**Active TS/SCI w/Polygraph REQUIRED** Please do not apply if you do not currently possess this level of clearance.
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Telework: None
Position Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Cloud & Distributed Systems Engineer to support mission-critical, cloud-based data repositories serving thousands of Intelligence Community users.
This role operates in a dynamic, high-tempo operational environment where requirements evolve rapidly in response to global events. The selected candidate will administer and engineer large-scale Hadoop and Accumulo clusters, ensure system reliability and security, and collaborate across infrastructure, networking, and security domains to maintain continuous mission availability.
This is not a traditional system administration role — it is a reliability-focused distributed systems engineering position operating at scale.
Education & Experience
• Minimum 3 years experience administering large distributed systems (as defined above)
• 7 years Linux systems administration experience
• 5 years scripting experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field highly desired o May substitute for two (2) years of experience
Primary Responsibilities
• Monitor system health, performance, and reliability across large, distributed clusters
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex hardware, software, network, and cloud platform issues
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and contribute to post-incident reviews
• Maintain and optimize large-scale Hadoop and Accumulo environments
• Administer and maintain distributed storage systems
• Engineer and improve monitoring, observability, and alerting frameworks
• Participate in architecture and engineering design discussions
• Create and maintain automation scripts and Infrastructure-as-Code deployments
• Patch, upgrade, and harden systems in accordance with security compliance standards
• Administer LDAP-based user and group accounts
• Maintain hardware inventory and asset tracking
• Provide after-hours on-call support in a mission-driven environment
• Interface with hardware, network, infrastructure, and security teams
Required Technical Qualifications
Linux Systems Administration (7+ Years)
• Deep understanding of Linux operating systems and internals
• User and group account management (LDAP)
• Configuration and administration of DHCP, DNS, and TFTP
• System patching, upgrades, and security hardening
• Performance tuning and resource optimization
Experience supporting large distributed systems consisting of:
Multiple clusters
• Clusters spanning at least three racks
• Minimum of 60 nodes per site
Experience with:
• Hadoop (HDFS, YARN tuning)
• Accumulo (tablet balancing, performance optimization)
• Cassandra, Scality, Swift, Gluster, Lustre, GPFS, Amazon S3, or comparable technologies
Cloud & Container Technologies
• Kubernetes orchestration services (CKA-level knowledge preferred)
• Docker containerization and image management
• Helm charts and cluster configuration
• StatefulSets and persistent volume management
• Cloud-based storage architectures
Automation & Infrastructure as Code
• 5+ years scripting in Bash, Python, or Perl
• Experience with configuration management tools:
o Puppet
o Ansible
o Salt
• Infrastructure as Code:
o Terraform or CloudFormation
• CI/CD pipeline integration and Git-based workflows
Observability & Reliability Engineering
• Experience implementing and managing monitoring solutions such as:
o Prometheus / Grafana
o ELK / OpenSearch
o Splunk
o Cloud-native monitoring platforms
• Design and tuning of alerting frameworks
• Experience defining and supporting SLAs/SLOs
• Incident response participation and documentation
• Capacity planning and performance analysis
Networking & Infrastructure
• Understanding of VLANs, port channel bonding, and Layer 2/Layer 3 interactions
• TCP/IP troubleshooting
• Load balancing (F5, HAProxy, NGINX)
• Firewall rule management
• Network performance analysis
Storage & High Availability
• RAID and storage architecture knowledge
• Object storage optimization
• Data replication and backup strategies
• Multi-site failover and disaster recovery (DR) planning
• RPO/RTO considerations
• Active/Active or Active/Passive cluster design
Security & Compliance
• System hardening (STIG implementation preferred)
• Vulnerability scanning tools (e.g., ACAS/Nessus)
RMF familiarity
• Security logging and audit compliance
• Experience operating in TS/SCI environments
Required Certifications
• Active TS/SCI clearance with current polygraph
• Security+ (DoD 8570 compliant)
One of the following certifications is required:
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
• AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
Operational Environment
• Mission-critical cloud repositories supporting thousands of users
• High-tempo, operationally responsive environment
• Daily interaction with infrastructure, hardware, and security teams
• Requirements shift in response to world events and mission needs
• Emphasis on automation-first operations and continuous improvement
Ideal Candidate Profile
The successful candidate:
• Thinks like a reliability engineer, not just a system administrator
• Automates repetitive processes and improves operational maturity
• Remains calm and analytical during high-impact incidents
• Understands distributed systems behavior at scale
• Communicates effectively across technical domains
• Thrives in mission-driven, dynamic environments
Salary: $200,000 - $250,000 annually
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Excellent benefits package including 25 days PTO, 11 paid holidays, 100% employer-paid healthcare for employees and dependents – available day 1, 8% 401(k) employer match – immediate vesting.
Disclaimer: The salary range provided is an estimate based on current market conditions and may be adjusted based on factors such as experience, skills, and qualifications. The final salary offer will be determined after a thorough review of the candidate's background and alignment with the role. Please note that this range is subject to change and should be considered as a guideline rather than a definitive figure.
Shield Consulting Solutions is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.