Position Summary
The Senior DevSecOps Cloud Engineer leads secure delivery automation and Cloud One AWS administration for DAFOS. The role designs and improves CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, monitoring, and recovery capabilities across development through production. It coordinates software supply chain security and release evidence with developers, testers, and the database engineer. The position requires a primary residence within 60 miles of Gunter Annex, Alabama, and on-site response within two hours of notification. This position is contingent based on award, with an anticipated salary range of $135,000-$137,000 based on candidate qualifications and final contract requirements.
Work Environment
- Work Location: Gunter Annex, AL. On-site
- Security Clearance: Active Secret
- Salary: $135K-$137K
Compensation
Karthik Consulting is committed to providing competitive compensation based on the responsibilities of the role, required qualifications, security clearance level, relevant experience, certifications, customer requirements, geographic location, and overall business needs. The salary range listed for this position represents a good-faith estimate of the current compensation range for this role.
At Karthik Consulting, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range. Final compensation decisions are based on the facts and circumstances of each candidate's experience, qualifications, certifications, clearance level, contract requirements, and overall alignment with the role.
Employees may be eligible for company benefits and additional compensation programs, subject to company policy, contract requirements, and individual eligibility.
Program Scope and Description
The Global Force Management Data Initiative supports the Department of the Air Force Organizational Server (DAFOS). DAFOS validates authoritative Air Force data and publishes standardized unit, billet, crew, platform, vehicle, and command relationship information for Joint Staff war and contingency planning across past, present, and future timeframes.
The effort modernizes and sustains DAFOS in Air Force Cloud One AWS. Services include full-stack software development, testing, DevSecOps, cloud administration, database engineering, Agile facilitation, and approved automation. Optional capabilities augment technical documentation and Agile program support when activated by the Government.
Key Responsibilities
CI CD and Infrastructure Automation
- Establish and improve GitLab, Jenkins, or other approved CI/CD pipelines that automate builds, testing, scanning, artifact delivery, and deployments.
- Manage repeatable infrastructure and configuration provisioning with Terraform, Ansible, YAML, and approved tooling across Zone C, B, A, and production environments.
- Manage Docker containers and deployment automation; deliver all deployment artifacts, including IaC, to the Government-designated binary repository.
Security and Software Supply Chain
- Integrate SAST, DAST, open source analysis, and container scanning; coordinate remediation and documented handling of false positives.
- Generate and maintain SBOMs, remediate component findings, and provide release security artifacts in coordination with CDRL A007 requirements.
- Apply zero trust principles, least privilege, secure secrets management, approved identity integration, and applicable STIG and RMF controls.
Cloud Administration and Resilience
- Administer Cloud One AWS environments, including relevant VPC, load balancer, EC2, ECS Fargate, S3, RDS, and CloudWatch services.
- Maintain Red Hat Enterprise Linux configuration and patching, environment health monitoring, and secure remote access services such as approved bastion hosts.
- Automate and test backup and disaster recovery for DevSecOps tooling and configurations, coordinating recovery dependencies with the database engineer.
Release Operations and Technical Leadership
- Coordinate release installation plans, IaC, infrastructure scans, STIG evidence, and deployment verification with the PMO and integrated team.
- Troubleshoot critical environment and production issues, report on-site within the required response window, and support releases until stable.
- Mentor cloud engineers, improve deployment reliability toward the PWS 95 percent success threshold, and provide metrics and technical evidence for program reporting.
Qualifications
Education
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field preferred. Equivalent relevant DevSecOps and cloud engineering experience may be considered.
Professional Certifications
- Preferred: AWS Solutions Architect, AWS DevOps Engineer, AWS SysOps Administrator, Terraform Associate, or comparable cloud automation certification.
- Preferred: Security+ or a relevant cybersecurity certification; satisfy any Government-assigned privileged-access qualifications before exercising those privileges.
Minimum Qualifications
- Current, fully adjudicated Secret clearance before contract performance; maintain clearance throughout assignment. Interim clearances are not accepted.
- Ability to obtain and maintain required SIPRNet and role-appropriate privileged access. Work requiring SIPRNet access must be performed at an authorized Government facility.
- Demonstrated senior-level experience engineering and operating secure CI/CD pipelines and AWS-hosted environments.
- Proficiency with GitLab or Jenkins, infrastructure as code, Linux administration, containerization, and deployment troubleshooting.
- Experience integrating security scans, SBOMs, secrets management, automated tests, and release artifacts into delivery workflows.
- Experience implementing cloud monitoring, patching, backup, and recovery processes.
- Primary residence within a 60-mile radius of Gunter Annex, Alabama, with the ability to report on-site within two hours of notification to troubleshoot critical issues.
- Perform technical work exclusively in Government-furnished environments and use only Government-approved communication systems; protect classified and controlled information.
- Ability to support the agreed work schedule, Government-directed core hours, occasional support outside normal hours, and approved travel as mission needs require.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Cloud One hosting, GCDS, Keycloak, Guacamole bastion hosts, and classified AWS environments.
- Hands-on experience with Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, AWS VPC, ALB, EC2, ECS Fargate, CloudWatch, RDS, and S3.
- Experience producing STIG and RMF evidence and leading secure release operations for Air Force BES systems.