Senior Platform Engineer (FedD144)

defenseunicorns; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote within United States

Up to 25% travel

Job summary

defenseunicorns is seeking a Senior Platform Engineer to own and evolve the runtime production environment bridging custom, COTS, and OSS applications to the platform. You will drive platform architecture, set engineering standards, and serve as the technical anchor between application and platform teams.

You will mentor engineers, lead the technical roadmap, and enforce DevSecOps practices while collaborating with Mission Managers and product teams to ensure alignment with mission objectives.

Qualifications

• US citizenship and ability to obtain a Secret clearance.
• Deep expertise across pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, or Go.
• Proven experience with Kubernetes, container-based systems, and YAML.
• Strong security automation and familiarity with API, container, and cloud security.
• Experience in CD, distributed architectures, everything-as-code, containerization and cloud services.
• Excellent communication and independent work in Agile, remote settings.

Responsibilities

• Architect and maintain scalable runtime production environments across cloud-native and containerized systems.
• Own the technical roadmap for the platform vertical and align work to mission objectives.
• Mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and drive cross-project delivery.
• Collaborate with product teams to influence direction based on production usage.
• Advocate for DevSecOps practices, security automation, and compliance.
• Improve CI/CD pipelines, deployment patterns, and operational tooling.

Skills

US citizenship

Secret clearance eligibility

Kubernetes

GitOps

Go

CI/CD

Everything-as-code

Cloud security

Security automation

Distributed architectures

Agile/remote work

Communication

Education

DoD 8570 IAT II certification

DoD production ATO experience

Big Bang / Iron Bank / C-ATO familiarity

Tools

Kubernetes

YAML

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Role overview

Serve as a senior platform engineer responsible for designing, building, and owning the runtime production environment that bridges custom, COTS, and OSS applications to the underlying platform. This hands-on technical leadership role drives platform architecture decisions, sets engineering standards, and acts as the technical anchor between application and platform teams across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Architect and maintain scalable runtime production environments across cloud-native and containerized systems, including transforming applications into Kubernetes-friendly formats for bare-metal deployment.
• Own the technical roadmap for the platform vertical, identifying gaps, planning initiatives, and aligning engineering effort to mission objectives.
• Mentor engineers across the team, foster professional development, and raise the technical bar.
• Identify technical overlap across projects and guide teams on efficient cross-project delivery.
• Work closely with Mission Managers on engineering competency, capacity, velocity, and mission alignment.
• Collaborate with product teams to give feedback on fit and influence product direction based on production usage.
• Advocate for and enforce DevSecOps practices including security automation, container security, and compliance.
• Drive continuous improvement in CI/CD pipelines, deployment patterns, and operational tooling.

Requirements

• US citizenship and eligibility to obtain a Secret security clearance.
• Expertise solving highly technical problems that span multiple knowledge domains.
• Deep knowledge in one to two key technologies such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, or Go.
• Demonstrated experience with Kubernetes, container-based systems, and expert-level YAML.
• Proficiency with security automation and familiarity with API security, container security, and cloud security.
• Experience with continuous delivery, distributed architectures, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services.
• Strong communication skills and ability to operate independently in ambiguous, Agile, remote environments.

Nice to have

• DoD 8570 IAT II certification or ability to obtain.
• Department of Defense production ATO system experience.
• Familiarity with Big Bang, Iron Bank, and C-ATO processes.
• Expert-level DevSecOps, DevOps, and CI/CD theory and implementation.

Benefits and work setup

• Remote within the United States with up to 25% travel.