---
title: 'Senior Principal Platform Engineer at Clarity Innovations'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-principal-platform-engineer-clarity-innovations-jessup-w8fg0rq483d4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Senior Principal Platform Engineer at Clarity Innovations

- **Company:** Clarity Innovations
- **Location:** Jessup, MD
- **Posted:** 2026-05-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/clarityinnovates/jobs/5146545007

## Job description

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 DevSecOps 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.

As a Platform Engineering Architect you will focus on operationalizing, securing, and maturing artificial intelligence capabilities by building and maintaining the AI "path-to-prod" and a scalable AI run stack—the AI “plumbing.” Your work centers on providing a unified interface for AI model access, integrating foundational and reasoning models, AI agents, and generative AI. Key responsibilities include contributing to the K8s-based AI access platform, managing deployment of core AI services, integrating frontier models (e.g., Claude, GPT) and local inference engines (e.g., vLLM) along with designing MLOps pipelines. The role also requires providing expert recommendations for enterprise AI adoption, specifically in agentic orchestration and spec-driven development.

Core Requirements

- Professional Experience: 7+ years of combined experience in DevSecOps, Platform Engineering, or SRE.
- Kubernetes Mastery: Deep expertise in Administration and Development of Kubernetes clusters.
- Containerization: Advanced knowledge of Docker or equivalent container build tools.
- Cloud & IaC: Experience with Azure or AWS architecture and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Crossplane).
- Software Development: Proficiency in at least one backend or scripting language—ideally Python, Go, or Bash—to drive systems automation.
- Core Networking: Solid understanding of OSI Layer 4–7, including VPC/VNET configuration, DNS, Load Balancing, and SSL/TLS management.
- AI Ecosystem: Practical experience with modern AI/ML frameworks and tooling such as PyTorch, Hugging Face, LangChain, vLLM, Ray, MLflow, or equivalent open-source ecosystems.
- LLM & AI Infrastructure: Hands-on experience deploying, scaling, and securing AI/ML workloads on Kubernetes, including GPU-enabled clusters, model-serving platforms, and distributed inference/training systems.
- AI Platform Operations: Experience building internal AI platforms or developer enablement tooling that supports model lifecycle management, experimentation, inference endpoints, and reproducible AI workflows.
- MLOps & AI Delivery Pipelines: Familiarity with MLOps concepts and tooling, including automated model deployment, versioning, evaluation, observability, rollback strategies, and CI/CD integration for AI systems.Vector & Retrieval Systems: Working knowledge of vector databases, embedding pipelines, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and semantic search architectures.
- AI Security & Governance: Understanding of AI security concerns including model isolation, data handling controls, prompt injection risks, supply-chain security, and governance requirements for sensitive or regulated environments.

Primary Technical Focus Heavy emphasis is placed on the GitLab ecosystem and GitOps workflows:

- GitLab Expert: Mastery of GitLab CI/CD (including Runners, Templates, and Security Scanners).
- GitOps & Continuous Delivery: Hands-on experience with ArgoCD or equivalent declarative CD tools.
- Package Management: Proficiency with Helm for templating and deploying Kubernetes applications.

## Preferred Skills & Certifications

- Security Compliance: Possession of DoD 8570 certifications (e.g., Security+ or CASP+/SecurityX).
- Advanced Networking: Experience with Service Mesh technologies (e.g., Istio, Cilium) and CNI plugins.
- Identity & Access: Configuration and management of Keycloak or OIDC/SAML providers.
- Observability: Experience with the Grafana / Prometheus stack or similar.
- Database Administration: Functional knowledge of PostgreSQL and MySQL.

Bonus Qualifications

- Data Engineering: Experience maintaining data pipelines or high-throughput data infrastructure.
- Cybersecurity: Background in threat modeling, vulnerability management, or SOC operations.
- API Design: Experience designing or maintaining RESTful or RPC APIs.

Salary Range: $123,000 - $322,000

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.

## About Clarity Innovations

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Clarity Innovations is a mission-first software and data engineering platform that delivers secure, agile solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community (IC), and federal agencies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (acquired by Chameleon Consulting Group in June 2024)
- **Headquarters**: Columbia, Maryland, United States
- **Founded**: 2011
- **Founders**: Wesley Daniels (President, Strategic Initiatives)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: National security, defense, cybersecurity, software and data engineering
- **Target customers**: U.S. DoD, IC, federal agencies (B2G)
- **Mission**: To protect and defend our nation by deploying capabilities rapidly and maximizing mission impact; solving diverse, complex intelligence challenges; and turning data into actionable, real-time cyber intelligence.

## Products & Services
Clarity organizes its work around eight specialized **Communities of Practice** focused on three main pillars:

- **Empower Data** – Making data effective for end users and consumable by Non-Person Entities (NPEs); data engineering, analytics, and AI/ML pipelines.
- **Achieve Cyber Dominance** – Enabling cyberspace operations as a viable alternative to kinetic weapons; offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, reverse engineering, vulnerability research, and security engineering.
- **Transform Systems** – Modern solutions architecture, DevSecOps, platform engineering, software engineering, human-centered design, and agile delivery to connect users to the information they need.

Each area includes services such as software development, data engineering, platform engineering, cybersecurity, UX design, product management, and program management.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company).
- **Key Metric**:
  - **Annual Revenue**: ~$3.6M (per third-party data; likely understated for a government contractor of 382 employees).
  - **Total Funding**: $11.7M (led by Capitol Meridian Partners, December 2023).
- **Notable Investors / Partners**:
  - **Capitol Meridian Partners** (lead investor in $11.7M PE round)
  - Parent company: **Chameleon Consulting Group** (acquired Clarity in June 2024)
  - Member of the **Digital Services Coalition (DSC)**
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew **+26.7% year-over-year** (382 employees as of mid-2026).
  - 5 offices across the U.S.; presence in the UK, Germany, Canada, and India.
  - Active hiring across cybersecurity, platform engineering, data science, software engineering, and more (25+ open roles on Greenhouse as of July 2026).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Mission focus**: Clarity is deeply embedded in national security and defense, with a stated commitment to "enabling the future of warfare."
- **Badgeless culture**: Collaboration with other defense contractors and agencies based on ideas and talent, not logos.
- **Digital Services Coalition membership**: Provides strong ties to like-minded, agile digital transformation firms.
- **High employee satisfaction**: 4.7/5.0 employer rating on LinkedIn (based on 64 reviews), with top scores for work-life balance (4.8) and culture (4.7).
- **Security & compliance expertise**: Demonstrated track record with DoD, IC, and federal clients, including cyber, data, and systems transformation.

## Strategic Focus
- Continue to support the DoD, IC, and federal agencies with rapid, mission-critical software and data solutions.
- Expand capabilities in cyber dominance, data engineering, and platform modernization.
- Leverage the backing of Chameleon Consulting Group to scale and pursue larger contracts.
- Emphasize human-centered design and DevSecOps to deliver secure, user-friendly products.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a "family as much as a team" with a focus on servant leadership, mutual respect, and innovation. High employee ratings for culture (4.7) and career development (4.3).
- **Flexibility**: Remote work options available; roles can be fully remote, hybrid, or on-site at locations like Herndon, VA; Columbia, MD; Ft. Meade, MD; and others.
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision; 401(k); generous PTO/holidays; pet insurance; DashPass; wellness programs; LinkedIn Learning accounts; continuous education support.
- **Meaningful work**: Employees directly contribute to national security and defense technology, working on challenging projects that "push the boundaries of technology."

## Sources
1. [Clarity Innovations Website - Home](https://clarityinnovates.com/)
2. [Clarity Innovations - About Us](https://clarityinnovates.com/about-us/)
3. [Clarity Innovations - Careers](https://clarityinnovates.com/careers/)
4. [Jobs at Clarity Innovations (Greenhouse)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/clarityinnovates)
5. [Clarity Innovations LinkedIn Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/clarityinnovations)

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