Senior Systems Engineer with Security Clearance

Neural Solutions; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 179,000 - 213,000; Full time

Job summary

Neural Solutions in Columbia, MD, is seeking a Lead DevOps Engineer to oversee the stability, security, and scalability of data transformation workloads and a widely used web-based user interface. You will lead two system administrators and collaborate with 25+ software engineers, guiding end-to-end infrastructure from bare metal and AWS to Kubernetes deployments.

The role requires TS/SCI with Polygraph, 12 years of experience with a technical degree, and a salary range of $179,000–$213,000 for

Qualifications

• Strong Linux system administration experience (e.g., RHEL9).
• Experience in containerization using Podman and Kubernetes for deploying and managing applications.
• Amazon AWS experience (setting up EC2 instances, S3 buckets, VPCs, IAM).
• Proficient in system automation and scripting tools such as Ansible (including Semaphore), Terraform, Packer, Bash, and Python.
• Knowledge of security standards compliance and processes.
• Metrics and observability with Kibana, Grafana, and Prometheus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and direct the daily tasks of two system administrators.
• Collaborate with and support the larger team of 25+ software engineers.
• Provide guidance, advice, and assistance for overall system design and setup in conjunction with software engineering teams.
• Maintain system platforms and health of all servers (EC2, MASH, bare metal), production systems, development environments.
• Facilitate migration of Apache NiFi installations and other services from MASH environment to AWS cloud-based architecture.
• Oversee system maintenance, security, and compliance with intelligence standards.
• Maintain observability of the system, including automation, monitoring, alerting, backup, and disaster recovery strategies for all development, staging, and production environments.
• Maintain deployment automation process (e.g., CI/CD in GitLab).
• Perform database administration with databases such as Elasticsearch, MongoDB, Redis, or graph databases.
• Ensure system documentation is up to date and conduct regular technical reviews and post-mortems to drive continuous improvement in team operations.

Skills

Linux system administration

Containerization

AWS

Automation/Scripting

Security compliance

Observability

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline

16 years of experience without degree

Tools

Podman

Kubernetes

AWS (EC2/S3/VPC/IAM)

Ansible

Terraform

Packer

Bash

Python

Elasticsearch

MongoDB

Redis

Job description

• Maintain base Linux kickstart images (RHEL9).

Join a high-impact, mission-driven team as Lead DevOps Engineer, where you will help manage the stability, security, and scalability of systems powering complex data transformation workflows and a widely used web-based user interface. Embedded within a broader engineering organization in Columbia, MD, you will lead a small, agile DevOps/SysAdmin team responsible for end-to-end infrastructure, from bare-metal and AWS environments to Kubernetes deployments.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and direct the daily tasks of two system administrators.
• Collaborate with and support the larger team of 25+ software engineers.
• Provide guidance, advice, and assistance for overall system design and setup in conjunction with software engineering teams.
• Maintain system platforms and health of all servers (EC2, MASH, bare metal), production systems, development environments.
• Facilitate migration of Apache Nifi installations and other services from MASH environment to AWS cloud-based architecture.
• Oversee system maintenance, security, and compliance with intelligence standards.
• Maintain observability of the system, including automation, monitoring, alerting, backup, and disaster recovery strategies for all development, staging, and production environments.
• Maintain deployment automation process (e.g., CI/CD in GitLab).
• Perform database administration with databases such as Elasticsearch, MongoDB, Redis, or graph databases.
• Ensure system documentation is up to date and conduct regular technical reviews and post-mortems to drive continuous improvement in team operations.

Required Skills

• Strong Linux system administration experience (e.g., RHEL9).
• Experience in containerization using Podman and Kubernetes for deploying and managing applications.
• Amazon AWS experience (setting up EC2 instances, S3 buckets, VPCs, IAM).
• Proficient in system automation and scripting tools such as Ansible (including Semaphore), Terraform, Packer, Bash, and Python.
• Knowledge of security standards compliance and processes.
• Metrics and observability with Kibana, Grafana, and Prometheus.

Nice to Have

• Apache Nifi dataflow experience.
• Familiarity with database administration with databases such as Elasticsearch, MongoDB, Redis, or graph databases (e.g., DGraph).
• Elastic stack experience (logstash, filebeat, etc.).
• Graph database experience.
• Experience with other AWS tools such as EKS, ECS, Lambdas, and Secrets Manager.
• CI/CD in GitLab.
• Advanced security operations experience.
• Facilitating low-to-high development.
• Cisco networking experience.

Experience Required

12 years with Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline, or 16 years without degree

Location

Columbia, MD

Clearance

TS/SCI with Polygraph required

Salary Range

$179,000 - $213,000