Lab Systems Engineer / Top Secret with SCI eligibility

Peraton; Virginia (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a Lab Systems Engineer to design, deploy, and maintain the infrastructure supporting isolated malware analysis environments in Arlington, VA. The role centers on foundational compute, virtualization, storage, and networking, with collaboration from malware analysts to tailor specific topologies.

Responsibilities include managing VMware ESXi/vCenter, Cisco Hyperflex, NetApp storage, VLAN segmentation, Palo Alto firewalls, and Linux/Windows provisioning.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree with 8 years of relevant experience; or MA/MS with 6 years; 3 years with PhD.
• Demonstrated architectural design experience and secure enterprise infrastructure configuration.
• Experience with virtualization, network devices, storage, and security appliances.
• Strong Windows and Linux server administration skills; large-scale environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and maintain infrastructure for isolated malware analysis environments.
• Focus on foundational architecture: compute, virtualization, storage, and networking.
• Collaborate with malware analysts to implement topologies and secure sandboxes.
• Build scalable infrastructure solutions for virtualization, emulation, and interconnection.
• Administer VMware ESXi and vCenter; manage Cisco Hyperflex compute nodes.
• Provision and manage NetApp storage; ensure strict VLAN containment.
• Manage firewall rules on Palo Alto devices and enforce security controls.
• Provision OS and patch baselines for Windows and Linux deployments.
• Monitor, log, and alert using Splunk; maintain centralized management.

Skills

Architectural Design

Network Device Support

Virtualization

Hardware & Storage

Networking & Firewalls

Systems Administration

Orchestration & Data Collection

Education

Bachelor's degree

MA/MS degree

PhD

Tools

VMware ESXi

vCenter

Cisco Hyperflex

NetApp storage

Cisco networking

Palo Alto

Ubuntu Landscape

Splunk

Job description

Minimum Requirements are:

• Bachelors degree and 8 years of relevant experience; or, an MA/MS degree with 6 years experience; 3 years with PhD. An additional 4 years of experience may be considered in lieu of the bachelors degree.
• Demonstrated Experience in:
  • Architectural Design: Proven experience designing and configuring underlying enterprise infrastructure architectures, with an emphasis on strict security boundaries or air-gapped testbeds.
  • Network Device Support: Familiarity with configuring hypervisors, virtual switches, or bare-metal setups to successfully host virtual appliances, virtual network functions (VNFs), or network emulation platforms.
  • Virtualization: Deep technical expertise with VMware ESXi architectures and enterprise management through vCenter.
  • Hardware & Storage: Hands-on experience managing Cisco Hyperflex environment and provisioning NetApp storage solutions.
  • Networking & Firewalls: Strong routing, switching, and VLAN configuration skills utilizing Cisco hardware alongside firewall administration experience on Palo Alto platforms.
  • Systems Administration: Advanced proficiency in configuring, maintaining, and deploying enterprise Windows servers, Linux servers, and Linux desktops.
  • Orchestration & Data Collection: Practical experience utilizing Ubuntu Landscape for Linux management and Splunk for infrastructure log collection.
• U.S. citizenship required.
• An active Top Secret security clearance.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain DHS EOD/SCI.

Peraton is currently seeking an experienced Lab Systems Engineer to design, deploy, and maintain the infrastructure supporting our highly isolated malware analysis and reverse-engineering environments.

Location: Arlington, VA.

In this role, you will:

• Focus entirely on the foundational architecture: managing enterprise compute, virtualization, storage, and networking systems.
• Collaborate directly with malware analysts and reverse engineers to implement the specific topologies, device networks, and virtual sandboxes they require, ensuring total network containment and rapid environment resets.

Additional areas of responsibility:

• Infrastructure Design & Solutioning: Design and build underlying infrastructure solutions to support the virtualization, emulation, and interconnection of various network device types and analysis systems as requested by the reverse-engineering team.
• Virtualization Stack Management: Administer and optimize the enterprise virtualization layer using VMware ESXi and vCenter server management.
• Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Deploy, maintain, and scale underlying compute nodes across Cisco Hyperflex system.
• Storage Administration: Provision and manage high-performance data lifecycles and datastores on NetApp storage platforms.
• Network Segmentation & Isolation: Configure and maintain Cisco network switches, enforcing rigorous VLAN configurations to ensure absolute containment between analysis cells.
• Firewall Infrastructure Engineering: Implement, audit, and manage strict security rule sets, access control lists, and custom routing tables on Palo Alto firewalls.
• Operating System Provisioning: Build, patch, and harden baseline enterprise Windows servers, Linux servers, and Linux desktops ready for analytical deployment.
• Centralized Systems Management: Manage compliance, patching, and deployment pipelines across the Linux infrastructure fleet using Ubuntu Landscape.
• Log Aggregation & Monitoring: Maintain infrastructure visibility, performance metrics, and environment logging by configuring and managing dashboards and alerts in Splunk.

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