Site Reliability Engineer

Cogent People; Columbia (MD); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid Time Off: 3 weeks annually + 10 paid holidays

Job summary

Cogent People Inc. seeks a Site Reliability Engineer in Columbia, MD to enhance system reliability and performance. The candidate will implement observability and automation practices, collaborate with DevOps teams, and engage in incident response activities.

Ideal for those with a background in system monitoring and production support. The role offers a hybrid work model, competitive benefits, and opportunities for professional growth in a mission-driven environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in system reliability, DevOps, or production support roles.
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Support system reliability, monitoring, and operational stability.
• Implement observability practices including monitoring and logging.
• Contribute to automation efforts to improve system reliability.

Skills

System reliability

DevOps practices

Production support

Problem-solving skills

Collaboration skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

Terraform

Splunk

Datadog

Prometheus

Job description

Employment Type

Full-time, W2 position with Cogent People Inc. This is a direct hire position with full benefits.

Location

Hybrid Columbia, MD 3 times per week OR Remote (as applicable to role)

Work Authorization Requirements

To comply with government contracting requirements, candidates must meet all of the following:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident, or valid EAD holder
• Must have lived in the United States for at least 3 of the past 5 years
• Must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship

Sponsorship (H-1B)

Sponsorship is not available for this position (now or in the future). Candidates who do not meet these requirements will not be considered.

Clearance Requirement

Public Trust required or ability to obtain, depending on assignment.

About Cogent People Inc.

Cogent People Inc. is a government consulting and technology services firm supporting mission-critical federal and commercial programs. We deliver secure, scalable, and modern digital solutions across complex IT environments. Our teams thrive at the intersection of engineering excellence and mission impact, building systems that matter.

Job Overview

Cogent People Inc. is seeking a Site Reliability Engineer to support system reliability, monitoring, and operational stability across environments. This role is responsible for implementing observability and automation practices, supporting production systems, and ensuring system performance and availability. The position plays a key role in incident response, root cause analysis, and ongoing system optimization in collaboration with DevOps and development teams. The ideal candidate will bring experience in system monitoring, DevOps practices, and production support, along with the ability to collaborate across cross‑functional engineering teams in a fast‑paced environment. This position may be contingent upon contract award.

What You’ll Do

• Support system reliability, monitoring, and operational stability across environments
• Implement and maintain observability practices, including monitoring, logging, and alerting
• Contribute to automation efforts that improve system reliability and operational efficiency
• Participate in incident response activities and production support
• Perform root cause analysis for system issues and outages
• Support performance optimization and tuning of applications and infrastructure
• Work with DevOps and development teams to maintain production readiness
• Contribute to continuous improvement of deployment and operational processes
• Collaborate across engineering teams to support stable and scalable systems

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Experience in system reliability, DevOps, or production support roles
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and observability tools
• Understanding of incident management and root cause analysis processes
• Familiarity with cloud environments and infrastructure concepts
• Experience supporting automated deployment or operational workflows
• Strong problem‑solving and troubleshooting skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in fast‑paced, production‑critical environments
• Strong collaboration skills across development and operations teams

What Will Set You Apart

• Experience with AWS or other cloud platforms
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform or similar)
• Experience with tools such as Splunk, Datadog, Prometheus, or similar observability platforms
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps automation tools
• Prior experience supporting enterprise‑scale or regulated environments
• Knowledge of application performance tuning and distributed systems behavior

Why Cogent People Inc.

At Cogent People, we combine technical excellence with a mission‑driven culture. Our teams work on meaningful, high‑impact projects that support government and enterprise transformation initiatives.

We Offer

• Competitive compensation
• Career growth and professional development opportunities
• Exposure to complex, mission‑critical systems
• A collaborative and supportive team environment
• Long‑term client engagements with stability and continuity

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance (comprehensive coverage)
• 401(k) with company match
• Company‑paid life insurance
• Short‑term and long‑term disability coverage
• Paid Time Off: 3 weeks annually + 10 paid holidays
• Employee assistance and wellness resources (as applicable)

We are a Certified Great Place to Work, committed to building an inclusive and high‑performance culture.

Compliance Notice

Cogent People Inc. conducts employment verification for all candidates. Misrepresentation of work authorization, residency history, or professional experience will result in disqualification.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO) and evaluate all applicants based on qualifications, experience, and role requirements.

We do not engage third‑party recruiters for this role unless explicitly stated.