Senior DevOps Engineer (Hub-Remote: DC or Philly Metro)

Element 84; Alexandria (VA); Hybrid; USD 145,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision benefits

Life & disability insurance

Retirement plans

Parental leave

Flexible work schedules

Paid vacation & holidays

Cell phone stipend

Job summary

Element 84 is seeking a highly experienced Senior DevOps Engineer to architect scalable, cloud-native solutions on AWS with IaC across multiple accounts. You will automate and optimize CI/CD pipelines, write automation scripts in Python, Bash, and JavaScript, and support Generative AI workflows.

The role emphasizes strong communication of architectures, collaboration with security teams, and a proactive approach to DevOps best practices.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in software development with 3+ years in cloud technologies.
• Strong IaC experience with complex cloud configurations.
• Proficient in Python, Bash, and JavaScript.
• Experience deploying on AWS and Azure; cloud security focus.
• Able to document architectures and communicate tradeoffs.
• NOAA badge eligibility or equivalent background check knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of scalable cloud-native solutions on AWS.
• Collaborate with security teams to ensure compliant cloud implementations.
• Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code across AWS and Azure accounts.
• Maintain CI/CD pipelines for rapid, reliable deployments.
• Create automation scripts in Python, Bash, and JavaScript.
• Support infrastructure for Generative AI projects on domain datasets.
• Automate creation and management of apps, pipelines, and tooling.
• Advocate for DevOps best practices across Element 84 and customers.

Skills

Cloud technologies

Infrastructure as code

Python

Bash

JavaScript

Linux

CI/CD

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

Security & compliance

Networking

Documentation

Education

B.S. in Computer Science/Computer Engineering

Tools

Docker

EKS

Snowflake

Databricks

Job description

This is a contingent position, and employment is dependent upon Element 84 receiving the contract award and the candidate successfully obtaining a NOAA badge. We anticipate hiring multiple people for this position.
About Element 84
Element 84 is a woman-owned small business that works with public, private, and non-profit sector clients to develop geospatial data processing pipelines & build software that helps answer big questions about our health, our infrastructure, and our changing planet. We solve challenging problems across a wide range of industries, but our super power is cloud-based geospatial data processing, remote sensing, and Earth science systems. Our headquarters is located in Alexandria, VA and we have a satellite office in Philadelphia, PA. Element 84 also supports a large remote workforce from a variety of other states.

A Few Other Things You Should Know

• Element 84's values are: We Invest in Each Other, We are Reliable, and Our Work Benefits our World.
• Element 84 works on meaningful projects that are challenging—from a technical, people, and team perspective. We make an impact on large projects through our leadership and expertise, both formal and informal.
• Element 84 values life outside of work. We offer parental leave for everyone and support each other through family challenges like medical problems, adoptions, and new babies.
• Element 84 has had a flexible work schedule since our founding in 2010.
• Element 84 is committed to fostering a culture of curiosity and respect for all individuals as we constantly strive to create a work environment where everyone feels welcome and supported.
  

About You
You are curious about the world, are constantly learning, driven to lead (formally or informally), and have a strong work ethic. You're interested in solving impactful problems in science, medicine, and other projects that have a societal good. You can work independently or with a team, prioritize your projects, and be effective without micromanagement.
You'll care about writing. Our team is remote and written communication is essential. In addition to caring about a well-crafted email and a succinct conference abstract, you understand that good writing is good design and engineering.
About The Role
Element 84 is seeking a highly experienced and motivated Senior DevOps Engineer with a strong background in architecting reliable, scalable cloud systems and a proven record of utilizing infrastructure as code in complex deployments to support our innovative projects.

In this role, you'll be instrumental in leading the design, implementation, and operation of cloud-native solutions for complex operational systems, collaborating closely with technical teams and customers.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in designing, deploying, and supporting enterprise-grade software within cloud environments, with a strong emphasis on infrastructure as code principles. While direct experience with geospatial applications isn't required, a curiosity and aptitude for working in this domain will be beneficial.

What You'll Be Working On

• Leading the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and secure cloud-native solutions on AWS.
• Collaborating with security experts to translate organizational security requirements into secure and compliant cloud implementations.
• Developing and maintaining infrastructure-as-code to manage and provision infrastructure across numerous Azure and AWS accounts, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
• Maintaining and optimizing CI/CD automation pipelines to facilitate rapid and reliable software deployments.
• Crafting automation scripts in Python, Bash, JavaScript, and other relevant languages to streamline operational workflows.
• Contributing to the development and maintenance of infrastructure supporting Generative AI applications on domain-specific datasets.
• Automating the creation and management of front and back-end applications, pipelines, security tooling, etc.
• Defining and advocating for best practices and standards for DevOps success across Element 84 and our customer organizations.
  

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in software development, with 3+ years specifically focused on Cloud Technologies.
• Strong, hands-on experience with IaC is a must, including writing, maintaining, and troubleshooting complex configurations for cloud environments.
• Strong experience developing in one or more programming languages (e.g., Python, Bash, JavaScript).
• Demonstrable experience designing, deploying, and managing infrastructure and services on a major cloud platform.
• Ability to clearly document and communicate intricate architectural concepts at various levels, including delivering presentations, creating visual representations of architectures, and writing white papers.
• Demonstrated experience in negotiating tradeoffs between critical factors such as security, performance, maintainability, and cost.
• Proven ability to multitask and effectively prioritize work across competing demands and multiple customers.
• Extensive experience working within an Agile Development software team.
• Solid experience with Linux environments.
• Deep understanding of cloud architecture patterns and tradeoffs (e.g., serverless vs. provisioned, managed services vs. self-hosting).
• Expertise with build and deployment automation tools.
• Proficiency with infrastructure monitoring tools (e.g., CloudWatch, AWS Config, Kibana, Splunk, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Honeycomb, etc.)
• Experience with data storage and data engineering tools and technologies (e.g., ElasticSearch, SQL, NoSQL, DynamoDB, Redshift, Athena, Glue, etc.).
• Experience with networking tools and technologies and troubleshooting issues (CloudFront, Route53, Load Balancers, API Gateway, VPCs, NACLs, etc.).
• Technical cloud certification (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect Associate/Professional, AWS DevOps Engineer Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert) or willingness to obtain one.
• This position requires that applicants be a US Person (US citizen or legal permanent resident) and authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future.
  

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Solutions Architect, AWS DevOps, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, and/or Certified Kubernetes Administrator certifications.
• B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field (equivalent professional experience will be considered in lieu of a degree).
• Experience with Generative AI technologies.
• Experience working in regulated contexts (e.g., NIST 800-53, PCI, HIPAA).
• Experience with authentication and authorization technologies (e.g., SAML, SSO, AWS Cognito, JWT, OAuth, OPA, Ranger).
• Demonstrated ability to proactively learn and integrate new technologies into existing workflows.
• Familiarity with geospatial data processing, analysis, or visualization tools and concepts.
• Experience using containerized workloads for local development and enterprise deployments (e.g. docker, EKS, EKS-automode, minikube, podman)
• Experience with data warehousing or data lakehouses (e.g. Databricks or Snowflake)
• Active NOAA CAC badge; Alternative Eligibility - candidates who do not currently possess a NOAA badge are still highly encouraged to apply. However, you must be fully eligible and able to successfully clear the NOAA background investigation process to obtain one [Start date may be contingent upon successful processing and acquisition of NOAA badge]
  

Additional Information

• Paying attention to who we are as a company–people, family members, friends, and colleagues–is our primary focus at Element 84. There are lots of ways to run a company, and, for us, we prioritize wanting to come to work, being around people we enjoy, taking on big things with people you trust, and sharing our achievements as a team.
  
• You’ll get credit when things go right and we’ll have your back when things go wrong.
• We only take on work that is challenging and right for us. There are projects we will turn down and the team has a say.
• We may be a small company, but we have big company benefits meant to support the idea that we're here for the long term and happiness comes from much more than where you work.
• We have an extraordinary retention rate because we hire extraordinary people. We hope that’s you.
  

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary Range: $145,000 – $175,000 / year (Full-time, Salaried)
• Bonus Potential: Eligible for performance- and company profit-based bonuses.
• Total Rewards: Base pay is just one part of the Element 84 compensation package. Final offers are tailored based on your technical skillset, relevant experience, domain knowledge, certifications, and location.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Full coverage details, retirement matching, and perks are listed below.
  

Location & Remote Work
This is a full time, salaried position. Remote candidates are encouraged, but your home office must be less than 100 miles from either Element 84’s Alexandria, VA or Philadelphia, PA hub.

Benefits Offered

• Competitive medical, dental and vision benefits
• Life Insurance, Short & Long Term disability insurance
• Voluntary Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Insurance
• 401(k) and Roth 401(k) retirement plans with a fixed 3% of salary employer contributions (paid regardless of employee participation)
• Health savings account with a company contribution
• Flexible spending accounts (medical, dependent care and transportation)
• Company-paid parental leave after one year of employment
• Flexible work schedules
• Paid employee assistance program
• Paid sick leave
• 6 paid floating holidays per year
• 4 weeks + 1 day Paid Vacation per calendar year
• Cell phone stipend
  

Element 84 is an equal opportunity employer.