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Backend/API Engineer
Job
ECS
Fairfax, VA (In Person)
Full-Time
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Job Description
Job Requirements Fairfax, VA Secret Polygraph Unspecified Career Level not specified Salary not specified Join Premium to unlock estimated salaries Job Description Job Description Everforth ECS is seeking a Backend/API Engineer to work in the National Capital Region covering the Pentagon, Falls Church, and Fairfax .
Please Note:
This position is contingent upon contract award. The War Data Platform (WDP) is a key initiative within the U.S. Department of War's (DoW) AI-First strategy introduced in early 2026. The WDP separates business and financial data from operational warfighting data, aiming to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield. The WDP extends to Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret environments, and supports collaboration between Combatant Commands, Joint Staff directorates, Senior Executive Service leaders, and operational analysts. The Backend/API Engineer is responsible for designing, building, and sustaining the backend services and API infrastructure that enable secure, scalable access to AI and machine learning models across WDP Core Integration's mission environments. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, AI/ML operationalization, and DevSecOps delivery, ensuring that production model endpoints, service meshes, and deployment automation pipelines meet the performance, security, and mission assurance standards required across WDP's enterprise application ecosystem.- Designs, builds, and maintains backend services and application programming interfaces that operationalize artificial intelligence and machine learning model access across War Data Platform (WDP) Core Integration mission environments.
- Implements automated workflows for configuring API endpoints, proxy layers, routing patterns, and service registration logic that provide consistent and secure access to production model artifacts within Unclassified networks.
- Develops scalable serving frameworks using Kubernetes services, API gateways, service meshes, containerized runtime environments, and model-hosting orchestration patterns to support five to ten new endpoints or services per Program Increment while sustaining ten to thirty active production models.
- Implements automated configuration pipelines that bind model artifacts to endpoint specifications, integrate with cross-domain promotion workflows, and align deployment logic with WDP Core Integration's security architecture, enclave requirements, and model evaluation gates.
- Develops reusable backend components, authentication modules, logging interfaces, and monitoring instrumentation using tools such as Flask, FastAPI, NGINX, Envoy, Prometheus, and distributed tracing platforms to strengthen operational visibility and reliability.
- Coordinates with model-serving engineering, cyber engineering, and platform operations teams to establish routing rules, proxy behaviors, and security controls supporting mission assurance standards across the DoW.
- Conducts performance tuning, scalability analysis, and defect remediation to maintain consistent responsiveness and fault tolerance across enterprise workloads.
- Produces service specifications, interface definitions, architecture diagrams, runbooks, and operational metrics that advance WDP Core Integration program value by increasing model accessibility, deployment velocity, and integration consistency across enterprise applications.
- Performs other duties as assigned. Required Skills
- Current Secret security clearance.
- A minimum of 3 years of experience in backend software engineering, API development, or a closely related discipline within a federal, defense, or enterprise technology environment, with demonstrated proficiency designing and operating scalable, production-grade backend services and API infrastructure in support of AI/ML model deployment or data platform programs.
- Active IAT Level II certification, satisfied by one of the following: CompTIA Security+ CE, CompTIA CySA+, CompTIA Cloud+, Cisco CCNA Security, GIAC
GSEC, GIAC
GCED, or ISC² SSCP.- Demonstrated hands-on experience building and consuming diverse API architectures, including REST and SOAP (via
WSDL/XML
); deep understanding of API lifecycle management, payload optimization, data serialization formats (JSON, XML), and interface contract definition.- Highly developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills, with the ability to effectively and professionally interact with a diverse set of stakeholders (from peers to end-users). Desired Skills
- Hands-on experience with container orchestration and service mesh technologies - including Kubernetes, Envoy, and NGINX - applied to AI/ML model serving at scale, including familiarity with API gateway configuration, load balancing, and distributed tracing in cloud-native or hybrid government environments.
- Experience implementing APIs specifically optimized for AI/ML workloads, including exposure to high-throughput data streaming, large payload serialization (e.g., embeddings, tensors), and integrating with model inference endpoints.
- Proficiency with Python-based backend frameworks such as Flask or FastAPI, and demonstrated experience developing reusable authentication modules, logging interfaces, and observability instrumentation integrated with monitoring platforms such as Prometheus or Elastic Stack in support of production service reliability requirements.
- Demonstrated experience implementing resilient, fail-safe integration strategies for low-bandwidth, disconnected, intermittent, or limited-latency (DIL) tactical environments within secure federal networks.
- Familiarity with MLOps pipeline design and model lifecycle management, including experience binding model artifacts to endpoint specifications, automating deployment configuration pipelines, and integrating backend services with CI/CD workflows in a DevSecOps environment aligned to government security and model evaluation gate requirements.
- Familiarity with Zero Trust architecture principles and Identity and Access Management (IdAM) standards as applied to backend API security design, including experience implementing role-based or attribute-based access controls, token-based authentication, and encrypted service-to-service communication patterns in government-accredited cloud environments.