, with your manager’s approval - Flexible work environment where you manage your work day - 14 weeks of fully-paid parental leave Salary Range: $165,000—$200,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience, skills, and other factors. We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer: You’ll receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability. Applicant Data Disclosure By submitting an application, you acknowledge that Defcon AI uses third-party service providers to facilitate its recruitment and hiring processes. These providers include applicant tracking systems, candidate verification platforms, and fraud detection tools (collectively, "Hiring Platforms"). Your application materials, including your résumé, cover letter, work samples, responses to application questions, and any other information you submit, may be transmitted to and processed by these Hiring Platforms for the following purposes: - Managing and administering your application throughout the hiring process; - Verifying the accuracy and authenticity of application materials, including by cross-referencing information you provide against publicly available sources and proprietary databases; - Identifying indicators of potentially fraudulent, fabricated, or materially misleading application content, including but not limited to discrepancies between submitted materials and publicly available professional profiles, geographic anomalies, and fabricated work histories. Applications that are flagged through this process as containing indicators of fraud or material misrepresentation may be declined from further consideration. If you have questions about the status of your application or the evaluation process, please contact recruiting@defconai.com. Defcon AI requires its Hiring Platform providers to process your information solely for the purposes described above and in accordance with applicable law. Your information will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill these purposes and any applicable legal obligations, after which it will be deleted in accordance with Defcon AI's data retention policies. For more information about how your data is used, please refer to our Privacy Policy and [Applicant Privacy Notice](https://nam09.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcellpartners.com%2Fapplicant-privacy-policy%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ckat.creamer%40redcellpartners.com%7Cc0f94f3daed94dc7503108de8b61955e%7Cf861de501a2a42359dbf28afd57d1d97%7C0%7C0%7C639101448841578570%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=WoPiBMZqQyPPK5N4E1sCagkbMY2S8P3aSRSoy7T4los%3D&reserved=0). ## About DEFCON AI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: DEFCON AI builds AI-powered decision-augmentation platforms that optimize complex operations under uncertainty for national security, manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare organizations. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; raised $44M total funding) - **Headquarters**: McLean, Virginia, United States - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Yisroel Brumer (Co-Founder & CEO) and Grant Verstandig (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman) ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: National Security/Defense, Manufacturing, Logistics & Transportation, Healthcare - **Target customers**: B2B — primarily U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies, as well as large commercial enterprises in manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. - **Mission or purpose**: To deliver decision-augmentation capabilities that help organizations anticipate disruption, evaluate alternatives in real time, and make confident decisions before disruptions cascade. ## Products & Services - **ARTIV Air**: Cloud-native optimization platform for airlift planners to rapidly generate and evaluate multiple mission scenarios, balancing effectiveness, efficiency, and resiliency for routing mission-critical cargo and personnel. - **R-ALIGN**: Enables logistics planners to model and evaluate global multimodal operations (air, sea, rail, road) using time-sensitive optimization in contested and dynamic environments. - **FlightForge**: AI-driven tool that delivers mission-ready flight schedules in seconds, balancing key factors for accuracy and efficiency with real-time crew-to-sortie visibility. - **DockForge**: Optimizes ship maintenance scheduling by assigning jobs across dry docks and shipyards, maximizing throughput and allowing planners to explore trade-offs. - **R-IMS (Resilient Infrastructure Management System)**: Provides real-time view of capacity, dependencies, and schedule risk through simulation and scenario analysis for infrastructure and program teams. - **HelioNet**: Helps enterprises design resilient, cost-efficient global logistics networks through advanced modeling and long-horizon optimization (warehouse/hub location, tariff/disruption scenarios). - **SimSource**: Advanced optimization, simulation, and forecasting platform for managing complex, nested scheduling demands under uncertainty in manufacturing. - **Synapse Scheduler**: Uses optimization, ML, and LLMs to generate workforce schedules that meet staffing needs and individual preferences (targeting healthcare). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$44.0M** (Seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners in August 2024; earlier venture round in October 2022). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Bessemer Venture Partners (lead), Red Cell Partners, and other undisclosed investors. The company was founded in response to a direct request from the U.S. Department of War. - **Growth Signals**: Rapid transition from concept to mission-ready platform since founding in 2022; growing network of partners; expansion into commercial sectors (manufacturing, healthcare, logistics) beyond initial defense focus. LinkedIn shows 3,361 followers (+33.4% yearly). ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep domain expertise**: The team combines senior defense leaders, algorithm developers, and operators, bridging theory and real-world execution. - **Proven government pedigree**: Founded to meet a direct need from the Department of War, giving it strong credibility and an existing customer base in national security. - **Cross-industry applicability**: Core optimization technology is platform-agnostic and has been adapted to manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics — not just defense. - **Focus on uncertainty**: Unlike traditional static planning tools, the entire product suite is built to handle contested, dynamic, and uncertain environments. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Scaling the platform across multiple industries (defense, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare) and deepening capabilities in resilient optimization. - **Direction for growth**: Expanding the partner network, continuing to win government contracts, and building out commercial applications for complex scheduling and supply chain resilience. ## Why Work Here - **Culture highlights**: Mission-focused team of world-class AI engineers, data scientists, and mathematics experts working on pressing national challenges. Emphasis on collaboration, transparent communication, and operational impact. - **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: **Remote-first** — ability to work fully remote within the United States. Certain roles may have in-office requirements. - **Notable perks**: 100% employer-paid health insurance (medical, dental, vision) for employee and family; Unlimited PTO with management approval (all federal holidays observed); 14 weeks paid parental leave (maternity and paternity) at normal pay; 401K and FSA available; professional development and continued learning opportunities. - **Engineering culture**: Building with bleeding-edge AI, mathematical optimization, and mission-grade software engineering. The team values rapid iteration and real-world deployment over theoretical work. ## Sources 1. [defconai.com](https://www.defconai.com/) 2. [defconai.com/careers](https://www.defconai.com/careers) 3. [defconai.com/about](https://www.defconai.com/about) 4. [boards.greenhouse.io/defcon](https://boards.greenhouse.io/defcon) 5. [linkedin.com/company/defcon-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/defcon-ai) ## Other roles at DEFCON AI - [Controller](https://feeny.ai/job/controller-defcon-ai-mclean-3f2y567mv0qb) — Mclean, VA - [IT Help Desk Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/it-help-desk-specialist-defcon-ai-mclean-yc3pkxnmypjv) — Mclean, VA - [Senior Entity Resolution Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-entity-resolution-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-1vhe7q9xv1a3) — United States - [Model Test and Measurement Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/model-test-and-measurement-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-2re9pe19frwr) — United States - [ML Engineer, Retrieval & Grounded Generation](https://feeny.ai/job/ml-engineer-retrieval-grounded-generation-defcon-ai-united-states-0hc6tabj65br) — United States - [Information Extraction Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/information-extraction-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-agn4q9kc11ka) — United States - [Triad Modernization Advisor (1099)](https://feeny.ai/job/triad-modernization-advisor-1099-defcon-ai-offutt-afb-61ek5pfz3hts) — Offutt Afb, NE - [Senior Data Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-platform-engineer-dept-gran-buenos-aires-wh890e6z088c) — Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina / Capital Federal, Argentina - [Senior Data Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-platform-engineer-schonfeld-new-york-mrwxg0yvq20x) — New York, NY - [Senior Data Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-platform-engineer-pushpress-united-states-jy9c3fy3b0vy) — United States