Chief DevSecOps Engineer #1684973

Network Designs Inc.

5d•Remote

About The Position

The Chief DevSecOps Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for secure software delivery across the Veteran Experience Services Eligibility & Enrollment (VESEE) 2.0 program. This role is responsible for architecting, implementing, and governing the end-to-end DevSecOps ecosystem that will support modernization of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Enrollment System (ES) and the migration of legacy systems. This leader ensures security is embedded at every layer of the CI/CD pipeline, implements automation across infrastructure and testing, and drives compliance with all VA cybersecurity, privacy, and Risk Management Framework (RMF) requirements. The position plays a critical role in delivering a highly reliable, scalable, and compliant platform supporting millions of Veteran enrollment transactions.

Requirements

U.S Citizenship required.
Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance
This position is remote but may require occasional onsite meetings in McLean, VA.
You can be based out of following states: AZ, DC, FL, GA, OH, ME, MD, SC, TX, UT, VA, NC, OK, WV.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related discipline (Master's preferred).
Minimum 10+ years of hands-on DevSecOps, Cloud Engineering, or Secure Software Delivery experience.
Experience supporting federal programs with elevated security requirements (DHS, VA, DoD, HHS, etc.).
Background in large-scale modernization, cloud migration, and modernization of legacy systems.
Expert understanding of CI/CD and cloud-native engineering
Strong knowledge of federal cybersecurity requirements
Ability to lead cross-functional technical teams
Ability to translate security requirements into automated pipeline controls
Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills
Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement and reliability engineering
Languages & Frameworks: Java 17+, Spring Boot, Spring WebFlux, Streams API, Scripted automation (Python, Bash)
Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS (GovCloud or VAEC strongly preferred), Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, Terraform, Ansible, Helm, GitHub Actions
DevSecOps Toolchain: GitHub Enterprise, Jenkins, SonarQube, Nexus/Artifactory, SAST/DAST/SCA tools, IaC security tools (Checkov, tfsec)
Observability & Monitoring: Dynatrace, Splunk, CloudWatch
Security & Compliance: NIST SP 800-53, RMF, FISMA, FedRAMP, Zero Trust, OAuth2/OpenID Connect, TLS 1.3, Container security and compliance scanning

Nice To Haves

CompTIA Security+, CISSP, or CISM
SAFe DevOps Practitioner (SDP) or SAFe Architect
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
CKA/CKAD (Kubernetes Certifications)
ITIL v4

Responsibilities

DevSecOps Architecture & Engineering Leadership: Design, implement, and oversee the VESEE DevSecOps toolchain supporting CI/CD, automated testing, code scanning, container security, and deployment.
Architect secure, cloud-native pipelines for Java 17+, Spring Boot, Spring WebFlux, Kafka, Redis, Oracle, and React/Next.js applications deployed to AWS VAEC using Kubernetes and Docker.
Define and enforce security, reliability, and operations standards across all development and modernization tasks.
Lead implementation of Zero Trust, container hardening, and secure-by-design controls aligned to NIST 800-53 Rev5, FISMA, and VA Directive 6500.
Security & Compliance Governance: Serve as the authoritative owner of CI/CD security, code quality, secrets management, and compliance validation.
Integrate automated tools for SAST, DAST, SCA, IaC scanning, dependency checking, and container scanning.
Ensure all DevSecOps pipelines meet requirements of: FedRAMP High, FIPS 140-3, HIPAA, VA Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) policies, 508 accessibility checks where applicable
Support development teams in achieving Authority to Operate (ATO) sustainment in partnership with VA OIS.
Automation, Observability & Reliability Engineering: Implement end-to-end automation for build, test, deploy, and monitor stages across all environments (development, integration, staging, production).
Integrate observability tools (e.g., Splunk, Dynatrace, CloudWatch) to support proactive monitoring, alerting, and performance optimization.
Drive "shift-left" quality by enforcing test automation standards (unit, integration, regression, 508 testing).
Ensure VESEE systems meet performance thresholds, including throughput, latency, and reliability requirements cited in the RFP and VESEE tech stack documents.
Collaboration & Technical Leadership: Serve as senior technical advisor to the Program Manager, Principal Senior Software Engineer, Release/Delivery Manager, and VA architecture teams.
Lead DevSecOps discussions during Sprint Planning, PI Planning, and Release Readiness.
Mentor developers, DevSecOps engineers, and infrastructure staff in secure engineering best practices.
Coordinate with the Business, Data, QA, and HCD teams to ensure secure, automated workflows across the entire delivery lifecycle.