DevOps Engineer

BigBear.ai; North Dakota; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

BigBear.ai is seeking a DevOps Engineer to build and sustain the platform backbone across GovCloud/IL5. You will own CI/CD pipelines, event streaming, and cluster operations to enable secure, scalable delivery for government-focused apps and data services.

The role requires active TS/SCI clearance, hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Terraform/Ansible, and AWS GovCloud. You will collaborate with security and architecture teams to enforce least privilege and robust disaster recovery.

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance required.
• Bachelors degree+5–8 years in DevOps/platform engineering.
• 5+ years delivering and operating systems in a government cloud.
• Strong experience with event streaming (Kafka or equivalent).
• Experience with IaC (Terraform/Ansible) and configuration mgmt.
• Hands-on AWS GovCloud or Azure Government experience.
• Proficient Kubernetes deployments and operations.
• Experience in compliance-driven environments (IL5, RMF controls).

Responsibilities

• Build and operate the event backbone (Kafka or equivalent) with design guidance and monitoring.
• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines for secure builds across environments.
• Provision and manage GovCloud/IL5 hosting ensuring security/compliance.
• Implement IaC for cloud resources, provisioning, network and replication.
• Deploy and operate Kubernetes platforms, manage upgrades and reliability.
• Establish observability and runbooks, alerts, and incident response support.
• Collaborate with security and architecture on platform controls and patching cadence.
• Drive reliability engineering: backup/restore, disaster recovery, capacity planning.

Skills

TS/SCI clearance

AWS GovCloud

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Security/compliance aware

Education

Bachelor's Degree in a technical field

Master's Degree in a technical field

Tools

Kafka

Terraform/Ansible

AWS GovCloud

Kubernetes

Job description

Residency

All applicants must currently reside in the United States

Overview

The DevOps Engineer builds and maintains the platform foundation the entire system runs on, owning the event backbone, CI/CD pipelines, and the government cloud environment (GovCloud/IL5). This role ensures the platform is reliable, scalable, secure, and deployable, enabling application, data, and scoring teams to deliver capabilities quickly and safely in a regulated environment.

What you will do

• Build and operate the event backbone (Kafka or equivalent), including topic design guidance, reliability patterns, throughput scaling, and operational monitoring.
• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines that support repeatable, secure builds and deployments across environments.
• Provision and manage the GovCloud/IL5 hosting environment, ensuring it meets program security and compliance expectations.
• Implement infrastructure as code (IaC) for cloud resources, cluster provisioning, network/security configuration, and environment replication.
• Deploy and operate Kubernetes platforms for application and data services, including cluster configuration, upgrades, and workload reliability.
• Establish platform observability (logging, metrics, tracing) and operational readiness (runbooks, alerting, incident response support).
• Partner with security and architecture teams to implement platform security controls (least privilege, secrets management, network segmentation, patching cadence).
• Drive reliability engineering practices: backup/restore, disaster recovery planning, performance testing support, and capacity planning.

What you need to have

• Clearance:Must maintain an active TS/SCI security clearance
• Bachelor's Degree and 5 to 8 years of experience; Master's Degree and 3 to 6 years of experience
• 5+ years of DevOps / platform engineering experience delivering and operating systems in a government cloud environment.
• Strong experience with event streaming architecture and operations (Kafka or equivalent), including production support and performance tuning.
• Demonstrated experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform and/or Ansible) and disciplined configuration management.
• Hands-on experience in AWS GovCloud or Azure Government environments
• Strong Kubernetes experience (deployments, Helm or equivalent packaging, cluster operations, and troubleshooting workload).
• Experience working in compliance-driven environments (e.g., IL5, RMF-aligned controls) with a security-first operations mindset.

What we'd like you to have

Tools & Technical Environment (Preferred/Used)

• Kafka (or equivalent event streaming platform)
• Terraform / Ansible (IaC and configuration management)
• AWS GovCloud or Azure Government
• Kubernetes

Key Behavioral Competencies

• Operational ownership: builds platforms that are supportable, observable, and resilient.
• Automation mindset: eliminates manual steps via IaC and CI/CD discipline.
• Cross-team enablement: designs platforms that help developers move faster with guardrails.
• Calm problem-solving: strong troubleshooting skills under real-world constraints.

Pay transparency

Please note the targeted compensation range is provided as an estimate, and any actual compensation offer may vary depending on the needs of the company, or an applicant's skillset, competencies, experience, education, certifications, location, or other factors. The estimated range does not include the value of any benefits offered.

About BigBear.ai

BigBear.ai is a leading provider of AI-powered decision intelligence solutions for national security, supply chain management, and digital identity. Customers and partners rely on Bigbear.ai's predictive analytics capabilities in highly complex, distributed, mission-based operating environments. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, BigBear.ai is a public company traded on the NYSE under the symbol BBAI. For more information, visit https://bigbear.ai/ and follow BigBear.ai on LinkedIn: @BigBear.ai and X: @BigBearai.

BigBear.ai is an Equal opportunity employer all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.