Technology Observatory / Emerging Technology Engineer
About The Position
Peraton is 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 role combines broad technical knowledge with hands-on engineering to assess emerging solutions against integration, security, performance, operational, and cost requirements. The engineer researches commercial, government-developed, open-source, and emerging technologies; evaluates technical fit, architecture, security, interoperability, operational impact, licensing, cost, maturity, vendor support, lifecycle status, and end-of-life risks; and prepares evidence-based assessments and recommendations. The role also develops prototypes, proofs of concept, and integration demonstrations, tests them against representative interfaces, workloads, and operating requirements, and documents findings such as performance, scalability, integration complexity, security implications, dependencies, limitations, and support needs. The engineer recommends whether technologies should be adopted, deferred, monitored, or rejected, and supports roadmaps, architecture reviews, technology refresh initiatives, and replacement planning. The position coordinates approved prototypes and validated capabilities with production engineering teams and records lessons learned and measurable outcomes. It is fully onsite in Chantilly, Virginia, and requires an active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph.
Requirements
- 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 6–10 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.
Nice To Haves
- 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.
Responsibilities
- 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.
- Develop small-scale prototypes, proof-of-concept implementations, and integration demonstrations to evaluate 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.
- 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.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
