Job Type
Full-time, Contract
Description
Role & Responsibilities
The Senior Systems Engineer designs, implements, secures, and maintains complex systems and infrastructure supporting mission-critical federal solutions. The role leads technical execution, mentors junior engineers, and drives architectural, operational, and security excellence, including physical staging and imaging of server hardware.
Systems Design & Architecture
- Develop system architectures, technical designs, and integration plans.
- Evaluate new technologies; ensure solutions meet performance and compliance standards.
Implementation & Operations
- Build and maintain servers, cloud environments, networks, and infrastructure.
- Execute upgrades, patching, hardening, and lifecycle management.
- Implement automation and orchestration (scripting, IaC).
Troubleshooting & Support
- Resolve complex issues across hardware, software, network layers.
- Lead root-cause analysis and long-term corrective action planning.
- Provide Tier 3 support for mission-critical systems.
Security & Compliance
- Implement security controls and baselines; support audits and continuous monitoring.
Documentation & Governance
- Maintain diagrams, configuration docs, SOPs, runbooks.
- Support governance and change control processes.
Collaboration & Leadership
- Partner with PMs, architects, and operations teams.
- Mentor junior engineers; contribute to engineering best practices.
- Communicate with clients and stakeholders.
Rack Build and Staging
- Partner with PMs, architects, and operations teams.
- Support physical server and infrastructure rack builds in accordance with approved rack elevations, build standards, and deployment procedures.
- Validate and inventory server hardware and supporting infrastructure received for large-scale deployment, verifying configuration against BOM prior to installation and burn-in.
- Stage server hardware and load approved customer-provided system images in controlled lab and staging environments.
- Configure and validate server hardware, operating systems, firmware, and supporting infrastructure in accordance with approved build standards.
- Support development, testing, and customer approval of a standardized golden rack from a systems and server integration standpoint.
- Validate server hardware, operating system, and network connectivity, coordinating with network integration staff to ensure server and network builds align to the approved rack standard.
- Troubleshoot hardware, operating system, configuration, and integration issues identified during staging and pre-deployment testing.
- Support Python, PowerShell, Bash, and Ansible automation for repeatable server provisioning, configuration, and validation.
- Maintain build documentation, test results, configuration artifacts, and system readiness records.
- Apply DISA STIGs and DoD-approved hardening baselines to server operating systems and firmware during staging, prior to golden rack approval.
- Validate staged server builds against RMF control requirements and document compliance status as part of build acceptance.
- Support vulnerability scanning, patching, and remediation of staged systems prior to shipment.
Please Note: This position is contingent upon contract award with an expected start date of September 1, 2026.
Requirements
- Extensive systems engineering experience.
- Expertise with Windows/Linux servers, cloud platforms, virtualization, storage, networking.
- Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills.
- Experience with automation tools (PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible).
- Understanding of security principles and compliance frameworks.
- Strong communication skills.
- Experience staging and imaging server hardware in a lab or integration environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Certifications: AWS/Azure Architect, Linux+, CCNP, Security+, MCSE.
- Experience in enterprise or federal environments.
- Familiarity with DevOps pipelines and CI/CD.