Senior Platform Enablement Engineer - Observability

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 158,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Arlington, Virginia is looking for a savvy engineer to provide technical leadership in enterprise software delivery. This role includes advising teams on observability and owning the ELK Stack platform.

The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience with cloud infrastructure and strong expertise in Elasticsearch. The position supports a hybrid work schedule, allowing flexibility to work from home up to 2 days per week.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience with enterprise platforms.
• 8+ years in software engineering, cloud infrastructure engineering, or DevOps practices.
• Demonstrated experience driving adoption of shared platforms.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in enabling enterprise software delivery through shared platforms.
• Advise and support application teams on application observability.
• Own and evolve the enterprise Elasticsearch (ELK Stack) platform.

Skills

Elasticsearch

DevOps practices

Cloud infrastructure engineering

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science/Information Systems Technology

Job description

NRECA is a unique national trade association providing advocacy, financial services and business support services to over 900 consumer owned electric cooperatives across the country. NRECA employees are united by our mission, inclusive culture, collaborative workplace and commitment to service excellence. As a "best place to work" employer, we operate with integrity, transparency and a spirit of innovation.

Join IT at NRECA where we are more than a team, we are a community. Guided by the core tenets of Simplicity, Security, Continuity, Transparency, and Flexibility, we strive to deliver business value through collaboration, ideation, and innovation. Become an integral part of a community driven to continuously improve our processes and transform how we work – in partnership with our colleagues and in service to our members.

Position Summary

We are looking for a savvy engineer who will provide technical leadership in enabling enterprise software delivery through shared platforms, automation, and DevOps practices. They will focus on designing and evolving platform capabilities that improve reliability, security, and consistency across development and operational teams, while enabling application teams to adopt observability solutions such as the ELK Stack for logging, monitoring, and application performance monitoring. This position is eligible for NRECA’s hybrid schedule which allows flexibility to work from home up to 2 days per week.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Advises and supports application teams as a subject matter expert on application observability, guiding effective adoption of logging and monitoring tools and techniques, including Elasticsearch, and resolving technical design tradeoffs.
• Owns and evolves the enterprise Elasticsearch (ELK Stack) platform, including architecture, configuration standards, and operational best practices.
• Enables adoption of Elasticsearch through reference architectures, onboarding patterns, documentation, and hands‑on guidance.
• Leads and coordinates cross‑team technical initiatives to deliver platform capabilities including application performance monitoring, enhanced support and troubleshooting, automated controls, and developer workflow improvements.
• Improves mean time to detection (MTTD) and mean time to resolution (MTTR) through standardized observability practices and platform capabilities.
• Designs and implements shared DevOps platform capabilities, including CI/CD templates, infrastructure‑as‑code frameworks, cloud platform services, Elasticsearch‑based observability solutions (logging, monitoring, tracing, and alerting), and developer automation, to enable consistent adoption across teams.
• Develops and standardizes reusable engineering patterns, standards, and "golden paths" that enable consistent development, deployment, and operational practices across the enterprise.
• Partners and collaborates with applications, infrastructure, and security teams to align DevOps enablement with enterprise architecture, governance, operational requirements, and business objectives.
• Drives improvements in software delivery reliability, security, and consistency through reusable solutions and platform‑driven best practices.
• Ability to report to the office when required

Direct Reports to this Position

None

Qualifications

Formal Education Required

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science/Information Systems Technology or 10+ years equivalent experience.

Experience and Certifications Required

• 8+ years of experience with enterprise platforms
• 8+ years in software engineering, cloud infrastructure engineering, platform engineering, or DevOps practices.
• Professional certifications related to cloud platforms, DevOps practices, security, or architecture.
• Demonstrated experience driving adoption of shared platforms across multiple teams, including influencing standards, onboarding, and change management.
• Experience aligning observability solutions with security, compliance, and operational requirements (e.g., handling sensitive or regulated data in logs).

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required (as demonstrated by prior work experience)

• Deep expertise with Elasticsearch and the ELK Stack, including cluster design, indexing strategies, performance tuning, data retention, and scaling in enterprise environments.

Essential Physical Requirements

• The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal and extensive reading.
• Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects. If the use of arm and/or leg controls requires exertion of forces greater than that for sedentary work and the worker sits most of the time, the job is rated for light work.

Salary Range

$158,000–$195,000 annual salary. Final compensation determined by individual qualifications, experience, and internal equity.

Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status. NRECA is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you need special assistance or an accommodation while seeking employment, please e‑mail [e-mail] or call 703‑907‑5992 – NRECA Arlington Human Resources.