DevOps Storage Engineer - Chantilly, VA - TS/SCI Clearance Required Agile - Software Engineering or Dev Ops

Soc Llc; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 72,000 - 103,000; Full time

Job summary

SOC is seeking a DevOps Storage Engineer in Chantilly, Virginia to design, deploy, and optimize enterprise storage for high-throughput GPU compute clusters.

You will join a cross-functional team to implement tiered storage, manage NVMe-based fabrics, and ensure data protection, security, and performance across complex workloads. This role requires TS/SCI clearance and a hands-on leadership approach.

Qualifications

• Expert knowledge of enterprise Linux distributions, security hardening, and OS troubleshooting.
• In-depth understanding of NVMe/TCP, NVMe/RoCE, NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and FCoE for high-efficiency data transfer.
• Extensive experience with ext4, XFS, and Btrfs; SAN/NAS deployment from major vendors with firmware updates.
• Performance analysis, capacity forecasting, and optimizing file system configurations for heavy compute workloads.
• Mastery of RAID levels, encryption at rest/in transit, and automated data tiering based on access frequency.
• Intermediate scripting (Bash, Python) and IaC with Ansible, Chef, or Puppet.

Responsibilities

• Profile storage architectures to optimize performance (IOPS and throughput).
• Implement multi-tiered storage layouts with high-speed front-end layers and archival back-ends.
• Benchmark OEM vendor performance against live workloads and tune configurations.
• Maintain system redundancy and resiliency; optimize MTTR and disaster recovery planning.
• Monitor storage I/O, latency, and backup workflows using Prometheus, Grafana, and Zabbix.
• Lead technical storage initiatives and mentor junior engineers.

Job description

DevOps Storage Engineer needed for an opportunity with SOC's client to work in Chantilly, Virginia. Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance is Required!

Position Overview

We are seeking a DevOps Storage Engineer to play a critical role in building, maintaining, and optimizing high-performance underlying infrastructure.

In this role, you will join a diverse team of platform engineers to design, deploy, maintain, and secure enterprise storage solutions. You will collaborate across cross-functional engineering teams to deliver high-throughput, low-latency storage capabilities while defining strategies to maximize I/O performance directly to GPU compute clusters.

Key Responsibilities & System Optimization

• High-Throughput & Low-Latency Optimization: Profile existing storage architectures to optimize performance rather than building from scratch. Maximize I/O operations per second (IOPS) and throughput feeding high-performance GPU nodes.
• Tiered Storage Architecture: Implement and manage multi-tiered storage layouts-placing optimal, high-speed storage layers (NVMe-oF/RoCE, flash memory) at the front while routing persistent/archival data to lower tiers.
• Vendor Benchmark & Tuning: Benchmark OEM vendor performance metrics against live workloads, identify I/O bottlenecks, and fine-tune configurations to hit target performance thresholds.
• Resiliency, Redundancy & Data Protection: Maintain system redundancy and resiliency; optimize Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) and Return to Operations (RTO). Author detailed operational runbooks for data retention, backup verification, and disaster recovery.
• Monitoring & Observability: Implement continuous, real-time monitoring of storage I/O, latency, and backup workflows using Prometheus, Grafana, and Zabbix.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Lead technical storage initiatives, guide intermediate and junior engineers, establish operational best practices, and partner directly with platform engineering leadership.

Core Competencies

Technical Qualifications

• Linux Systems Administration: Expert knowledge of enterprise Linux distributions, including user management, security hardening, and deep OS troubleshooting.
• Storage Protocols & Fabrics: In-depth understanding of NVMe/TCP, NVMe/RoCE, NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and FCoE for high-efficiency data transfer.
• Storage & File Systems: Extensive experience with ext4, XFS, and Btrfs. Hands-on deployment and management of SAN/NAS solutions from major enterprise storage vendors (e.g., NetApp, EMC, or HPE Nimble), including firmware updates and hardware troubleshooting.
• Performance Analysis & Capacity Planning: Proven ability to analyze storage I/O patterns, perform capacity forecasting, and optimize file system configurations for heavy compute workloads.
• Data Protection & DR: Mastery of RAID levels, disk management, synchronous/asynchronous data replication, encryption at rest/in transit, and automated data tiering based on access frequency and business value.
• Automation & IaC: Intermediate scripting skills (Bash, Python) and experience managing infrastructure as code using Ansible, Chef, or Puppet.

Leadership & Professional Attributes

• Communication & Trust: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; ability to convey complex technical concepts to leadership, security, and development stakeholders.
• Problem-Solving & Ownership: Proactive approach to diagnosing complex, distributed technical issues with a strong sense of ownership over platform stability and performance.
• Mentorship: Willingness to guide intermediate engineers, share domain knowledge, and cultivate team best practices.
• Adaptability: Eagerness to learn new technologies and adapt to a rapidly evolving cloud-native and AI landscape.

Preferred / Additional Experience

• High-Performance Computing (HPC) File Systems: Hands-on experience with Lustre, IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS), or parallel file systems.
• AI/GPU Cluster Integration: Understanding how storage integrates with GPU clusters and job schedulers such as Slurm or PBS.
• Flash & NVMe Optimization: Deep knowledge of NVMe-based systems and flash memory performance tuning.
• Object & Cloud Storage: Working knowledge of object storage platforms (Ceph, Swift) and hybrid-cloud environments (AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage).

Employment Pre-requisites

The following requirements must be met to be eligible for this position: Successful completion of a background investigation, and drug urinalysis.

SOC, a Day & Zimmermann company, is an Equal Opportunity Employer, EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability.

Note: Any pay ranges displayed are estimations, which may have been provided by job boards. Actual pay is determined by an applicant's experience, technical expertise, and other qualifications as listed in the job description. All qualified applicants are welcome to apply.

#INDSOC

Estimated Min Rate: $52.50

Estimated Max Rate: $75.00