SkillBridge Intern - Platform Engineer

Defense Unicorns; United States; Remote; USD 45,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium Company-Paid Health

Health Savings Account

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

401k Retirement Plan

Stock Options

Home Office Budget

Flexible Time Off

Job summary

Defense Unicorns seeks a Platform Engineer SkillBridge intern to transform cybersecurity applications into a Kubernetes-friendly format and deploy them on a bare-metal Kubernetes platform. This remote internship bridges development and production teams and contributes to our product roadmap.

You will work with experts to strengthen CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, and automation, while pursuing DoD-relevant, mission-critical software.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing or holding an IT/CS degree or equivalent.
• Top Secret security clearance or eligibility for DoD work.
• Active involvement in open source projects or product repositories.

Responsibilities

• Transform cybersecurity applications into a Kubernetes-friendly format and deploy them within a Kubernetes environment on bare‑metal.
• Serve as a liaison between Application Development and Production environments, promoting best practices.
• Contribute to strategic vision and evaluate new products; articulate gaps for the backlog.
• Demonstrate mastery across multiple domains and 1–2 core technologies (e.g., pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go).

Skills

Kubernetes

Go

CI/CD

GitOps

Python

Ansible

YAML

IaC

Tools

Docker

Terraform

Job description

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP. Please note that eligible Service members must be within 180 days of separating from Service. Based on the evolving needs of our fast paced startup, we recruit for SkillBridge on a rolling basis. Opportunities will be posted as they become available. If no SkillBridge Intern roles are currently posted that are aligned with your experience, no internships are presently available. Please check back periodically to see when relevant opportunities arise.

Role Description:

We are seeking Platform Engineer SkillBridge interns to join our team in a remote capacity. The ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our platform, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide junior engineers. We are seeking an experienced professional who can not only fulfill technical responsibilities but also contribute to the strategic vision and innovation of our products.

You will join a team of talented and dedicated Unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally. Our teams are working on architecting, building, and deploying an on-premises platform for hosting cybersecurity applications.

Responsibilities:

In this role, your primary responsibilities will include transforming cybersecurity applications into a Kubernetes-friendly format and deploying them within a Kubernetes environment hosted on a bare-metal platform. You will be a crucial link between the Application Development team and the Production Environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between the application development teams and platform teams.

In this position, you will be expected to:

• Contribute to the Strategic Vision: Envision and articulate the long-term vision for our products, creating a path for their evolution. Contribute to the strategic planning that aligns technological advancements with the mission objectives.
• Innovate and Problem Solving: Evaluate and weigh different methods for solving complex business problems with a keen focus on product excellence. Identify innovative solutions and contribute to Defense Unicorns’ open source projects and product repositories.
• Evaluate Products: Assess new products, quickly gaining a deep understanding to make informed decisions on their potential to meet mission needs. Contribute expertise in recognizing gaps in our current processes, articulating these insights for the product backlog.
• Demonstrate Technical Mastery: Solve highly technical problems that span 2-3 knowledge domains, showcasing a broad understanding of diverse technological landscapes. Demonstrate expert knowledge in 1-2 key technologies such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others, contributing to the team's technical excellence.

The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications:

• Hold or eligible to obtain a Top Secret security clearance.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to the product vision, strategically aligning technical solutions with long-term objectives.
• Proven track record of evaluating and selecting optimal methods for solving complex business problems.
• Active participant in open source projects and product repositories, showcasing a commitment to industry innovation.
• Experienced at assessing and making decisions on new products, understanding their potential impact on mission objectives.
• Proficient in identifying and articulating gaps in existing processes, shaping the product backlog strategically.
• Expertise in solving highly technical problems that span multiple knowledge domains.
• Deep knowledge in 1-2 key technologies, demonstrating proficiency in areas such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others.
• A critical thinker capable of weighing various methods for solving business problems with a focus on product excellence.
• Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on an Authority to Operate (ATO'd) system.
• Familiar with DoD Weapon Systems and/or Program Management Offices (PMOs).
• Knowledgeable about Cyberspace Operations or Incident Response tools/systems.
• Possess a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
• Experienced with Big Bang, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.
• Knowledgeable about DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
• Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework.
• Comfortable and experienced in working on projects with compliance requirements.
• An advocate for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Cybersecurity as Code (CaC).
• Experienced with automated testing.
• Proficient with technologies such as K8s deployment & security, hardware familiarity, full-stack experience, transforming applications into K8s friendly formats, and scripting languages like Python, Go, or Ansible.
• Proficient with YAML.

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

Health:

• Premiums are 100% Company Paid
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• 401k Retirement Plan
• Company Stock Options
• Home Office Budget

Leave:

• We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s

Learning:

• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.