Lead ITPIE Systems Engineer

VAE's ITPIE Division is seeking an experienced Lead Systems Engineer to provide technical leadership over a multidisciplinary software development and systems engineering team. The Lead Systems Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for the team, guiding architecture and design decisions, ensuring secure and resilient infrastructure, and mentoring engineers across the software development lifecycle. This role combines deep hands-on systems engineering and cybersecurity expertise with people leadership, translating mission and program requirements into a well-architected, secure, and maintainable technical environment. The ideal candidate brings a strong background in enterprise Linux systems, defensive cyber operations, and DevSecOps practices, along with a proven track record of leading technical teams in a mission-driven environment.

• Serve as the senior technical lead for a software development team, setting engineering direction, standards, and best practices across the development lifecycle
• Manage and mentor a team of systems engineers and developers, overseeing task assignment, technical growth, and performance
• Architect and administer enterprise Linux systems (RHEL) supporting development, integration, and production environments
• Design and implement secure infrastructure following Deny-All, Permit-by-Exception and defense-in-depth principles
• Lead containerization and orchestration efforts using Docker and Kubernetes to support scalable, resilient application deployments
• Oversee configuration management, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code practices to streamline development and release cycles
• Direct implementation of SIEM, logging, and monitoring capabilities (e.g., Elastic, Splunk) to support system health and security visibility
• Lead incident response, vulnerability management, and remediation efforts, including DISA STIG compliance and patch management
• Coordinate with program management and government stakeholders to translate mission and contract requirements into technical solutions
• Develop and present technical briefings, gap analyses, and system status reports to leadership and customer stakeholders
• Evaluate emerging tools and technologies, recommending adoption where they improve team productivity, security, or system reliability
• Support audits, assessments, and compliance reviews, ensuring documentation and evidence packages meet DoD standards