Senior Platform Engineer

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP.Role Description: 

We are seeking a talented and experienced Platform Engineer to join our team. The ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our platform, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide other engineers. We are seeking an experienced professional who can not only fulfill technical responsibilities but also contribute to the strategic vision and innovation of our products.

As a Senior Platform Engineer within our organization, you will join a team of dedicated unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally. Our teams work on various different technical baselines depending on specific engagements. We focus our Products on the Platform layer, but to deliver for our Heroes, we also work IaC automation, security, and implementation. 

Responsibilities: 

You will be building a runtime Production Environment and serve as a crucial link between the Applications, either custom development, COTS, or OSS, and that environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between the application teams and platform teams.

In this position, you will be expected to: 

• Contribute to the Strategic Vision: Envision and articulate the long-term vision for our products, creating a path for their evolution. Contribute to the strategic planning that aligns technological advancements with the mission objectives.
• Innovate and Solve Problems: Evaluate and weigh different methods for solving complex business problems with a keen focus on product excellence. Identify innovative solutions and contribute to Defense Unicorns’ open source projects and product repositories.
• Evaluate Products: Assess new products, quickly gaining a deep understanding to make informed decisions on their potential to meet mission needs. Contribute expertise in recognizing gaps in our current processes, articulating these insights for the product backlog.
• Demonstrate Technical Mastery: Solve highly technical problems that span 2-3 knowledge domains, showcasing a broad understanding of diverse technological landscapes. Demonstrate expert knowledge in 1-2 key technologies such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others, contributing to the team's technical excellence.
• Exhibit strong programming skills and deep familiarity with Linux/Unix operating systems.
• Implement infrastructure as code and contribute to the build/maintenance of kubernetes clusters on various distributions (i.e EKS & RKE2).
• Apply extensive experience with cloud native technology deployments, emphasizing secure coding practices and vulnerability remediation.

Travel Expectations: 10%-25%

The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise. 

Preferred Experience and Qualifications:

• Expertise in solving highly technical problems that span multiple knowledge domains.
• Deep knowledge in 1-2 key technologies, demonstrating proficiency in areas such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others.
• Expert with YAML.
• Proficient with security automation and familiarity with API Security, Container Security, and Cloud Security.
• Proficient in architecture security design, monitoring, and performance instrumentation in a complex enterprise environment.
• Experience with continuous delivery, distributed architectures, systems, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services.
• Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework in a remote environment.
• Proficient in identifying and articulating gaps in existing processes, helping us iterate to better ways of working.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to the product direction based on feedback from using the product in production environments.
• Proven track record of evaluating and selecting optimal methods for solving complex business problems.
• Work with our Heroes (customers) to define a technical roadmap that aligns to the mission objectives.
• Experienced at assessing and making decisions on new products, understanding their potential impact on mission objectives.
• Hold a security clearance/Eligible to apply for a security clearance.
• Possess or ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
• Expert in DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
• Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on a production Authority to Operate (ATO'd) system.
• Experienced with Big Bang, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.

If you are a skilled Platform Engineer looking to contribute to the growth and success of a dynamic organization, we invite you to apply and join our team.