Senior/Lead DevOps Engineer - Federal

C3.ai, Inc.; Tysons (VA); On-site; USD 159,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

C3 AI in Tysons, VA is seeking a Senior/Lead DevOps Engineer - Federal to lead deployments of the C3 Agentic AI Platform into federal environments, from architecture through production handoff with a focus on security and reliability.

US citizenship and an active Secret clearance or higher are required; TS/SCI or higher is preferred. Travel to customer sites up to 50%, primarily in the DC area.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM or comparable area.
• Active Secret clearance or higher; TS/SCI or higher preferred; CI or Full-Scope polygraph preferred.
• 6+ years in DevOps, SRE, or infrastructure roles.
• Experience deploying, managing and operating scalable Kubernetes in AWS/Azure; on-prem preferred.
• Hands-on administration of Kubernetes distributions (AKS, EKS, GKE, etc.).
• Terraform and Helm for deployment; Ansible for config management; CI/CD tooling experience.
• Linux, networking, and databases; Python or Bash scripting.

Responsibilities

• Lead federal deployments end to end from requirements to handoff to operations.
• Design installations meeting federal security requirements (air-gapped, disconnected networks).
• Deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters with Terraform and Helm.
• Lead scripting and automation (Ansible, Bash, Python).
• Set up CI/CD pipelines and artifact repositories.
• Establish monitoring and alerting for deployed systems.
• Deliver root cause analyses and postmortems; ensure uptime and SLAs.
• Collaborate with Services, Engineering, and Platform operations; write runbooks.
• Act as technical contact for customer engineering teams; travel up to 50% (DC area).

Skills

Problem solving

Critical thinking

Communication

Customer-facing

Initiative

Independent working

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

Kubernetes (AKS/EKS/GKE)

Terraform

Ansible

Helm

GitLab CI

Argo CD

Nexus/Artifactory

Job description

C3 AI (NYSE: AI), is the Enterprise AI application software company. C3 AI delivers a family of fully integrated products including the C3 Agentic AI Platform, an end-to-end platform for developing, deploying, and operating enterprise AI applications, C3 AI applications, a portfolio of industry-specific SaaS enterprise AI applications that enable the digital transformation of organizations globally, and C3 Generative AI, a suite of domain-specific generative AI offerings for the enterprise. Learn more at: C3 AI

C3 AI is seeking a Senior/Lead DevOps Engineer - Federal to join our team in Tysons, VA. You will lead deployments of the C3 Agentic AI Platform into federal customer environments, from initial architecture through production handoff, working directly with customers and with C3 AI Services and Engineering teams.

This role requires US Citizenship and an active Secret clearance or higher. TS/SCI or higher is preferred. A CI or Full-Scope polygraph is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead new federal customer deployments of the C3 AI Platform end to end, from requirements and architecture through installation, validation, and handoff to operations.
• Design and implement customized installations that meet the unique access and security requirements of federal environments, including on-premises, disconnected, and air-gapped networks.
• Deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters using infrastructure as code (Terraform), and deploy containerized applications with Helm.
• Initiate and lead scripting and automation (Ansible, Bash, Python) to streamline system updates and upgrades.
• Set up critical infrastructure, tools, and frameworks to streamline the deployment cycle, including CI/CD pipelines and artifact repositories.
• Establish end-to-end monitoring and alerting on all critical aspects of deployed systems.
• Solve complex problems for critical services, build automation to prevent recurrence, and deliver root cause analyses and postmortems.
• Ensure system uptime and availability, meeting functional and performance SLAs.
• Work cross-functionally with Services, Engineering, and the C3 AI Platform operations team.
• Serve as the technical point of contact for customer engineering teams: brief status, document architectures, and write runbooks.
• Travel to customer sites (up to 50%, primarily in the DC area).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM), or comparable area of study.
• Active Secret clearance or higher; TS/SCI or higher preferred; CI or Full-Scope polygraph preferred.
• 6+ years of experience in DevOps, SRE, or infrastructure engineering roles.
• Demonstrated experience deploying, managing, and operating scalable and fault-tolerant Kubernetes-based infrastructure in AWS and Azure clouds; on-premises deployment experience preferred.
• Hands-on administration of one or more Kubernetes distributions: AKS, EKS, GKE, RKE2, K3s, or OpenShift.
• Experience deploying Kubernetes with infrastructure as code, Terraform preferred.
• Experience packaging and deploying containerized applications with Helm.
• Configuration management and automation with Ansible; Puppet a plus.
• Experience with CI/CD and artifact tooling such as GitLab CI, Argo CD, Nexus, or Artifactory.
• Expertise in Linux operating systems, networking, and database concepts.
• Experience with cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP, including government regions (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government).
• Experience in Python or Bash to automate and monitor systems.
• Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills.
• Customer-facing experience leading deployments or technical engagements, working independently with strong initiative.

Preferred

• Experience in disconnected or air-gapped environments, including DISA STIG hardening and RMF/ATO support.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Experience administering Kubernetes-based microservices and databases (Postgres, Cassandra).

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future company sponsorship.

C3 AI provides excellent benefits, a competitive compensation package and generous equity plan.

Virginia Base Pay Range

$159,000 - $230,000 USD

C3 AI is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Aff.