Senior Engineer

Description

The company is a non-traditional defense technology firm headquartered in McLean, VA. It builds AI, machine learning and data systems for U.S. military and federal and public agencies, with a focus on autonomous data fusion, agentic AI, distributed data systems, large-scale platforms and complex application development.

Its work produces digital services that reach millions of Americans. Client needs drive how the team operates.

This is a senior platform role. You will design, build and run secure, scalable infrastructure for mission-critical applications across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments, and you will work alongside software engineers, cybersecurity teams and customer stakeholders.

The role calls for strong hands-on depth in Kubernetes, cloud-native technology, infrastructure as code, CI/CD and GitOps.

Responsibilities

• Lead automation of software delivery, infrastructure provisioning and security integration.
• Build and maintain infrastructure as code that supports containerized, cloud-native applications through their full lifecycle.
• Set up and run Kubernetes platforms on AWS and other clouds.
• Create and improve CI/CD pipelines that cover testing, security scanning, deployment and release management.
• Adopt and grow GitOps workflows for continuous delivery using current GitOps tooling.
• Deploy, configure and support platform-hosted services for DOW tenant application teams across several impact levels.
• Keep highly available, production-grade Kubernetes clusters running within security and operational standards.
• Provide secure multi-tenant access to cloud-native services.
• Write automation that makes the platform more reliable, scalable and efficient to operate.
• Set up and maintain Kubernetes networking, including Calico, Cilium or equivalent Container Network Interfaces.
• Deploy and support observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Fluent Bit, Loki and Kibana, along with related monitoring and logging products.
• Work with software, platform and security engineers to build security into every stage of development.

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional experience in DevOps, DevSecOps, platform engineering, site reliability engineering or a related field.
• 3+ years of hands-on work running and securing production Kubernetes and Docker environments.
• Experience provisioning, hardening and maintaining compliant Kubernetes clusters.
• Working knowledge of Kubernetes architecture, Helm charts and container networking such as Calico, Cilium or similar.
• Experience running stateful, highly available, distributed services on Kubernetes.
• Experience with AWS or another cloud platform that supports enterprise workloads.
• Experience with infrastructure as code using Terraform, Ansible or similar frameworks.
• Experience setting up and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with GitLab Runners.
• Experience with software packaging, artifact repositories and build automation for distributed applications.
• Experience implementing monitoring and logging with Prometheus, Grafana, Fluent Bit, Loki, Kibana or similar tools.
• Ability to troubleshoot and solve problems in complex production environments.
• Must hold a Security+ (Sec+) certification.
• Must hold CKA, CKAD, CKS or a similar certification.
• Must live locally to the Scott AFB, IL area.
• Active Secret clearance required.
• Highly preferred: experience with package and dependency management tools including Maven, Gradle, NPM and Yarn.
• Highly preferred: experience implementing and supporting an Istio service mesh.
• Highly preferred: experience supporting enterprise cloud platforms and large-scale infrastructure.
• Highly preferred: proficiency in automation and scripting with Python or Go.
• Highly preferred: experience designing, provisioning, troubleshooting and optimizing complex CI/CD pipelines.
• Highly preferred: experience with GitOps platforms such as Argo CD or Flux.
• Highly preferred: experience supporting DoD, federal or highly regulated production environments.

Conditions

Hybrid role, on-site at Scott Air Force Base.

Foreign and domestic travel to customer sites, up to 35% of the time.

Eligibility requires U.S. citizenship because the programs supported require it, and all work must take place within the continental U.S.

All applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Benefits

• Pay is strongly competitive.
• Healthcare, dental and vision coverage, fully paid.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Flexible PTO you can take as needed, plus 11 paid holidays.
• Education and training benefits.
• Generous referral bonuses.
• Additional benefits beyond these are also offered.