Platform Engineer

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

Role Description: 

We are seeking talented and experienced Platform Engineers to join our team in a hybrid capacity in the the Denver/Colorado Springs, Colorado area. The ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our Space Portfolio’s pipeline team, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide junior engineers.

You will join a team of dedicated unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally by making software a strategic deterrent. Our teams are working on architecting, building, and deploying mission critical software capabilities for the United States Space Force.

Responsibilities: 

In this role, your primary responsibilities will include leading and guiding the team architecting the Space Portfolio’s CI/CD pipelines. You will be a crucial link between the Application Development team and the Production Environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between the application development teams and platform teams.

In this position, you will be expected to: 

• Validate Solutions/Implementations: Ensure that solutions and implementations align with the outlined tasks and business requirements. Conduct thorough validations to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the platform.
• Independently Problem Solve: Demonstrate the ability to identify and solve business problems independently. Develop small components to address specific challenges without relying on explicit architecture diagrams.
• Understand Medium-Level Tasking: Comprehend how medium-level tasks contribute to the achievement of overall goals. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate various components into a cohesive and functional platform.
• Estimate Time and Effort: Provide accurate time and effort estimates for medium-sized tasks. Assist in project planning and resource allocation based on estimated timelines.
• Demonstrate Programming Language Proficiency: Possess familiarity with at least one programming language. Exhibit a basic understanding of when to use a programming language versus a shell script for efficient task execution.

Own the bridge between the Application Development team and the Production Environment:

• Interject "best practices" to the application development team and facilitate collaboration between the application development and platform teams.
• Inform discussions on the benefits of using cyber-secure tools.
• Establish and facilitate automated Zarf builds as part of CI for multiple app dev teams.
• Collaborate with the Platform team on End-to-End (E2E) and Integration testing.
• Understand CI/CD and other automation best practices and lead implementation of deployment pipelines

Build and maintain automated pipeline functions, leading teams towards delivery and sustainment options.Implement infrastructure as code and contribute to the build/maintenance of kubernetes clusters on various distributions (i.e EKS & RKE2)

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:

• Active TS/SCI clearance highly preferred
• Proven experience as a DecSecOps Engineer, with a focus on system architecture and development.
• Familiarity with continuous delivery, distributed systems and architecture, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services (specifically AWS).
• Active participant in open source projects and product repositories, showcasing a commitment to industry innovation.
• 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.

• A critical thinker capable of weighing various methods for solving business problems with a focus on product excellence.

• Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on an Authority to Operate (ATO'd) system.
• Possess a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
• Experienced with Big Bang, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.
• Knowledgeable about DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
• Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework.
• Comfortable and experienced in working on projects with compliance requirements.
• Experienced with automated testing.

Salary Ranges: 
Platform Engineer: $123,250 - $166,750
Senior Platform Engineer: $148,750 - $201,250