Senior DevSecOps Engineer

Dark Wolf; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Dark Wolf seeks a Senior DevSecOps Engineer to manage and optimize CI/CD pipelines across the development lifecycle, ensuring end-to-end security, observability, and resilience for deployed software. This technical leader will build secure automation, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and implement policy-as-code while navigating government-grade compliance.

Location is Chantilly/Herndon, VA, with a competitive salary.

Qualifications

• US Citizenship with active TS/SCI and Full-Scope Polygraph required.
• Bachelor's degree in CS, IS, Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years building and maintaining automated CI/CD pipelines.
• 3+ years of automation for infrastructure provisioning and configuration management.
• Strong Linux systems administration and networking fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Maintain, optimize, and operate automated CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD).
• Integrate SAST/DAST and container scanning into pipelines.
• Develop robust automated testing frameworks (unit, integration, UAT).
• Collaborate to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities in apps/infrastructure.
• Enforce and maintain compliance with government and organizational security standards.
• Design Policy-as-Code workflows and lead security posture improvements across multi-environment platforms.

Skills

Security clearance TS/SCI

CI/CD

Linux admin

Git/GitLab

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IS/Engineering

Tools

Git

GitLab

Jira

Kubernetes

ArgoCD

Job description

Dark Wolf constructs and deploys data management and analytics solutions for the defense and intelligence communities. We're proud to boast a world-class engineering team that thrives on rolling up their sleeves to solve your mission’s biggest challenges.

Dark Wolf is seeking a Senior DevSecOps Engineer to manage, automate, and elevate the Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines and processes used across the development lifecycle. In this role, you will ensure end-to-end security, observability, and operational resilience for deployed software products.

We are looking for a technical leader and proactive problem solver who excels in fast-paced environments and thrives within high-performing teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Pipeline Operations & Management: Maintain, optimize, and operate automated CI/CD pipelines using platforms such as Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD.
• Automated Security Integration: Seamlessly integrate security tools and controls directly into the CI/CD pipeline, including Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), and container/dependency scanning.
• Test Automation: Implement and maintain robust automated testing frameworks across unit testing, integration testing, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
• Vulnerability Management: Collaborate closely with development teams to identify, prioritize, and remediate application and infrastructure security vulnerabilities.
• Compliance & Governance: Enforce and maintain strict compliance with government and organizational security regulations and standards.
• Architecture & Strategy: Design resilient Policy-as-Code workflows and lead security posture improvements across multi-environment deployment platforms.

Qualifications

• Clearance: Must be a US Citizen holding an active TS/SCI security clearance with an active Full-Scope Polygraph.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Professional Experience: Minimum 7+ years building and maintaining automated CI/CD pipelines.
• Infrastructure Automation: Minimum 3+ years of experience with automation tools for infrastructure provisioning and configuration management.
• Version Control: Proficiency with Git, GitLab, Jira, and associated developer ecosystem tools.
• Systems Administration: Strong background in Linux systems administration and fundamental networking principles.
• Soft Skills & Mindset: Superior troubleshooting skills, strong collaboration abilities, and the capability to articulate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Security Discipline: Unwavering commitment to strict security protocols and DevSecOps best practices.

Additional Core Technical Skills Required

• Container Security & Governance: Advanced Kubernetes orchestration security, admission controllers (e.g., Open Policy Agent/OPA, Kyverno), runtime security monitoring (e.g., Falco), and pod security standards.
• Secrets Management: Hands-on implementation of enterprise secrets managers (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager) for automated secret rotation and dynamic injection.
• GitOps & Modern Continuous Delivery: Deep experience implementing GitOps operational models using tools such as ArgoCD or Flux.
• Full-Stack Observability & Telemetry: Experience deploying end-to-end monitoring, centralized logging, and metrics stacks (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/OpenSearch, OpenTelemetry).

Desired Qualifications

• Programming & Scripting: Proficiency in languages such as Python, Go, Bash, or C/C++.
• Containerization: Strong practical experience with containerized software practices (Docker, Podman).
• Agile Frameworks: Experience working within Agile/Scrum software development methodologies.
• Cloud Architecture: Multi-cloud infrastructure experience across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Security Scanning Tooling: Hands-on experience with modern scanner suites (e.g., SonarQube, Snyk, Trivy, OWASP ZAP).

Industry Certifications

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) / Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer / Azure DevOps Engineer
• CompTIA Security+, CISSP, or Certified DevSecOps Professional (ADP)

Position Clearance Requirement: US Citizenship with an active TS/SCI security clearance with Full-Scope Polygraph.

Location: Chantilly/Herndon, VA.

Target Salary Range: $150,000.00 – $170,000.00 (Commensurate with specialized expertise and technical skillset).

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled and other protected categories. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity, confirm US Citizenship, and complete the required employment eligibility verification upon hire.

We are strictly looking for direct, full-time W2 employees. We do not engage with third-party staffing agencies, C2C, or 1099 independent contractors for this role.