Active Directory / Identity Engineer (Journeyman)

Computer World Services•North Chicago, IL

2d•$130,000 - $150,000•Remote

About The Position

Computer World Services, Corp. (CWS) is seeking an Active Directory / Identity Engineer to administer, sustain, secure, and recover the Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) environment supporting the USMEPCOM ENLIST program. The role manages directory objects, organizational units, Group Policy Objects, trusts, replication, schema changes, delegated permissions, domain services, and recovery capabilities. The engineer will also assist with testing approved Identity, Credential, and Access Management capabilities, including potential Okta integrations. These modernization activities complement the need for direct, hands-on AD DS engineering expertise. The engineer works closely with cybersecurity, Service Desk, systems, cloud, network, application, COOP, and Government identity stakeholders. The position is remote, with Chicago-area candidates preferred. Occasional after-hours maintenance, COOP exercises, disaster-recovery testing, incident response, on-site support, or travel may be required. An active Secret clearance or higher is required. The period of performance is March 1, 2027 through February 28, 2033, with a contract start date of March 1, 2027. Applicants acknowledge and consent to having their resume included in an active competitive Government contract bid. The salary range is $130,000–$150,000 a year; the offered rate depends on the selected candidate’s qualifications and internal parity.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience where permitted by the labor category.
At least six years of relevant experience in Active Directory administration, identity engineering, Windows infrastructure, systems engineering, or a related discipline.
Direct, hands-on experience administering Microsoft AD DS in an enterprise environment, including objects, OUs, GPOs, trusts, replication, schema, delegated permissions, and directory recovery.
Experience troubleshooting authentication, authorization, Group Policy, replication, and trust issues, and supporting AD backup, restoration, and disaster recovery.
Experience testing identity integrations or supporting identity-modernization activities, with an understanding of the distinction between core AD DS and external ICAM, federation, or cloud-identity services.
Strong written, verbal, analytical, and technical problem-solving skills.
Active Secret clearance or higher.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating AD with Okta and with Microsoft Entra ID or hybrid identity.
Experience supporting federal or DoD identity environments, including CAC, PIV, certificate-based authentication, and PKI.
Experience with SAML, OIDC, OAuth, SCIM, LDAP, Kerberos, NTLM, AD FS, or comparable federation technologies.
Experience with PowerShell for AD administration and automation.
Experience applying DISA STIGs to AD and Windows infrastructure and supporting RMF authorization activities.
Familiarity with Zero Trust identity principles and privileged-access, identity-governance, or audit tools.
Microsoft identity, Windows Server, or Azure certification; Okta Certified Administrator or comparable certification; CompTIA Security+ or another security certification; ITIL 4 Foundation.

Responsibilities

Install, configure, maintain, troubleshoot, and recover AD DS; create, modify, disable, and delete authorized users, computers, groups, service accounts, and other directory objects.
Implement and maintain the OU structure and manage OU permissions and delegated administration according to least-privilege principles, correcting excessive or conflicting access.
Develop, test, deploy, and troubleshoot GPOs, including links, inheritance, precedence, security filtering, WMI filters, backups, and recovery; assess changes for security and customer impact before production.
Configure, validate, and troubleshoot domain and forest trusts, including direction, transitivity, authentication scope, and name-suffix routing.
Maintain AD sites, subnets, site links, and replication topology; troubleshoot replication failures, latency, and lingering objects; maintain domain-controller health, SYSVOL, DFSR, time synchronization, AD-integrated DNS, and FSMO roles.
Support domain-controller installation, upgrade, demotion, and retirement; support transitions to supported AD versions and controlled schema extensions.
Process escalated account, group, and permission changes; troubleshoot authentication, authorization, policy, trust, and replication issues; improve identity-related Service Desk routing and knowledge content.
Provide advanced support during identity and authentication incidents, escalate widespread failures through incident-response procedures, and support root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
Maintain and execute AD backup, authoritative and non-authoritative restoration, deleted-object recovery, and forest-recovery procedures; support COOP and disaster-recovery exercises.
Support integration testing between AD and Okta or other approved identity platforms, validating synchronization, authentication flows, attribute and group mappings, provisioning, and SAML, OIDC, OAuth, SCIM, or LDAP protocols; document test results.
Automate approved directory administration, health validation, and reporting; review audit information; apply DISA STIGs and security baselines; support RMF controls, POA&M activities, and remediation.
Maintain SOPs, recovery plans, configuration baselines, and directory diagrams; provide directory-service health, risk, and modernization information for program reporting.