Senior DevSecOps Engineer - Velocity Platform

nelnet; United States; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Nelnet is seeking a Senior DevSecOps Engineer to own the infrastructure, deployment automation, and security posture of Velocity, Nelnet's cloud-native loan servicing platform running entirely in AWS. Velocity uses serverless Node.js/TypeScript microservices on AWS Lambda with API Gateway, SNS/SQS, and Aurora PostgreSQL, managed via CloudFormation and GitHub Actions across four environments.

This senior role expects you to define problems, propose approaches, and deliver secure, scalable

Qualifications

• 1–3+ years of AWS DevOps, cloud architecture, networking, deployment processes, and IaC tools.
• Experience solving complex problems and challenging requirements.
• Experience in agile, iterative software development.
• Experience with source control (Git).

Responsibilities

• Monitor and support all installed systems and infrastructure.
• Evaluate system performance and implement changes via change management.
• Design and monitor secure, fault-tolerant infrastructure.
• Define Build & Release best practices for auditability and traceability.
• Automate deployment pipelines in a scalable, secure manner.
• Collaborate with Cloud Infrastructure and Security teams on best practices.
• Integrate applications into cloud environments.

Skills

AWS DevOps

Cloud architecture

Networking

Deployment processes

IaC tools

Git

Agile development

Tools

Git

CloudFormation

Terraform

Datadog

CloudWatch

Job description

Nelnet is a diversified and innovative company committed to enriching lives through the power of service as a student loan servicer, professional services company, consumer loan originator and servicer, payments processor, renewable energy solutions, and K-12 and higher education expert. For over 40 years, Nelnet has been serving its customers, associates, and communities.

The perks of working at Nelnet go beyond our benefits package. When you join the Nelnet team, you're part of a community invested in the success of each individual. That support comes through in our work, as we are united by our mission of creating opportunities for people where they live, learn, and work.

We are looking for a Senior DevSecOps Engineer to own the infrastructure, deployment automation, and security posture of Velocity, Nelnet's cloud-native loan servicing platform and the company's first major enterprise system to run entirely in AWS.

Velocity is a fully serverless platform. Roughly 50 to 60 Node.js/TypeScript microservices run on AWS Lambda behind API Gateway, an event-driven backbone is built on SNS/SQS with namespace-based filtering, data lives in Aurora PostgreSQL with read-replica clusters, and infrastructure is provisioned through CloudFormation. We deliver through GitHub and GitHub Actions across four environments (Dev, QA, Train, Production), and we monitor through CloudWatch and Datadog.

We believe the full lifecycle of a cloud system, including provisioning, deployment, maintenance, and retirement, belongs in code. We believe security controls belong in the pipeline, not in a checklist at the end of it. And because Velocity operates in the financial services sector, we are held to defined vulnerability remediation commitments by our clients and to a growing set of audit and compliance obligations, including SOC 2.

This is a senior, high-autonomy role. You will be handed problems, not specifications. Much of what needs to be built here has never been built here before, and there is no one to hand you a finished requirements document. You will be expected to define the problem, propose the approach, socialize it with architecture and delivery teams, and then go build it. You will also be one of the most senior technical voices on the team, setting standards other engineers follow and raising the technical ceiling of everyone around you.

External candidates must reside within a 30-mile radius of one of the below office locations:

• Centennial, CO
• Lincoln, NE
• Madison, WI

Nelnet believes in a hybrid work environment. The standard hybrid work schedule includes 24 hours of in-office work each week, for associates that reside within 30 miles of an office. This is subject to change, based on manager discretion.

NOTE: Internal Associates working in a remote capacity may be considered for this position.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Monitor and support all installed systems and infrastructure.
• Evaluate system performance, identify potential bottlenecks, develop solutions, and implement change via the change management process
• Design, implement and monitor enterprise-grade secure fault-tolerant infrastructure
• Define and evolve Build & Release best practice by working within teams and educating the other stakeholder teams. These best practices should support traceability & auditability of change.
• Ensure continuous availability of various DevOps tools supporting SCM & Release Management including Source Control, Continuous Integration, & Change Management.
• Work with cross-functional teams in design, development and implementation of enterprise scalable features related to enabling higher developer productivity, environment monitoring and self-healing, and facilitate autonomous delivery teams.
• Build infrastructure automation tools and frameworks
• Integrate newly developed and existing applications into cloud environments
• Automate deployment pipelines in a scalable, secure and reliable manner
• Leverage application monitoring tools to troubleshoot and diagnose environment issues
• Have a culture of automation where any repetitive work is automated
• Work closely with Cloud Infrastructure and Security teams to ensure organizational best practices, policies, and procedures are followed
• Automation of security controls

EXPERIENCE :

• 1-3+ years of experience with AWS DevOps, cloud architecture, networking, deployment processes, and infrastructure as code tools
• Experience solving complex problems, creating algorithms, and working through challenging requirements
• Experience creating software in an agile, iterative environment
• Experience with source control (Git, branching, merging, etc.)

COMPETENCIES - SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES:

• Contributes to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Educates teams on adopt