Senior Platform Engineer (FedD202)

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. 

Role Description

We are seeking a talented Sr. Platform Engineer to join the Navy Delivery team. This role sits at the intersection of platform engineering, application development, DevOps, and application security. The ideal candidate will help application development teams successfully integrate, package, secure, deploy, and operate their software on the Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS) and Kubernetes-based environments.

The successful candidate will understand both sides of the application/platform boundary. They should be comfortable working with application source code, APIs, containers, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes resources, Helm charts, and production runtime concerns. They will collaborate directly with application teams to understand how their software is built and operated, translate those needs into repeatable deployment artifacts and processes, and identify issues across application and platform layers.

Experience developing or supporting modern web applications and APIs is particularly valuable. Current application teams use technologies including React, Vue, NGINX-hosted static assets, C#/.NET services, and Python/FastAPI services. Direct experience with every technology is not expected; we are looking for engineers who can quickly understand unfamiliar application architectures and help teams adapt them for secure, reliable deployment.

As a Platform Engineer within our organization, you will join a team of dedicated unicorns focused on advancing freedom and independence globally. Our teams work across different technical baselines depending on the engagement. Although our products primarily operate at the platform layer, delivering successful outcomes for our Heroes also requires us to work closely with application teams on CI/CD components, runner deployments and maintenance, UDS packaging, Kubernetes and Helm configuration, application observability, security controls, and process automation.

Responsibilities: 

You will serve as a crucial link between applications, either custom development, COTS, or OSS, and the Navy platform environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between application teams and platform teams. 

In this position, you will be expected to: 

• Innovate and Solve Problems: Evaluate and weigh different methods for solving complex technical problems; identify innovative solutions.
• Demonstrate Technical Skill: Solve 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 full-stack application development, CI/CD, GitOps, Kubernetes, Tofu, AWS, Go, or others, contributing to the team's technical excellence. 
• Influence the Strategic Vision: Contribute to the strategic planning that aligns technological advancements with the mission objectives.
• 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. 
• Build relationships with external teams and collaborate with other platform teams.   

Travel Expectations: 4-12 times per year

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.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• Professional experience developing, deploying, supporting, or operating production applications or platform environments.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies, containers, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, or Kubernetes-based environments.
• Strong Linux/Unix skills and the ability to troubleshoot technical issues across application and platform layers.
• Experience working with application architectures, source code, APIs, containers, runtime dependencies, or deployment requirements.
• Experience with YAML-based configuration such as Kubernetes manifests, Helm configuration, CRDs, or CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with security practices related to applications, APIs, containers, cloud infrastructure, or vulnerability remediation.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to work independently and adapt to unfamiliar technologies and ambiguous technical problems.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with application, platform, and external teams.
• Eligible to apply for and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
• Ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Deep expertise in one or more areas such as full-stack application development, Kubernetes, GitOps, CI/CD, Tofu, AWS, Go, or related technologies.
• Production experience with Kubernetes, including environments using EKS, RKE2, or similar distributions.
• Experience designing, implementing, integrating, or troubleshooting APIs and backend services.
• Experience with one or more modern application stacks such as C#/.NET, Python/FastAPI, React, Vue, or NGINX-hosted applications.
• Experience with Helm, GitOps, observability, distributed architectures, security automation, or everything-as-code practices.
• Experience mentoring and developing other engineers through pairing, technical guidance, or code reviews.
• Active U.S. government security clearance and/or current DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
• Department of Defense experience, particularly supporting a production Authority to Operate (ATO) system.
• Experience with UDS Core, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.

Remote - USA

Salary range: $148,750 - $201,250

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

Health:

• Medical/Dental/Vision
• Premiums are 100% Company Paid
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance

Financial:

• 401k Retirement Plan
• Company Stock Options
• Home Office Budget

Leave:

• We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
• Paid Parental Leave

Learning:

• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed. 

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

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