Software & Platform Engineer at Kentro in McLean, VA

Overview

Thank you for considering IT Concepts dba Kentro, where innovation drives opportunity and collaboration leads to success. Our dynamic community of experts is fully committed to advancing our customers' missions, fostering professional growth, and making a positive impact on our communities.

By joining our supportive community, you will find that Kentro is dedicated to your personal and professional development. Together, we can drive meaningful change, spark innovation, and achieve extraordinary milestones.

Kentro is hiring for a Software & Platform Engineer to support our Innovation Department within Corporate Services, with a strong foundation in software development and solution architecture. This role is ideal for engineers who thrive in writing code, designing, architecting, and building technical solutions, and experimenting with new technologies — while also understanding how applications operate on modern cloud platforms.

You’ll design and prototype innovative, cloud-enabled solutions that evolve into reference architectures for enterprise adoption. While you’ll collaborate with infrastructure experts, you will apply a working knowledge of cloud architectures, DevOps concepts, and IaC patterns to ensure that your solutions are deployable, maintainable, and scalable.

This position blends hands-on software engineering with architectural thinking, making it an excellent fit for developers with platform engineering awareness and an interest in growing into a Solution Architect role.

Location: Hybrid, McLean, VA

Responsibilities

• Focus: Solution Engineering, Application Development, Platform Architecture
• Design and prototype full-stack or service-based innovative solutions that translate high-level challenges into working proofs of value and provide guidance to mature them into production-ready solutions.
• Communicate complex technical topics clearly through demos, documentation, and technical discussions with existing and potential customers virtually and in-person.
• Design decoupled, API-first environments using cloud-native services (AWS, Azure, or GCP) to support a seamless flow between headless backends and diverse frontend consumers.
• Write high-quality, maintainable code and contribute to all phases of the development lifecycle.
• Comprehend and assist with driving Infrastructure as Code (IaC) maturity (using tools like Terraform, Ansible, Azure Resource Manager, etc.) to ensure the platform is reproducible, scalable, and version-controlled.
• Assist with implementing comprehensive observability and distributed tracing (using tools like Prometheus, Datadog, OpenTelemetry, etc.) to monitor the health of complex, decoupled systems and predict bottlenecks.
• Integrate and extend major enterprise platforms (ServiceNow, Salesforce, Databricks, and cloud ecosystems) to deliver connected, intelligent services.
• Build reference implementations, reusable accelerators, and automation patterns that scale innovation beyond individual projects.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed innovation practices, mentor engineers, and evangelize new capabilities across Kentro.
• Understand and apply architecture and security best practices from inception. Ensure solutions fit effectively within existing cloud or owned infrastructure landscape.
• Actively participate in the evaluation of new software, platforms, and solutions.
• Demonstrate exceptional problem-solving skills and deal effectively with ambiguity. Be self-sustained in your ability to dig into complex issues, rapidly learn and apply new technologies directly to problems or opportunities.

Preferred Responsibilities:

• Develop end-to-end prototype applications to demonstrate emerging technology value in practical, mission-aligned ways.
• Evaluate and recommend new tools, frameworks, and platforms that improve developer productivity or support innovative solution patterns.
• Apply AI/ML concepts, data-driven logic, and modern automation approaches to enhance and optimize solutions.
• Create technical guidance, playbooks, and architectural patterns that support developers and platform teams.
• Work within architecture frameworks (TOGAF, DODAF) to plan, document, and/or model systems at an enterprise level
• Experience with Database design, operation (CRUD calls), and optimizations across multiple types of databases.
• Evaluate, champion, and define adoption strategies for emerging techno.logies that align innovation with enterprise architecture, security, and compliance frameworks that offer genuine competitive advantage and organizational efficiency, and drive value.
• Develop whitepapers and playbooks that contribute to our knowledge base and provide guidance and understanding of complex technical issues facing our customers and industry.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, 7+ years of relevant experience.
• Enterprise Implementation Success – Proven track record delivering large scale, complex system integrations and operational optimizations across multi-vendor environments.
• Headless Architecture Expertise – Strong technical understanding of decoupled architectures, API-first methodologies, and cloud-native infrastructure.
• Strong coding experience in modern languages (Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, Go, C#, or similar).
• Ability to design and build scalable applications and services using cloud-native concepts.
• Exceptional communication skills, writing and verbal.
• Exceptional problem solver with a proven ability to handle complex technical challenges and translate high-level direction into actionable, effective solutions.
• Ambitious and self-sustained highly motivated self-starter who is continually driven to learn and autonomously complete projects with little supervision.
• Platform versatility with hands-on experience working across multiple major enterprise platforms like ServiceNow, Salesforce, Databricks, and Cloud Services.
• Technical breadth with strong foundational understanding how solutions interact across cloud providers (Azure, AWS, GCP, Oracle, etc.), with the ability to collaborate effectively with cloud engineering teams.
• Integration understanding with building and maintaining platform-to-platform integrations.
• Security-minded with demonstrated ability to incorporate architectural and security best practices early in the development lifecycle.
• Creative thinker with a track record of leveraging technology in novel ways to create distinguished and impactful business solutions.
• Technical understanding of system architecture, lifecycle, scalability, sustainability, and cost.
• Ability to translate high-level requirements into technical designs and coded solutions.

Benefits

The Company

We believe in generating success collaboratively, enabling long-term mission success, and building trust for the next challenge. With you as our partner, let’s solve challenges, think innovatively, and maximize impact. As a valued member of our team, you have the unique opportunity to work in a diverse range of technology and business career paths, all while supporting our nation and delivering innovative technology solutions. We are a close community of experts that pride ourselves on creating an environment defined by teamwork, dedication, and excellence.

We hold three ISO certifications (27001:2013, 20000-1:2011, 9001:2015), two CMMI ML 3 ratings (DEV and SVC) and CMMC Level 2 Certification.

Industry Recognition

Growth | Inc 5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies, DC Metro List Fastest Growing; Washington Business Journal: Fastest Growing Companies, Top Performing Small Technology Companies in Greater D.C.

Culture | Northern Virginia Technology Council Tech 100 Honoree; Virginia Best Place to Work; Washington Business Journal: Best Places to Work, Corporate Diversity Index Winner – Mid-Size Companies, Companies Owned by People of Color; Department of Labor’s HireVets for our work helping veterans transition; SECAF Award of Excellence finalist; Victory Military Friendly Brand; Virginia Values Veterans (V3); Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Corporate Breath Award

Benefits

We offer competitive benefits package including paid time off, healthcare benefits, supplemental benefits, 401k including an employer match, discount perks, rewards, and more. We invest in our employees – Every employee is eligible for education reimbursement for certifications, degrees, or professional development. Reimbursement amounts may fluctuate due to IRS limitations. We want you to grow as an expert and a leader and offer flexibility for you to take a course, complete a certification, or other professional growth and networking. We are committed to supporting your curiosity and sustaining a culture that prioritizes commitment to continuous professional development.

We work hard; we play hard. Kentro is committed to incorporating fun into every day. We dedicate funds for activities – virtual and in-person – e.g., we host happy hours, holiday events, fitness & wellness events, and annual celebrations. In alignment with our commitment to our communities, we also host and attend charity galas/events. We believe in appreciating your commitment and building a positive workspace for you to be creative, innovative, and happy.

Commitment Equal Opportunity Employment & VEVRAA

Kentro is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Kentro is strongly committed to compliance with VEVRAA and other applicable federal, state, and local laws governing equal employment opportunity. We have developed comprehensive policies and procedures to ensure our hiring practices align with these requirements.

As part of our VEVRAA compliance efforts, Kentro has established an equal opportunity plan outlining our commitment to recruiting, hiring, and advancing protected veterans. This plan is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure its effectiveness.

We encourage protected veterans to self-identify during the application process. This information is strictly confidential and will only be used for reporting and compliance purposes as required by law. Providing this information is voluntary and will not impact your employment eligibility.

Our commitment to equal employment opportunity extends beyond legal compliance. We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace where all employees, including protected veterans, are treated with dignity, respect, and fairness.

How to Apply

To apply to Kentro Positions- Please click on the job link and then click the blue “Apply” button at the top right of Job Description. Please upload your resume and complete all the application steps. You must fully submit the application for Kentro to consider you for a position. If you need alternative application methods, please email careers@kentro.us and request assistance.

Accommodations

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. If you need to discuss reasonable accommodations, please email careers@kentro.us.