Systems Engineer (TS/SCI with Poly Required)

Socket.dev; Tysons (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

GCI is seeking a hands-on Systems Engineer to lead and implement across infrastructure, platforms, and applications in a cloud and on-prem environment. You will document current state architectures, design future-state solutions, and drive end-to-end improvements while ensuring reliability and security.

The ideal candidate collaborates across infrastructure, platform, DevSecOps, and data teams, owning system performance and scalability with strong communication to senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Requires Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a technical field
• Minimum 10 years of related systems engineering experience
• Hands-on expertise across infrastructure, platforms, and app ecosystems

Responsibilities

• Perform hands-on systems engineering across network, compute, storage, OS, middleware, databases, and applications
• Analyze and document as-is infrastructure, platform, and application architectures
• Design to-be architectures and detailed engineering designs for modernization and transformation
• Lead cloud and on-prem system implementations, migrations, and upgrades
• Ensure systems meet availability, performance, security, and compliance requirements
• Integrate infrastructure with DevOps/DevSecOps pipelines
• Troubleshoot cross-stack issues spanning infra, platforms, and applications
• Produce technical documentation, diagrams, standards, and runbooks
• Serve as escalation point for complex system issues
• Brief executives translating technical issues into business impact

Skills

Enterprise networking

Storage technologies

Virtualization & containers

Windows & Linux admin

Data platforms

Cloud platforms

Hybrid/on-prem design

Relational databases

NoSQL databases

ETL pipelines

Web services & APIs

SDLC fundamentals

Infrastructure as Code

Automation scripting

CI/CD integration

Security hardening

Monitoring & incident response

Architecture documentation

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science/IT or related

10+ years of systems engineering experience

Tools

VMware

Hyper-V

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

Ansible

CloudFormation

Jenkins

GitLab CI/CD

GitHub Actions

Job description

GCI embodies excellence, integrity and professionalism. The employees supporting our customers deliver unique, high-value mission solutions while effectively leverage the technological expertise of our valued workforce to meet critical mission requirements in the areas of Data Analytics and Software Development, Engineering, Targeting and Analysis, Operations, Training, and Cyber Operations. We maximize opportunities for success by building and maintaining trusted and reliable partnerships with our customers and industry.

At GCI, we solve the hard problems. As a Systems Engineer, a typical day will include the following duties:

JOB DESCRIPTION

We are seeking a hands-on Systems Engineer with deepexpertiseacross infrastructure, platforms, and application ecosystem spanning cloud and on-premises environments. This role requires a proven practitioner who can analyze existing (“as-is”)systems and applications, document current state architectures, design future-state solutions, and implement system enhancements or technology transformations end-to-end.

The ideal candidate is a technical leader andachieverwho can seamlessly collaborate across infrastructure, platform, application,DevSecOps, information systems security, and data teams whilemaintainingownership of system reliability, performance, scalability, and security.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related technical discipline, or the equivalent combination of education, technical training, or work/military experience

• Minimumten(10)yearsof relatedsystemsengineering experience

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS

The candidate mustdemonstratehands-on experience in all the following areas:

Infrastructure & Platforms

• Enterprise networking (e.g.routing, switching, firewalls, load balancers, DNS)

• Storage technologies (e.g.SAN, NAS, object storage)

• Virtualization and container platforms (VMware, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, Docker)

• Windows and Linux (Redhat, CentOS) operating systems (administration, hardening, automation)

• Data platforms (HPCC, Hadoop/Cloudera)

Cloud & On-Prem Technologies

• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP)

• Hybrid and on-prem infrastructure design and integration

• Cloud networking, identity, security, and cost optimization

Data & Application Platforms

• Relational and NoSQL databases – relational (e.g., Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server) and NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB, Redis) databases

• Data platforms (HPCC, Hadoop/Cloudera)

• Data pipelines, and ETL frameworks – with ETL pipelines, Airflow, Kafka, Spark, or similar frameworks

• Web services, APIs, and middleware

• Software development lifecycle (SDLC) fundamentals

Engineering & Automation

• Infrastructure as Code – Scripting & Automation: Python, Bash, PowerShell, Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation

• Configuration management and scripting (PowerShell, Bash, Python, etc.)

• CI/CD integration with infrastructure and platforms (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions,GitOps)

• Security best practices and system hardening

• Monitoring & Incident Response:Proficiencywith tools like Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, ELK Stack, CloudWatch

Architecture & Design

• Ability to create:

• As-is architecture documentation

• To-be architecture and detailed engineering designs

• Implementation and migration plans

DESIRED SKILLS

• Observability and monitoring tools (logging, metrics, tracing)

• Zero Trust and modern security architectures

• Data analytics, AI/ML platform exposure

• Experience supportingregulated or mission-critical environments

• Relevant certifications (cloud, systems, security, or architecture)

• Knowledge of machine learning platforms (TensorFlow,PyTorch,SageMaker)

• Familiarity with big data ecosystems (Hadoop, Databricks, Snowflake, Google,BigQuery)

• Strong background in ITIL processes and agile methodologies

• Certifications: AWS Solutions Architect / DevOps Engineer, Azure Administrator, Kubernetes CKA/CKAD, ITIL Foundation

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Perform hands-on systems engineering across network, compute, storage, operating systems, middleware, databases, and applications

• Analyze and document as-is infrastructure, platform, and application architectures

• Design to-be architectures and detailed engineering designs for modernization, optimization, andtransformationinitiatives

• Lead and execute cloud and on-prem system implementations, migrations, and upgrades

• Ensure systems meet availability, scalability, performance, security, and compliance requirements

• Integrate infrastructure and platforms with DevOps andDevSecOpspipelines

• Troubleshoot complex, cross-stack issues spanning infrastructure, platforms, and applications

• Collaborate effectively with:

• Infrastructure & Platform Engineers

• Software Engineers

• DevOps /DevSecOpsEngineers

• Data Engineers (ETL)

• Data Modelers, Data Scientists, and Data Analysts

• Produce clear technical documentation, diagrams, standards, and runbooks

• Serve as a technical authority and escalation point for complex system issues

• Communication Skills:Ability to brief executives clearly and translate technical issues into business impact

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

• Recognized SME with deep, hands-on technicalexpertise

• Strong systems thinker with the ability to see and engineer across the full stack

• Comfortable operating at both strategic architecture and tactical implementation levels

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and non-technical teams

• Proven ability to own complex systems from design through production

*A candidate must be a US Citizen and requires an active/current TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans