Backend Developer/Engineer

About

Vantor is forging the new frontier of spatial intelligence, helping decision makers and operators navigate what’s happening now and shape what’s coming next. Vantor is a place for problem solvers, changemakers, and go‑getters—where people are working together to help our customers see the world differently, and in doing so, be seen differently. Come be part of a mission, not just a job, where you can: shape your own future, build the next big thing, and change the world.

We are a sleek and modern software development team building mission‑critical applications with real‑world impact for the Intelligence Community. We are seeking an experienced Backend Developer/Engineer to join our hybrid agile team and help build and scale our data platform to support IC AI efforts.

Eligibility

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Requires an active U.S. Government security clearance at the TS/SCI level with CI Polygraph. Applicants who do not currently hold the required clearance will not be eligible for consideration. Employment for cleared roles is contingent upon verification of clearance status.
• Export Control/ITAR: Certain roles may be subject to U.S. export control laws, requiring U.S. person status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and platform components for a modern data architecture.
• Build integrations with internal and external data sources, APIs, and event streams.
• Partner with data engineering, analytics, and product managers to define scalable data models and platform capabilities.
• Improve reliability, observability, and performance of data workflows and backend services.
• Implement best practices for testing, monitoring, logging, and deployment.
• Contribute to architecture decisions around storage, orchestration, metadata management, and access patterns.
• Help establish engineering standards for code quality, documentation, CI/CD, and operational excellence.
• Troubleshoot and debug production systems.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with strong backend development skills.
• Strong proficiency in Python.
• Experience building backend systems, APIs, or distributed services in production environments.
• PostgreSQL and Elasticsearch proficiency.
• Familiarity with AWS, especially S3, RDS, and other data‑centric services.
• Current/active TS/SCI with a current CI polygraph or be willing and able to obtain a CI polygraph.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field (e.g., Computer Science, Systems Engineering) or equivalent experience.
• Understanding of software engineering fundamentals including testing, version control, CI/CD, and system design.
• Tenacious troubleshooting, problem‑solving and error‑fixing mentality.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills; ability to work, collaborate and thrive on a small technical team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with data platforms, data pipelines, ETL/ELT workflows, or large‑scale data processing systems.
• GitLab and GitLab CI experience.
• OpenShift and Helm experience.
• Docker and containerization experience.
• DoD 8570 IAT II and Privileged User Access requirements met (Security+, CySA+, CCNA Security, GICSP, GSEC, SSCP).

Pay

• The base pay for this position within the Washington, DC metropolitan area is $113,000 – $188,000 annually.
• For all other states, geographic cost of labor is used to develop market‑driven ranges; each location may have a different range.

Benefits

Vantor offers a competitive total rewards package that goes beyond the standard, including:

• Robust 401(k) with company match
• Mental health resources
• Student loan repayment assistance
• Adoption reimbursement
• Pet insurance

More information on benefits is available at: https://www.Vantor.com/careers