Cloud Operations Engineer

Socket.dev; Washington, Reston (District of Columbia, VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Empower AI is seeking a Cloud Engineer for the Department of State to develop and maintain cloud services across hybrid environments, in compliance with DoS security requirements. You will design IaaS/PaaS hosting and drive modernization using IaC and containerization to improve scalability and efficiency.

The role requires 6+ years in IT, a Bachelor's in IT, and a Secret security clearance with relevant certifications.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of IT experience
• Bachelor's degree in IT or related field
• AWS SysOps or Azure Administrator Associate Certification
• Secret Security Clearance
• CompTIA Sec+; ITIL4 Foundation certifications (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain cloud engineering services supporting the hybrid VPC and global IT infrastructure for the customer.
• Provide engineering, design, and implementation services for core hosting environments (including cloud) supporting all customer systems, domestically and internationally, in compliance with DoS data sovereignty and security requirements.
• Design and implement physical and virtual hosting environments (IaaS/PaaS and cloud) ensuring compliance with DoS data sovereignty and security standards.
• Plan infrastructure modernization by transitioning decentralized resources to centralized or cloud-oriented environments.
• Utilize containerization (Docker) and automated deployment strategies to improve scalability and portability.
• Implement automated, rapid provisioning (IaC) to minimize manual intervention and capacity-related downtime.
• Audit managed assets to detect drift and ensure adherence to FedRAMP templates.
• Provide end-to-end engineering support for Windows, UNIX/Linux, and virtual platforms for availability and capacity.
• Coordinate with SaaS vendors and internal stakeholders for seamless user experience, data integration, and lifecycle management of cloud-agnostic solutions.
• Support converged/hyperconverged hardware deployments to optimize performance and footprint.

Skills

Cloud engineering

IaC (Infrastructure as Code)

Docker/containerization

Windows/Linux/Virtual support

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT or related field

Tools

AWS SysOps

Azure Administrator Associate

FedRAMP knowledge

Job description

Overview

Empower AI is AI for government. Empower AI gives federal agency leaders the tools to elevate the potential of their workforce with a direct path for meaningful transformation. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Empower AI leverages three decades of experience solving complex challenges in Health, Defense, and Civilian missions. Our proven Empower AI Platform® provides a practical, sustainable path for clients to achieve transformation that is true to who they are, what they do, how they work, with the resources they have. The result is a government workforce that is exponentially more creative and productive. For more information, visit www.Empower.ai.

Empower AI is proud to be recognized as a 2024 Military Friendly Employer by Viqtory, the publisher of G.I. Jobs. This designation reflects the company’s commitment to hiring and supporting active-duty and veteran employees.

Responsibilities

We have an exciting opportunity at the Department of State! The Cloud Engineer is responsible for the development and maintenance of the cloud engineering services supporting the hybrid VPC and global IT infrastructure for the customer.

• You will provide comprehensive engineering, design, and implementation services for core physical and virtual hosting environments (including cloud) supporting all customer systems, both domestically and internationally, in compliance with DoS data sovereignty and security requirements.
• These services cover the full life cycle of infrastructure design, deployment, management, and modernization, ensuring alignment with DoS security, operational, and performance requirements.
• You will design and implement physical and virtual hosting environments (including Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)/Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and cloud) that support all customer systems, ensuring full compliance with DoS data sovereignty, security requirements, and physical/information security standards.
• You will plan and execute infrastructure modernization by transitioning decentralized resources to centralized or cloud-oriented environments.
• Utilize containerization (e.g., Docker) and automated deployment strategies to improve scalability, system portability, and operational efficiency.
• You will implement automated, rapid provisioning (Infrastructure as Code (IaC)) to minimize manual intervention and capacity-related downtime.
• Audit managed assets to detect and remediate configuration drift, ensuring strict adherence to baseline integrity and DoS security templates.
• The position requires that you also provide end-to-end engineering support for Windows, UNIX/Linux, and virtual platforms, ensuring ongoing availability, performance, and capacity.
• The role continuously reviews and recommends new equipment, hardware/software, and cloud services for Government approval.
• You will also ensure all hosting environments (on-premises and cloud) strictly conform to Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) standards and customer security requirements.
• You will maintain system integrity through rigorous lockdown protocols, regular security audits, and compliance validation.
• You are also expected to coordinate with SaaS vendors and internal stakeholders to ensure seamless user experience, data integration, and life cycle management of cloud-agnostic solutions.
• Support the adoption of converged/hyperconverged hardware deployments where feasible to optimize performance and reduce footprint.

Qualifications

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

The following are the education and experience required for this position:

• 6+ years
• Bachelor's in IT or related field
• AWS SysOps or Azure Administrator Associate Certification
• Secret Security Clearance

PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS:

• COMP TIA Sec +; ITIL4 Foundation Certification(s)

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

This position requires the ability to perform the below essential functions:

• Sitting for long periods
• Standing for long periods
• Ambulate throughout an office
• Ambulate between several buildings
• Stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl as required
• Repeatedly lift and carry weight up to 40 pounds
• Travel by land or air transportation 25 % .

About Empower AI

All hiring and promotion decisions at Empower AI are based on merit to bring the best talent available to contribute to our firm’s overall success. It is the policy of Empower AI not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or employee because of age, color, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. Empower AI is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.