Federal Platform Engineer

Apex Systems; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Everforth Apex Systems is seeking a Platform Engineer in the Washington, DC area to own the end-to-end lifecycle of the agentic AI platform. You will architect and operate scalable, secure, and compliant infrastructure, bridging cloud-native engineering with AI/LLM workloads.

The role emphasizes automation, Kubernetes orchestration, and robust observability to support real-time agent execution in DoD-friendly environments. TS/SCI clearance and Security+ are required.

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph.
• Security+ or equivalent certificate for privileged access.
• 5+ years of infrastructure/DevOps/platform engineering.
• 3+ years managing production Kubernetes environments.
• 3+ years with Flux or GitOps and Helm charts.
• Experience with Terraform and CI/CD tooling (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
• Practical ops experience in U.S. Federal/DoD environments.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end platform lifecycle from IaC provisioning to day-2 operations.
• Bridge cloud-native engineering with AI/LLM workloads and secure environments.
• Implement GPU orchestration, vector DB performance, and observability pipelines.
• Design scalable foundations using Kubernetes, Terraform, and Flux/Argo CD.

Skills

TS/SCI clearance

Security+

Kubernetes

GitOps (Flux/Argo CD)

Helm charts

Terraform

CI/CD tools

DoD environment experience

Infrastructure as Code

Cloud-native

Tools

GitLab CI

GitHub Actions

Job description

Job#: 3042159

Job Description:

Platform Engineer

Washington D.C.

TS/SCI Clearance (Polygraph Preferred)

The Federal Platform Engineer is a crucial member of the team who is responsible for the Agentic AI platformʼs scalability and reliability. Serving as the primary architect and operator of the infrastructure required to run complex, agentic applications, you will own the end-to-end lifecycle of the platform—from initial infrastructure-as-code provisioning to high-scale, day-two operations. In this role, you bridge the gap between cloud-native engineering and the unique demands of AI/LLM workloads, ensuring that agentic systems are backed by resilient, secure, and performant environments.

You are deeply passionate about automation, Kubernetes orchestration, and the

operational rigor required to support real-time, stateful agent execution. Rather than just deploying "black box" infrastructure, you thrive on solving the complexities of high-scale systems: managing GPU orchestration, optimizing vector database performance, and implementing robust observability pipelines that provide visibility into the "thought process" of live agents.

• Scalable Foundations: Design and implement the path from local development to deployed federal cloud clusters (AWS GovCloud/Azure Government) using Kubernetes EKS/AKS, Infrastructure as Code, Terraform/OpenTofu/CDK, and GitOps controllers Flux/Argo CD.
• Optimized Compute: Configure and manage specialized compute resources, including GPU-accelerated node groups and serverless scaling policies, to support inference and training workloads.
• Network & Security Hardening: Implement Zero Trust architecture principles, ensuring secure communication between microservices, agentic tools, and external APIs through service meshes (e.g., Istio) and egress controls.
• Packaging & Promotion: Author and maintain Helm charts for application delivery, managing the promotion path from local-to-AWS and ensuring consistency across environments.

Minimum Qualifications

• Current, active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph.
• Current, active Security+ or equivalent certificate for privileged user access.
• 5 years of professional infrastructure, DevOps or platform engineering experience, with a focus on cloud-native infrastructure.
• 3 years of experience managing production Kubernetes environments.
• 3 years of experience with Flux (or equivalent GitOps controller like Argo CD) and authoring/maintaining Helm charts.
• Proven experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) and CI/CD tools (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
• Practical experience operating systems in U.S. Federal or DoD environments.

Benefits

• We offer quality career resources, training, certifications, development opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package.
• Everforth Apex offers a range of supplemental benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance plans that offer an optional layer of financial protection.
• We offer an ESPP (employee stock purchase program) and a 401K program which allows you to contribute typically within 30 days of starting, with a company match after 12 months of tenure.
• Everforth Apex also offers a HSA (Health Savings Account on the HDHP plan), a SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with up to 8 free counseling sessions, a corporate discount savings program and other discounts.
• In terms of professional development, Everforth Apex hosts an on-demand training program, provides access to certification prep and a library of technical and leadership courses/books/seminars once you have 6+ months of tenure, and certification discounts and other perks to associations that include CompTIA and IIBA.
• Everforth Apex has a dedicated customer service team for our Consultants that can address questions around benefits and other resources, as well as a certified Career Coach.
• You can access a full list of our benefits, programs, support teams and resources within our Welcome Packet as well, which an Everforth Apex team member can provide.

Everforth Apex Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, political affiliation, union membership, or any other characteristic protected by law. Everforth Apex will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law.

If you require an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to participate in an interview with a virtual recruiter or to use our website for a search or application, please contact our Benefits Department at [email protected] or 804-523-8228. Please note that this contact information is strictly to be used for medical ADA accommodations and that no other inquiries will be answered.

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