DevOps Engineer - Level 3 or 4

Northrop Grumman; Colorado Springs (CO); On-site; USD 104,000 - 194,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Savings plan

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Job summary

Northrop Grumman is hiring a Principal/Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer to advance CI/CD pipelines at Schriever Space Force Base. The role emphasizes automated build, test, and deployment workflows, with strong Linux and containerization expertise.

On-site work at Colorado Springs and 10% travel are required. The position requires active Secret clearance, a STEM degree, and experience across Kubernetes, OpenShift, Podman, Docker, and related DevOps toolchains.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in STEM or higher with related work experience.
• Active U.S. Government Secret clearance to start.
• Ability and willingness to travel 10% to support business needs.
• Strong understanding of Linux-based environments.
• Experience with scripting (Bash, Python) to automate tasks.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration automation.
• Ability to work with engineers and leads on schedule-driven programs.

Responsibilities

• Plan, design, and maintain build, integration, test, and deployment environments for rapid software delivery.
• Implement scalable provisioning and deployment techniques with configuration management and versioning.
• Monitor and improve software quality with automated tests and code quality checks.
• Collaborate with development, operations, and other teams to optimize workflows and communicate planned work.
• Administer containerized, virtualized, and lab environments (Kubernetes, OpenShift, Podman, Docker).
• Perform system administration and hardware support tasks and document configurations and inventories.

Skills

CI/CD pipelines

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Podman

Docker

Scripting (Bash, Python)

Terraform

Ansible

Linux

Security scanning tools

Git

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in STEM

Master’s Degree in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

OpenShift

Podman

Docker

Kubernetes

SonarQube

Terraform

Ansible

VMware

Git

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Jenkins

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

Description

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems, Multi-Domain Operations, and Missile Defense Integration Business Unit (BU) has an exciting career opportunity for a Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 3 or a Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 4 to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. Our domain provides rewarding work that contributes to the latest advancements being made in the industry. The position is located on-site at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO.

Position Overview

As a DevOps Engineer – Level 3 or 4, you will plan and evolve processes and infrastructure that support rapid maturation and deployment of capabilities while sustaining a stable security posture and incorporating ongoing stakeholder feedback. You will work in lab and development environments composed of virtual, containerized, and bare-metal systems, focusing on build and deployment workflows, automation, and robust operating system practices.

You will integrate development pipelines leveraging automation with test-driven development tools and continuous integration/test frameworks. You will implement provisioning and deployment techniques via packaging, automation scripts, or manual distribution. You will function with agile principles to execute efficiently in an environment of continuous feedback. In this role, you will collaborate closely with software developers, production operations, and other engineering teams to support build environments, development workflows, and OS-related issues, while enabling quick and efficient software development and delivery using tools like Kubernetes, SonarQube, Podman, and related DevOps toolchains.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Plan, design, and maintain build, integration, test, and deployment environments to enable rapid, reliable software delivery while ensuring security and stability.
• Implement and support repeatable, scalable provisioning and deployment techniques (e.g., packaging, componentization, containerization, and cloud-based distribution) with effective configuration management, versioning, and traceability.
• Monitor and improve software quality by implementing code quality and coverage metrics, integrating automated test suites, and enforcing quality controls across environments.
• Collaborate closely with development, production operations, and other engineering teams to optimize workflows, resolve environment issues, and communicate/prioritize planned and unplanned work to minimize disruption.
• Administer and support containerized, virtualized, and lab environments (e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift, Podman, Docker), including rapid incident response, patching, system checkout, and restoration of critical services.
• Perform system administration and hardware support duties, including troubleshooting OS, network, and hardware problems; coordinating repair or replacement; and documenting configurations, procedures, changes, and infrastructure inventories.

Basic Qualifications – Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 3

• Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline preferred from an accredited university and 5 years of related work experience, or a Master’s Degree in STEM and 3 years of related work experience, or 1 year of related work experience with a PhD in STEM. A high school diploma and 9 years of related work experience in lieu of a degree may be considered.
• Applicants must have a current, active in-scope U.S. Government issued Secret security clearance at the time of application, which is required to start
• Ability and flexibility to work alternate shifts if required to support business needs.
• Ability and willingness to travel 10% to support business needs
• Strong understanding of Linux-based environments (Red Hat or similar enterprise distributions) in lab, development, or production settings, particularly as they relate to build, integration, and deployment workflows
• Experience with scripting (e.g., Bash, Python, or similar) to automate configuration, deployment, and maintenance tasks
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration automation (e.g., Ansible, Terraform, or similar)
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with engineers and technical leads on schedule-driven programs, including adherence to lockdown windows and configuration baselines

Basic Qualifications – Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 4

• Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline preferred from an accredited university and 8 years of related experience, or a Master’s Degree in a STEM discipline and 6 years of experience, or a PhD and 4 years of experience. A high school diploma and 12 years of related work experience in lieu of a degree may be considered.
• Ability and flexibility to work alternate shifts if required to support business needs.
• Applicants must have a current, active in-scope U.S. Government issued Secret security clearance at the time of application, which is required to start
• Ability and willingness to travel 10% to support business needs
• Advanced experience designing, implementing, and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, including integration of automated testing, code quality, and security scanning tools
• Strong background in Linux-based development and test environments, with an emphasis on supporting scalable, automated build and deployment workflows

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with CI/CD concepts and tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or similar), including pipeline configuration, build automation, and artifact management
• Experience with virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware) and applying security updates to virtualized and containerized environments
• Experience with vulnerability scanning and security compliance tools, including application of OS/security patches and managing patch repositories in support of secure DevOps practices
• Experience supporting build and deployment environments, including maintaining build scripts, installation media, and environment configuration for development and integration labs
• Experience with or desire to learn the application, deployment, and sustainment of containerized environments
• Experience with OpenShift, Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes
• Experience with SCM tools (e.g., Git, Bitbucket, or similar), including branching strategies and release management
• Experience integrating code quality and coverage tools (e.g., SonarQube) into CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with IDM/IPA and RSA for authentication and access control in development and lab environments

Primary Level Salary Range: $103,600.00 - $155,400.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $129,300.00 - $193,900.00

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives.

In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.

The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.