Cloud Engineer (Software Engineer) (TS/SCI with Poly Required)

GCI Incorporated; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

GCI Incorporated is seeking a Cloud Engineer (Software Engineer) to support AWS cloud environments, automation, and observability. The role involves managing containers, serverless services, and IaC while ensuring security and compliance across multi-account setups.

You will contribute to CI/CD pipelines, incident response, and on-call rotations, with emphasis on Linux systems, Terraform, and Kubernetes expertise in a mission-focused environment.

Qualifications

• Strong Linux/Unix administration and distributed systems troubleshooting.
• Experience deploying and supporting AWS services like EC2, S3, IAM, SQS, Lambda.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins, GitHub, and GitLab.
• Familiarity with Terraform and CloudFormation for IaC.
• Experience with TLS/SSL, PKI, and OpenSSL.

Responsibilities

• Provide complex troubleshooting and support across distributed AWS cloud environments and enterprise applications.
• Perform OS upgrades, patching, and configuration for cloud hosted systems.
• Manage AWS resources (EC2, S3, IAM, SQS, Lambda, VPC) and serverless architectures.
• Build and maintain observability stacks using CloudWatch, ELK, and AppDynamics.
• Write automation scripts in Python or Bash to streamline tasks.
• Support CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure promotion across environments.
• Assist with IaC using Terraform and CloudFormation.

Skills

Linux/Unix administration

AWS cloud

Docker & Kubernetes

Python scripting

CI/CD pipelines

Terraform/CloudFormation

TLS/SSL security

Serverless architectures

Tools

Jenkins

GitHub/GitLab

Terraform

CloudFormation

Kubernetes

CloudWatch

ELK Stack

Job description

GCI embodies excellence, integrity and professionalism. The employees supporting our customers deliver unique, high-value mission solutions while effectively leverage the technological expertise of our valued workforce to meet critical mission requirements in the areas of Data Analytics and Software Development, Engineering, Targeting and Analysis, Operations, Training, and Cyber Operations. We maximize opportunities for success by building and maintaining trusted and reliable partnerships with our customers and industry.

Duties

At GCI, we solve the hard problems. As a Cloud Engineer (Software Engineer), a typical day will include the following duties:

Cloud Operations & Application Support

• Provide complex troubleshooting and support across distributed AWS cloud environments and enterprise applications.
• Perform advanced OS upgrades, patching, and configuration for cloud hosted systems.
• Provide daily AWS EC2, S3, IAM, Security Groups, Availability Zones, SQS, Lambda, STS, and VPC operations support.
• Manage SQS queues, Lambda functions, serverless applications, and microservices.
• Perform daily system and application health checks and resolve deviations.

Monitoring, Observability & Troubleshooting

• Build, maintain, and operate observability stacks using CloudWatch, ELK (Kibana), Logstash, Elasticsearch, Icinga, and AppDynamics.
• Monitor systems, applications, and cloud infrastructure using logs, metrics, alerts, and telemetry to detect anomalies and performance issues.
• Analyze logs, metrics, and telemetry data to identify issues, optimize performance, and support root cause analysis.
• Support incident response activities, including troubleshooting, RCA development, and corrective action implementation.
• Write and maintain automation scripts using Python, Bash, or Shell to streamline operational tasks.
• Support CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub, and GitLab, including build, test, and deployment workflows.
• Assist with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform and CloudFormation.
• Support code promotion across Dev, Test, UAT, and Prod environments.

Automation, DevOps & CI/CD

• Develop automation scripts using Python, Bash, Shell.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub, and GitLab.
• Manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform and CloudFormation.
• Manage code promotion across Dev, Test, UAT, and Prod.

Security, Compliance & Governance

• Manage TLS/SSL certificates, renewals, and PKI processes for cloud hosted systems.
• Manage privileged accounts, secrets, and database credentials in accordance with security policies.
• Use OpenSSL for certificate inspection, validation, and troubleshooting, including chain validation and key/cert pairing checks.
• Support AWS KMS, IAM, STS, and cloud security controls across multi account environments.
• Support vulnerability remediation efforts and implement required security controls across distributed systems.
• Assist with preparing, maintaining, and improving security accreditation artifacts and compliance documentation.
• Maintain operational documentation including SOPs, runbooks, and After Action Reports (AARS).

Containers & Cloud Native Operations

• Deploy, manage, and optimize Kubernetes workloads, including Helm based deployments and multi namespace operations.
• Deploy and manage Docker containers, including image creation, lifecycle management, and registry integration.
• Deploy and manage AWS Lambda functions, serverless applications, and microservices across distributed systems.
• Support container orchestration, scaling, and operational maturity across Kubernetes, Docker, and serverless workloads.
• Troubleshoot complex container, pod, networking, and serverless runtime issues across multi environment deployments.
• Contribute to improving container build pipelines, deployment workflows, and runtime reliability.

Required Skills & Experience (What You Bring)

• Strong Linux/Unix administration and distributed systems troubleshooting experience.
• Strong experience supporting enterprise web applications (Tomcat).Strong experience with AWS EC2, S3, IAM, Security Groups, SQS, Lambda, STS, Availability Zones.
• Strong experience with CloudWatch, ELK, Logstash, Elasticsearch, Icinga, AppDynamics.
• Strong experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong scripting skills (Python, Bash, Shell).
• Strong CI/CD experience with Jenkins, GitHub, GitLab.
• Strong experience with Terraform and CloudFormation.
• Strong experience with TLS/SSL, PKI, OpenSSL, encryption ciphers.
• Strong experience with serverless applications and microservices.
• Strong AWS CLI proficiency.Experience with MySQL or similar databases.
• Preferred experience working with Solr and Zookeeper clusters.
• Core Hours: 9 AM - 3 PM
• On Call Duty: Participation in the on call rotation schedule is required.
• A candidate must be a US Citizen and requires an active/current TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans