System Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) - Journeyman

TrustedQA, Inc.; Fairfax, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 98,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) matching

Education reimbursement

Paid leave (up to 31 days)

Job summary

TrustedQA, Inc. seeks an experienced Site Reliability Engineer to strengthen the reliability and security of AWS‑hosted applications. The role focuses on automating deployments, maintaining container workloads, and enhancing CI/CD pipelines in a cloud environment.

The position supports a hybrid schedule with on‑site work at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA up to 80%, requiring active DoD clearance and cloud‑savvy collaboration with development and security teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in systems administration, cloud engineering, DevOps, SRE, or a related technical role.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS services and cloud infrastructure.
• Experience administering Linux, preferably Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
• Experience with Docker container technologies and container orchestration (Kubernetes, EKS, ECS).
• Experience building/managing container images and registries; CI/CD pipelines.
• Git and source‑code management familiarity.
• Scripting/automation in Python, Bash, or similar.
• Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, load balancing, firewalls.
• Ability to collaborate across dev, infra, security, and operations teams.
• Active Interim Secret or Secret Clearance and DoD 8140 compliance knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve reliability, availability, performance, and security of AWS‑hosted apps and infra.
• Support containerized applications with Docker, Kubernetes, ECS, and EKS.
• Administer and troubleshoot RHEL servers and services.
• Develop and troubleshoot CI/CD pipelines for building, testing, scanning, and deploying apps.
• Support container orchestration platforms and automated deployments.
• Automate provisioning, configuration, deployment, and operations tasks.
• Implement and maintain monitoring, logging, and observability solutions.
• Troubleshoot issues across apps, OS, networks, and infra.
• Participate in incident response, root‑cause analysis, and corrective actions.
• Automate repetitive tasks to reduce manual effort and risk.
• Integrate security controls and automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Develop and maintain runbooks, docs, and SOPs.
• Support patching, vulnerability remediation, and security hardening.

Skills

SRE principles

Cloud engineering

Automation

Python scripting

Bash scripting

Networking basics

Team collaboration

Security testing in CI/CD

DoD compliance awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IT/Eng

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Amazon ECS

Amazon EKS

ECR

Git

Terraform

CloudFormation

AWS CodePipeline

GitLab CI/CD

Jenkins

Job description

We are seeking a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) to support and improve the reliability, availability, security, and performance of applications and infrastructure hosted within an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environment. The SRE will work closely with application development, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and operations teams to automate deployments, maintain containerized workloads, support Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems, and improve CI/CD pipelines and orchestration capabilities.

This position offers the ability to work a hybrid remote schedule with the requirement to perform on-site support at the Pentagon, Arlington, VA up to 80%.

Job Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve the reliability, availability, performance, and security of AWS-hosted applications and infrastructure.
• Support containerized applications using technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, Amazon ECS, and Amazon EKS.
• Administer and troubleshoot Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers and associated services.
• Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot CI/CD pipelines used to build, test, scan, and deploy applications and infrastructure.
• Support container orchestration platforms and automated application deployments.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration, deployment, and operational tasks.
• Implement and maintain monitoring, logging, alerting, and observability solutions.
• Troubleshoot application, container, operating system, networking, and AWS infrastructure issues.
• Participate in incident response, root-cause analysis, and corrective‑action activities.
• Identify repetitive operational tasks and develop automation to reduce manual effort and operational risk.
• Work with development and security teams to integrate security controls and automated security testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Develop and maintain operational documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures.
• Support system patching, vulnerability remediation, configuration management, and security‑hardening activities.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in systems administration, cloud engineering, DevOps, SRE, or a related technical role.
• Hands‑on experience working with AWS services and cloud infrastructure.
• Experience administering Linux, preferably Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
• Experience with Docker container technologies.
• Experience supporting or working with a container orchestration platform, such as Kubernetes, Amazon EKS, or Amazon ECS.
• Experience building and managing container images and container registries.
• Experience developing, maintaining, or troubleshooting CI/CD pipelines.
• Working knowledge of Git and source‑code management practices.
• Experience with scripting or automation using Python, Bash, and/or similar technologies.
• Understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, load balancing, routing, and firewalls/security groups.
• Experience troubleshooting complex technical issues across applications, operating systems, networks, and infrastructure.
• Ability to work collaboratively with development, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and operations teams.
• Must have an active Interim Secret or Secret Clearance
• Must meet DoD 8140 foundational compliance requirements through qualifying degree or certification

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong experience with AWS services such as EC2, VPC, IAM, S3, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Route 53, Elastic Load Balancing, ECR, ECS, and EKS.
• Knowledge of PKI Certificate based authentication / Single Sign‑On
• Strong experience with Kubernetes administration and troubleshooting.
• Experience with GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, AWS CodePipeline, or similar CI/CD platforms.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or AWS CDK.
• Experience implementing observability solutions using technologies such as CloudWatch.
• Experience performing root‑cause analysis and developing corrective actions following production incidents.
• Knowledge of AWS security best practices, IAM policies and roles, encryption, secrets management, vulnerability management, and least‑privilege principles.
• Experience with DevSecOps practices, including automated vulnerability scanning, container scanning, static code analysis, and security gates within CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience supporting systems subject to DISA STIGs, NIST controls, RMF, or other federal cybersecurity requirements.
• AWS certification such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect, SysOps Administrator, or DevOps Engineer.
• Red Hat, Kubernetes, or related industry certifications.

Salary Range

Salary Range: $98,000-$110,000 The range shown is a good‑faith estimate of base pay for this position, posted in accordance with applicable state and local pay transparency laws. Actual compensation is determined by qualification factors — including experience, education, certifications, and clearance level — as well as the customer‑approved labor category and rate for the contract, and the qualifications of the candidate ultimately selected.

Benefits Overview

TQA's broad and competitive mix of benefits options are designed to support and protect employees and their families' physical, mental, and financial health. Employment benefits include medical, dental, life and supplemental insurance options as well as a matching 401(k) program, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), education reimbursement, mental wellness reimbursements, access to a financial advisor, and up to 31 days of paid leave annually. Check out our reviews on Glassdoor!

Equal Opportunity Employer

TrustedQA is an equal‑opportunity employer and does not discriminate in employment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or any other non‑merit factor.

Offer Considerations

TrustedQA considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, specific skills and competencies, geographic location, education, and certifications.

Federal Compliance

As a federal contractor, TQA is subject to all federal and state mandates and/or other customer requirements.