Cloud Engineer

Guidehouse•Dc, DC

About The Position

The Cloud Engineer supports a premier law enforcement agency and owns the MREF cloud platform architecture, infrastructure build, monitoring solution, and DevSecOps infrastructure. The role designs for near-zero downtime, maximizes use of client Cloud Services and Enterprise Developer Services, and drives cloud cost reduction. It emphasizes virtualization and containerization, PaaS over IaaS, and use of FCS and FEDS managed services. The engineer designs, documents, tests, and implements the MREF Architecture Design Report, optimizing for performance, availability, security, scalability, disaster recovery, and real-time or near-real-time data integration across classified and unclassified networks. The design targets a four-hour Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective, with proposed replication methods and demonstrations, and aims for near-zero downtime during patch and release deployment. The role implements the MREF Implementation Plan and a monitoring solution that records SLA compliance near real time, with approximately a five-minute delay, and provides an automated dashboard retaining at least 15 months of uptime history. The engineer reviews metrics monthly and delivers a performance optimization plan. They design, document, implement, and periodically reassess the DevSecOps solution, including build and CI/CD tooling, documenting it in Confluence or an approved equivalent and presenting findings to government leads. The Cloud Engineer maintains Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for rapid, flexible, automated builds of consistent, secure, and compliant environments, identifying dependencies, licenses, and subscription costs. They deliver detailed as-built architecture documentation, including network diagrams, NACLs and security groups, IAM policies and roles, OS configurations, logical and data flow diagrams, authentication flows, CI/CD pipelines, Splunk logging configuration, and health monitoring. The engineer also provides FCS with service specifications and documentation for account and resource provisioning. The position tracks and projects cloud costs, proposes and implements cost-reduction methods, and incorporates cloud-native technologies that improve agility, lower cost, and automate system administration. It performs regular and urgent STIG and vulnerability assessments across FIT and MREF, remediates findings according to approved POA&M timelines, and reports status and results to the ISSO. The engineer supports the ISSO and ISSM in obtaining and maintaining FIT and MREF ATOs, including security-documentation updates and continuous monitoring. They maintain compliance with client security requirements and licensing agreements, maintain a license tracker, and support cloud infrastructure in sustainment. The position requires U.S. citizenship and an active, maintained Top Secret federal or DoD security clearance. The stated annual salary range is $113,000–$188,000, with compensation decisions based on factors including skills, experience, training, clearance, licensure, certifications, and business needs. The position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus.

Requirements

Eight years of infrastructure or platform engineering experience.
Four years of experience with Red Hat OpenShift or Kubernetes.
Three years supporting Federal systems in an accredited environment.
Bachelor's degree, or four additional years of relevant experience in substitution for formal education.
U.S. citizenship.
Active and maintained Top Secret federal or DoD security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Red Hat OpenShift architecture, operators, storage classes, and network policy.
Experience containerizing enterprise application components.
Cloud-native PaaS architecture and managed service selection.
IaC automation frameworks.
DevSecOps pipeline design, CI/CD architecture, and artifact management.
Monitoring and observability design, including SLA instrumentation, Splunk, and uptime dashboarding.
STIG hardening, vulnerability remediation, and security authorization support.
Cloud cost management, tagging strategy, and infrastructure cost optimization.
Red Hat Certified Architect or Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration.
CISSP.

Responsibilities

Own the MREF cloud platform architecture, infrastructure build, monitoring solution, and DevSecOps infrastructure.
Design for near-zero downtime and maximize use of client Cloud Services, Enterprise Developer Services, and FCS and FEDS managed services; emphasize virtualization, containerization, and PaaS over IaaS.
Design, document, test, and implement the MREF Architecture Design Report for performance, availability, security, scalability, disaster recovery, and data integration across classified and unclassified networks.
Design for a four-hour Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective, propose data replication methods, and describe how the objectives will be demonstrated.
Pursue near-zero downtime for patch and release deployment.
Propose and implement the MREF Implementation Plan and monitoring solution, including near-real-time SLA recording and an automated uptime dashboard retaining at least 15 months of history.
Review monitoring metrics monthly and deliver a performance optimization plan.
Design, document, implement, and periodically reassess the DevSecOps solution, including build and CI/CD tooling; document the approach in Confluence or an approved equivalent and present findings to government leads.
Maintain and update IaC for rapid, flexible, automated builds of consistent, secure, and compliant environments; identify dependencies, licenses, and subscription costs.
Deliver detailed as-built system architecture and supporting documentation, including network and data-flow diagrams, security configurations, authentication flows, CI/CD pipelines, Splunk logging, and health monitoring.
Provide FCS with required service specifications, architectural specifications, and supporting documentation for account and resource provisioning.
Propose a tagging and labeling strategy; track and project cloud costs and identify, propose, and implement infrastructure cost-reduction methods.
Incorporate cloud-native technologies and tools to improve agility, lower costs, and automate system administration tasks.
Perform regular and urgent STIG and vulnerability assessments across FIT and MREF; implement remediation according to approved POA&M timelines and provide status and results to the ISSO.
Support the ISSO and ISSM in obtaining and maintaining FIT and MREF ATOs, including security-documentation updates and continuous monitoring activities.
Ensure application and infrastructure compliance with existing and future client security requirements, policy guides, department policy, and applicable Executive Orders.
Abide by licensing agreements and maintain a license tracker accounting for government-procured licenses, license types, and copies in use across environments.
Maintain and support cloud infrastructure in sustainment.

Benefits

Medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance.
Personal and family sick time and company-paid holidays.
Parental leave.
401(k) retirement plan.
Group term life and travel assistance.
Voluntary life and AD&D insurance.
Health Savings Account and Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.
Transit and parking commuter benefits.
Short-term and long-term disability.
Tuition reimbursement, personal development, certifications, and learning opportunities.
Employee referral program.
Corporate-sponsored events and community outreach.
Care.com annual membership.
Employee Assistance Program.
Supplemental benefits via Corestream, including critical care, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, legal assistance, and identity theft protection.
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus.