Linux and Ansible Automation Engineer

DAn Solutions, Inc; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

DAn Solutions, Inc in Reston, VA is seeking a Linux and Ansible Automation Engineer to help build automation frameworks, enforce best practices, and lay the foundation for scalable infrastructure in a mission-critical setting.

You will drive automated monitoring, system hardening, configuration management, and performance optimization, collaborating with mission partners to translate pain points into repeatable solutions that reduce manual work and risk.

Qualifications

• 10+ years Linux administration experience (RHEL)
• Experience with Ansible for large inventories and idempotent playbooks
• IaC experience: Terraform, Salt, Puppet, or Chef
• Scripting with Bash, Python, or PowerShell
• Experience in U.S. federal government/DoD environments with STIG/NIST RMF
• Education: Associate/Bachelor/Master with IT project experience
• Ability to obtain DoD 8570 IAT Level III certifications within 30 days
• Ability to obtain CSSP-IS certifications within 30 days

Responsibilities

• Develop automation frameworks and establish best practices for scalable infrastructure.
• Translate stakeholder pain points into automation solutions to reduce manual effort and risk.
• Provide automated monitoring, system hardening, and performance optimization.
• Collaborate with mission partners to communicate automation value to leadership.

Skills

Linux administration

Ansible automation

IaC (Terraform/Salt/Puppet/Chef)

Bash/Python/PowerShell

DoD security frameworks (STIG/NIST/RMF

DoD IT environments

DoD 8570 IAT Level III readiness

Education

Associate's degree

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

VMware vSphere

Kubernetes

AWS/Azure/GCP

NetApp storage

Git

Job description

REQUIRES AN EXISTING/ACTIVE TS/SCI WITH CI POLYGRAPH - NO REMOTE WORK, MUST WORK ON SITE

Job Description:

As a Linux and Ansible Automation Engineer on our project, you'll be on the ground floor of building something meaningful by developing automation frameworks, establishing best practices, and laying the foundation for scalable infrastructure in a mission-critical environment. You'll provide the customer with insight into their Linux environments through automated monitoring, system hardening, configuration management, and performance optimization. You'll work closely with mission partners and various stakeholders to understand their current pain points and translate them into automation solutions that reduce manual effort and operational risk. Your technical expertise will be vital as you identify where automation can make the biggest immediate impact while keeping an eye on long-term architecture. You'll help your team better understand what's possible by turning early wins into repeatable methodologies and communicating their value to leadership.

Basic Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience administering Linux-based environments such as RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)


• Experience managing configuration at scale using Ansible, including enforcing consistent system state across large inventories, detecting and correcting configuration drift, and writing idempotent playbooks


• Experience using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) technologies such as Ansible, Terraform, Salt, Puppet, or Chef


• Experience with Bash, Python, or PowerShell


• Experience managing systems within U.S. federal government or DoD enterprise IT environments, including security compliance and vulnerability management frameworks such as STIG, RMF, or NIST


• Associate's degree and 5+ years of experience supporting IT projects and activities, Bachelor's degree and 3+ years of experience supporting IT projects and activities, or Master's degree and 1+ years of experience supporting IT projects and activities


• Ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT Level III Certification such as SecurityX (formerly CASP+), CCNP Security, CISA, CISSP (or Associate), GCED, GCIH, CCSP certification within 30 days of start date


• Ability to obtain a DoD 8570 Cybersecurity Service Provider - Infrastructure Support Certification (CSSP-IS), including CEH, CySA+, GICSP, SSCP, CHFI, CFR, Cloud+, or CND Certification, within 30 days of start date

Additional Qualifications:

• Experience with VMware vSphere administration and managing virtual machine


• Experience in Kubernetes, container platform operations, cluster lifecycle management, workload orchestration


• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP


• Experience with NetApp storage solutions and designing or maintaining enterprise backup and recovery solutions


• Knowledge of version control concepts and Git