Senior/Lead DevOps Engineer

C3 AI is seeking a Senior/Lead DevOps Engineer – Federal to join our team in Tysons, VA. You will lead deployments of the C3 Agentic AI Platform into federal customer environments, from initial architecture through production handoff, working directly with customers and with C3 AI Services and Engineering teams.

This role requires US Citizenship and an active Secret clearance or higher. TS/SCI or higher is preferred. A CI or Full-Scope polygraph is preferred.

Responsibilities:

• Lead new federal customer deployments of the C3 AI Platform end to end, from requirements and architecture through installation, validation, and handoff to operations. 
• Design and implement customized installations that meet the unique access and security requirements of federal environments, including on-premises, disconnected, and air-gapped networks. 
• Deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters using infrastructure as code (Terraform), and deploy containerized applications with Helm. 
• Initiate and lead scripting and automation (Ansible, Bash, Python) to streamline system updates and upgrades. 
• Set up critical infrastructure, tools, and frameworks to streamline the deployment cycle, including CI/CD pipelines and artifact repositories. 
• Establish end-to-end monitoring and alerting on all critical aspects of deployed systems. 
• Solve complex problems for critical services, build automation to prevent recurrence, and deliver root cause analyses and postmortems. 
• Ensure system uptime and availability, meeting functional and performance SLAs. 
• Work cross-functionally with Services, Engineering, and the C3 AI Platform operations team. 
• Serve as the technical point of contact for customer engineering teams: brief status, document architectures, and write runbooks. 
• Travel to customer sites (up to 50%, primarily in the DC area). 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM), or comparable area of study. 
• Active Secret clearance or higher; TS/SCI or higher preferred; CI or Full-Scope polygraph preferred. 
• 6+ years of experience in DevOps, SRE, or infrastructure engineering roles. 
• Demonstrated experience deploying, managing, and operating scalable and fault-tolerant Kubernetes-based infrastructure in AWS and Azure clouds; on-premises deployment experience preferred. 
• Hands-on administration of one or more Kubernetes distributions: AKS, EKS, GKE, RKE2, K3s, or OpenShift. 
• Experience deploying Kubernetes with infrastructure as code, Terraform preferred. 
• Experience packaging and deploying containerized applications with Helm. 
• Configuration management and automation with Ansible; Puppet a plus. 
• Experience with CI/CD and artifact tooling such as GitLab CI, Argo CD, Nexus, or Artifactory. 
• Expertise in Linux operating systems, networking, and database concepts. 
• Experience with cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP, including government regions (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government). 
• Experience in Python or Bash to automate and monitor systems. 
• Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills. 
• Customer-facing experience leading deployments or technical engagements, working independently with strong initiative. 

Preferred

• Experience in disconnected or air-gapped environments, including DISA STIG hardening and RMF/ATO support.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Experience administering Kubernetes-based microservices and databases (Postgres, Cassandra).

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future company sponsorship.

Virginia Base Pay Range 159000 - 230000 USD