Platform Operations Engineer - TS/SCI with Security Clearance

SUNAYU; Chevy Chase (MD); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Sunayu, LLC is seeking a Platform Operations Engineer to maintain a containerized, microservices-driven OSINT platform. You will ensure uptime, performance, and reliability while collaborating with engineers, developers, and system admins on a mission-focused team at a customer site in Bethesda, MD, with flexible scheduling and some remote work.

The role requires TS/SCI clearance, DoD 8570 IAT II+ certification, and hands-on experience with Kubernetes, cloud services (AWS), Elasticsearch stack,

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance with ability to obtain polygraph.
• 8+ years of relevant experience or 6+ years with a Master's.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Linux, and containerized environments.
• Experience supporting enterprise-scale production systems.

Responsibilities

• Ensure uptime, performance, and capacity planning for a large-scale platform.
• Lead incident response, troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and post-incident reviews.
• Define and track reliability metrics (SLIs/SLOs) for the platform.
• Participate in SAFe Agile release planning and cross-team coordination.

Skills

Kubernetes

GitLab pipelines

Linux

CI/CD

Cross-functional coordination

Strong communicator

Incident response

Education

BS in Engineering, CS, Systems Engineering, or related field

Tools

Elasticsearch

PostgreSQL

Logstash

Kibana

Keycloak

Appian

Kafka

Prometheus

Grafana

Terraform

CloudFormation

Pulumi

AWS

Nexus

GraphQL

SALT

Job description

Sunayu,LLC is looking for a Platform Operations Engineer to join a high-impact team driving the design, development, and deployment of a modern technology stack supporting the DOMEX Technology Platform (DTP). This role directly supports our customer’s mission to centralize and standardize the Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TCPED) of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. You’ll be part of a mission-focused, solutions-oriented team that values inclusion, innovation, collaboration, and continuous professional growth. While the majority of work is performed on-site at our customer location in Bethesda, MD, we offer a flexible schedule, and some tasks may be completed remotely. As a Platform Operations Engineer you will work with a team to ensure the availability, reliability, and performance of a full stack, containerized microservices platform. You also will partner with a multidisciplinary team of systems engineers, developers, integrators, and system administrators in the following areas:

• System Reliability & Performance — Ensuring uptime, performance, and capacity planning for a large scale big data production platform with a microservice architecture running on Kubernetes, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Kafka, and technologies such as Java, Python, React, and low code tools like Appian
• Monitoring & Observability — Leveraging monitoring tools to proactively detect and resolve issues
• Incident Response — Leading triage, troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and post incident reviews
• SLIs & SLOs — Defining and tracking reliability metrics
• SAFe Agile — Participating in release planning, scrums, design sessions, bug triage, and cross team coordination
• You bring enthusiasm, the ability to work well with people from different disciplines with varying degrees of technical experience, and meet the following qualifications:
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience) with 8+ years of relevant experience; 6+ years with a Master’s; additional experience may substitute for a degree
• Active TS/SCI clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a polygraph
• At least one DoD 8570.01 M IAT Level II+ certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CySA+, CCNA Security, SSCP, CISSP (or Associate))
• Ability to obtain Privileged User Account (PUA) certification
• Experience with Kubernetes, GitLab pipelines, Linux, and containerized environments
• Experience supporting enterprise scale production systems
• Experience with cloud services (preferably AWS) and cloud infrastructure
• Familiarity with Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Logstash, Kibana, and Keycloak
• Demonstrated success in cross functional coordination and execution
• Strong communication skills and the ability to perform under pressure during incidents
• You will stand out even more if you bring:
• Experience with Agile methodologies
• Experience with creating customized dashboards to track SLIs and other key performance indicators
• Development experience (Bash, PowerShell, SALT, Python, Groovy, Java, etc.)
• Experience with Appian or other low-code platforms
• Experience with technologies such as Kafka, AMQP/JMS, Prometheus/Grafana, GPU-based Kubernetes, SALT automation, Nexus, or GraphQL
• Knowledge of security best practices (authN/Z, secrets management, data protection)
• Infrastructure-as-code experience (CloudFormation, Terraform, Pulumi)
• AWS cloud certifications