Data Protection SME

Kids for the Future; Virginia Beach (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Veteran-owned company

Equal Opportunity employer

Job summary

INTER-OP is seeking a Data Protection SME to support the Department of State in the Foreign Affairs Business Unit with expert guidance on multi-petabyte backup environments for federal agencies.

You will lead DR planning, implement encryption and immutable storage, and mentor engineers on major backup platforms, ensuring NIST/ FedRAMP alignment and data integrity across sensitive environments.

INTER-OP highlights veteran-owned status and a strong focus on government-grade security practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
• 12+ years of experience in data management and enterprise backup engineering.
• 7+ years of deep expertise in cloud-native backup or ransomware recovery.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert-level guidance on backup architectures for federal agencies.
• Troubleshoot and resolve high-priority data recovery issues impacting agency missions.
• Implement encryption frameworks and immutable storage solutions.
• Serve as a primary technical advisor for disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Mentor engineers on Commvault, Veeam, Cohesity, and NetBackup.
• Support the ATO process with deep evidence for data integrity controls.
• Apply NIST 800-53 and FedRAMP High requirements for data availability.

Skills

Data protection

Backup engineering

Encryption

Key management

Disaster recovery

NIST standards

FedRAMP High

CSF framework

Commvault

Veeam

Cohesity

NetBackup

Cross-region replication

Container-native backup

Kasten

Velero

SIPR/JWICS handling

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Commvault

Veeam

Cohesity

NetBackup

Kasten

Velero

Job description

• Employee Type FT Exempt
• Required Degree 4 Year Degree

Description

INTER-OP is currently seeking a Data Protection SME to provide support to The Department of State in support of Foreign Affairs Business Unit. The Department of State manages the United States foreign policy, international relations, and diplomatic missions.

Requirements

• Provide expert-level guidance on the architecture of multi-petabyte backup environments for federal agencies.
• Troubleshoot and resolve high-priority, complex data recovery issues impacting agency-wide missions.
• Technical implementation of advanced encryption frameworks and immutable storage solutions.
• Serve as a primary technical advisor for agency-level disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Analyze existing data protection architectures for security gaps and recommend remediation aligned with NIST standards.
• Mentor senior engineers and architects on advanced Commvault, Veeam, or Cohesity features.
• Support the federal Authority to Operate (ATO) process by providing deep technical evidence for data integrity controls.
• Demonstrated expertise in applying NIST 800-53 and FedRAMP High requirements for data availability.
• Technical implementation of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) for data protection.
• Experience with classified data handling (SIPR/JWICS) and secure data archival.
• Technical Skills: Expertise in Commvault, Veeam, Cohesity, and NetBackup;
• Advanced knowledge of data encryption (FIPS 140-3) and secure key management (KMS). Deep expertise in data deduplication and cross-region replication strategies.
• Knowledge of container-native backup (e.g., Kasten, Velero) in secure environments.

Qualifications / Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
• 12+ years of experience in data management and enterprise backup engineering.
• 7+ years of deep expertise in specialized domains such as cloud-native backup or ransomware recovery.

Summary

INTER-OP provides a diverse range of support services to both government and corporate clients. We are a veteran owned company that is dedicated to providing an extremely high level of service to our clients as well as an outstanding work experience for our employees. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer that values diversity in our workforce