Technology Observatory / Emerging Technology Engineer

Responsibilities

We are seeking an Emerging Technology Engineer to evaluate, prototype, and recommend technologies that can improve enterprise platforms, cloud infrastructure, software delivery, data services, security, and mission capabilities. The ideal candidate combines broad technical knowledge with hands-on engineering experience and the ability to assess emerging solutions against real-world integration, security, performance, operational, and cost requirements.

Responsibilities Technology Research and Evaluation

• Monitor commercial, government-developed, open-source, and emerging technologies relevant to enterprise platforms, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, data services, observability, cybersecurity, and application hosting.

• Evaluate candidate technologies against technical requirements, architectural alignment, security considerations, interoperability, operational impact, licensing, and cost.

• Assess product maturity, vendor support, licensing changes, lifecycle status, and end-of-life risks.

• Prepare concise technical assessments, comparative analyses, and evidence-based recommendations for engineering and architecture stakeholders.

Prototyping and Technical Validation

• Develop small-scale prototypes, proof-of-concept implementations, and integration demonstrations to assess the feasibility and value of promising technologies.

• Test candidate solutions against representative system interfaces, workloads, and operational requirements.

• Document performance, scalability, integration complexity, security implications, dependencies, limitations, and support requirements.

• Collaborate with engineering teams to validate technical findings and prevent prototypes from introducing unsupported dependencies into production environments.

Technology Adoption and Roadmap Support

• Recommend whether technologies should be adopted, deferred, monitored, or rejected based on documented evaluation criteria and results.

• Support technical roadmaps, architecture reviews, technology refresh initiatives, and replacement planning.

• Coordinate the transition of approved prototypes and validated capabilities to production engineering teams.

• Capture lessons learned and measurable outcomes to inform future technology decisions and continuous improvement.

Location: This position is fully onsite in Chantlly, VA.

Qualifications Required Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph.

• BS/BA and 6 years of experience, 9 years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

• Approximately 6 6 years of experience in software engineering, systems engineering, cloud or platform engineering, data engineering, infrastructure, or related technical disciplines.

• Demonstrated ability to assess unfamiliar technologies and determine their technical feasibility, integration requirements, and operational implications.

• Hands-on experience developing prototypes, proof-of-concepts, software, infrastructure solutions, or system integrations.

• Understanding of enterprise architecture, system interoperability, security requirements, and production operations.

• Strong technical writing, analytical, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate findings and recommendations to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

• Ability to distinguish experimental or demonstration capabilities from solutions suitable for production deployment.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting classified enterprise platforms or Intelligence Community environments.

• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, containers, Kubernetes, and distributed systems.

• Experience with geospatial systems, data platforms, or mission-oriented applications.

• Familiarity with AI/ML infrastructure, model-serving platforms, or emerging AI technologies.

• Experience evaluating commercial products, open-source projects, and vendor solutions.

• Knowledge of DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, and automated software delivery environments.

• Experience with technology lifecycle management, obsolescence assessments, or modernization planning.

Target Salary Range$112,000 - $179,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individuals experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.