Role Description
Defense Unicorns is seeking a Platform Engineer to join our platform team — a combined DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering team responsible for the development, maintenance, and reliability of a cloud-based platform environment. The ideal candidate is a strong problem-solver with hands-on experience in Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and CI/CD, and is motivated by building and improving the systems that other teams depend on.
In this role, you will work across infrastructure as code, automated deployments, identity and access management, monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines. You will serve as a bridge between application teams and the platform, advocating best practices and helping ensure that the platform is reliable, secure, and scalable. You should be comfortable operating in ambiguity, contributing to documentation and standards where they exist, and building them where they don’t.
Responsibilities- Build, maintain, and improve Kubernetes clusters and containerized application deployments across cloud environments (AWS, EKS, RKE2)
- Develop and manage infrastructure as code (IaC) to provision and configure platform resources consistently and repeatably
- Own and improve CI/CD pipelines, including GitLab CI configuration, runner deployments, and automated build and deployment workflows
- Support identity and access management through tools such as Keycloak, including user onboarding, role configuration, and troubleshooting.
- Implement and maintain monitoring, alerting, and logging to ensure platform health and support incident investigation
- Manage certificate lifecycle operations, including renewal of public certificates and related automation
- Contribute to platform security posture through container security practices, Iron Bank image compliance, and support for ATO processes
- Collaborate with application teams to troubleshoot deployment issues, broken pipelines, and platform integration problems
- Write and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, architecture decision records (ADRs), and operational standards
- Influence the strategic vision by contributing to the strategic planning that aligns technological advancements with the mission objectives.
- Participate in on-call rotations and support platform incidents in a tier 2 role
- Mentor and support junior engineers through pairing, code reviews, and knowledge sharing
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.
Travel Expectations/Requirements: 5-10%
Minimum Experience and Qualifications- Hands-on experience with Kubernetes (deploying, managing, and troubleshooting clusters and workloads)
- Experience with infrastructure as code tools (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi, or similar)
- Proficiency with CI/CD tooling, particularly GitLab CI or equivalent pipeline platforms
- Working knowledge of Linux/Unix operating systems and command-line administration
- Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS (EC2, EKS, IAM, S3, VPC)
- Familiarity with containerization (Docker, container image builds, registry management)
- Ability to read and write YAML fluently for Kubernetes manifests, CRDs, Helm charts, and pipeline configurations
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work independently in a remote, asynchronous environment
- US citizenship required; must be eligible for CUI access
- Possess or ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT II certification (e.g., Security+ CE)
- Hold or be eligible for a security clearance
- Experience with UDS Core, Iron Bank, and/or Continuous Authority to Operate (C-ATO) processes
- Familiarity with identity and access management platforms such as Keycloak or similar
- Experience with monitoring and observability tooling (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, or similar)
- Proficiency in one or more programming languages (Go, Python, or Bash scripting)
- Experience working in a DevSecOps model with secure coding practices and vulnerability remediation
- Familiarity with GitOps workflows and tools (e.g., Flux, ArgoCD)
- Department of Defense experience, specifically working on a production ATO’d system
- Experience with distributed architectures and everything-as-code approaches
- AWS certifications related to platform or solutions architecture
- Experience writing architecture decision records (ADRs), operational runbooks, or engineering standards
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.
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 DoWe 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 ServeDefense 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
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Health Savings Account
- Life Insurance
- Disability Insurance
- 401k Retirement Plan
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Budget
- 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
- 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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