Platform Engineer

Defense Unicorns; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Conferences & travel support

Training reimbursements

Unlimited PTO with gov holidays

Job summary

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Platform Engineer to support the deployment and maintenance of UDS within a secure, bare-metal environment. You will bridge between application teams and the platform, advocating best practices to keep the platform reliable, secure, and scalable.

The ideal candidate has hands-on Kubernetes experience, on-prem infrastructure know-how, and proficiency with IaC tools like Terraform or Pulumi, plus GitOps and CI/CD tooling. A security clearance is highly valued.

Qualifications

• Strong problem-solving and hands-on Kubernetes experience.
• Experience with bare-metal or on-prem environments.
• Proficiency in IaC and configuration management.
• Ability to read/write YAML for Kubernetes manifests, CRDs, Helm charts, and pipelines.
• DoD 8570 IAT II certification or eligibility; security clearance preferred.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure, and maintain UDS in a Kubernetes-based platform.
• Support bare-metal infrastructure including GPU, storage, and networking.
• Develop and manage IaC and configurations for repeatable deployments.
• Ensure secure software delivery with artifacts and registries.
• Collaborate with mission stakeholders and engineering teams to resolve deployment challenges.
• Serve as bridge between application teams and the platform.

Skills

Kubernetes

Bare-metal infra

IaC

GitOps

CI/CD tooling

Cloud platforms

Tools

Terraform

Pulumi

GitLab CI

Helm

Kustomize

Job description

• Defense Unicorns is seeking a Platform Engineer to support the deployment and maintenance of UDS within a secure, bare-metal environment. You will serve as a bridge between application teams and the platform, advocating best practices and helping ensure that the platform is reliable, secure, and scalable. The ideal candidate is a strong problem-solver with hands-on experience in Kubernetes, bare-metal or on-premises infrastructure, and deploying applications onto Kubernetes-based platforms
• Support the architecture, deployment, configuration, and testing of bare-metal infrastructure, including GPU compute, storage, and networking
• Deploy, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot UDS and Kubernetes-based platform services
• Develop and manage infrastructure as code (IaC) and configuration to enable consistent, repeatable deployments
• Support secure software delivery, including container images, registries, packages, and deployment artifacts
• Collaborate with mission stakeholders, partner organizations, and Defense Unicorns engineering teams to identify technical requirements and resolve deployment challenges
• Collaborate with mission stakeholders, partner organizations, and Defense Unicorns engineering teams to identify technical requirements and resolve platform challenges
• What We Work On:
• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits

• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Unlimited paid time off, with a mandatory 10 days off on top of 11 federal government holidays
• Medical/Dental/Vision (premiums are 100% company paid)
• Health reimbursement account
• Life insurance & disability insurance
• 401k with employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution)
• Company stock options
• Home office setup budget
• Paid parental leave

Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to work effectively with partner engineering teamsPossess or ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT II certification (e.g., Security+ CE)Proficiency with CI/CD tooling, particularly GitLab CI or equivalent pipeline platformsHold or be eligible for a security clearanceExperience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS (EC2, EKS, IAM, S3, VPC)Ability to read and write YAML fluently for Kubernetes manifests, CRDs, Helm charts, and pipeline configurationsWorking knowledge of Linux/Unix operating systems and command-line administrationExperience supporting GPU-enabled infrastructure or workloadsExperience deploying and operating Kubernetes or containerized platforms in bare-metal or on-premises environments (deploying, managing, and troubleshooting clusters and workloads)Experience with infrastructure as code tools (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi, or similar)At Defense Unicorns, we’re committed to diversity.