Senior Kubernetes Platform Systems Engineer
$195,000–$255,000 year
On-siteLaurel, Maryland, United States
Job Summary
Administer, secure, and maintain a highly available Kubernetes platform across development, staging, and production environments for mission-critical government applications. Partner with developers and stakeholders to translate operational requirements into scalable solutions, design hardened container images, and automate CI/CD pipelines to streamline application delivery. Perform routine vulnerability scanning, patching, and compliance activities while coordinating upgrades and maintenance windows to minimize operational impact. Monitor cluster health, troubleshoot complex infrastructure issues through root cause analysis, and manage enterprise monitoring, alerting, and logging solutions. Provision new customer projects, develop technical documentation, and provide Tier II/Tier III support for certificate requests and incident resolution. Requires TS/SCI clearance and 20 years of systems engineering experience.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline
- Additional five (5) years of experience
- Twenty (20) years of Systems Engineering experience in programs and contracts of similar scope
- Demonstrated experience administering and supporting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) environments
- Hands-on experience automating infrastructure and application deployments using Ansible or comparable Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and configuration management tools
- Strong experience designing, deploying, and administering Kubernetes platforms in enterprise environments
- Solid understanding of container orchestration, cluster lifecycle management, and production operations
- Experience supporting virtualized and cloud-based infrastructure using VMware, AWS, Azure, or similar enterprise virtualization technologies
- Proficiency developing and maintaining Bash scripts to automate routine administrative tasks
- Experience utilizing GitLab, Git, or similar version control platforms to manage source code, infrastructure configurations, and CI/CD workflows
- Working knowledge of Helm for deploying, configuring, and managing Kubernetes applications through reusable, scalable deployment templates
- Experience using enterprise monitoring, vulnerability scanning, patch management, and health monitoring tools
- Familiarity with Jira or similar Agile project management and ticketing platforms
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across cross-functional engineering, operations, and customer teams in a fast-paced mission environment
- CompTIA Security+ CE (or higher) certification meeting DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II or Level III requirements
- Active TS/SCI with Polygraph
Desired Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline is desired
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or equivalent Kubernetes certification demonstrating advanced platform administration expertise
- Experience implementing GitOps methodologies and modern DevSecOps practices to automate infrastructure provisioning and application delivery
- Strong understanding of CI/CD pipeline development and automation for enterprise software deployment and release management
- Experience developing automation tools or operational utilities using Python
- Solid understanding of Kubernetes networking concepts, including Ingress, Egress, service discovery, load balancing, and network policies
- Experience developing and maintaining comprehensive test plans, test procedures, test cases, and validation documentation for infrastructure and platform deployments
- Experience implementing or supporting test automation frameworks that improve deployment quality, reduce risk, and accelerate release cycles
- Passion for continuous improvement, automation, and emerging cloud-native technologies, with a desire to help shape and evolve enterprise Kubernetes platform capabilities
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