Cloud Engineer

Halvik • Vienna, VA

8d • Remote

About The Position

This position supports the AWS cloud infrastructure for the VISTA (Vehicle Importation Safety and Tracking Application) project at NHTSA. The role focuses on managing multi-account AWS environments, maintaining 72 Lambda functions across four environments, API Gateway backend operations, and security services implementation.
This is a specialized mid-level cloud engineering role that can be combined with other project work to create a full-time position.

Requirements

• AWS Services (Expert Level)
• Lambda (function development, layers, event sources)
• API Gateway (REST APIs, authentication, throttling)
• S3 (bucket policies, lifecycle rules, event notifications)
• RDS PostgreSQL (basic connectivity and troubleshooting)
• SQS/SNS (queue management, DLQ configuration)
• GuardDuty, CloudWatch, IAM
• VPC networking and security groups
• Terraform (current version 1.11.2) for AWS resource management
• Understanding of Terraform state management
• Git/GitHub Enterprise for version control
• Infrastructure best practices and patterns
• Python 3.13 (strong proficiency required for Lambda functions)
• boto3 (AWS SDK for Python)
• Basic understanding of SQL for troubleshooting database connectivity
• Windows cmd batch scripting
• AWS CLI for operational tasks
• Experience with government security requirements
• Understanding of ATO processes and compliance
• Comfortable with GFE (Government Furnished Equipment) restrictions
• Experience with CAC/PIV authentication and ADFS/zAccount credentials
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities
• Self-directed and able to work independently
• Clear technical documentation skills
• Ability to respond to production issues calmly and methodically
• Comfortable explaining infrastructure decisions to non-technical stakeholders
• Must be able to obtain and maintain required federal background checks
• Work is performed on Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)
• All work must comply with NHTSA and DOT security policies
• Windows 11 GFE with cmd prompt (not PowerShell/bash)
• Enterprise GitHub and Atlassian (Jira/Confluence) tools
• Remote work with government-provided equipment
• Coordination with Halvik team and NHTSA government stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Manage infrastructure across four AWS accounts (dev, test, stage, prod)
• Maintain and troubleshoot 72 Lambda functions (18 per environment)
• Support API Gateway backend serving Salesforce frontend
• Implement and maintain AWS security services (GuardDuty, IAM policies)
• Monitor CloudWatch logs and metrics for operational issues
• Manage S3 buckets, RDS PostgreSQL instances, SQS queues, and SNS topics
• Handle VPC networking and security group configurations
• Ongoing Python runtime upgrades (migrating from Python 3.9 to 3.13)
• Deploy Lambda function updates through standard PR approval process
• Troubleshoot Lambda function failures and performance issues
• Update Lambda layers and dependencies
• Optimize Lambda memory allocation and timeout configurations
• Implement error handling and retry logic improvements
• Maintain Terraform configurations for AWS resource management
• Review and approve infrastructure changes
• Ensure Terraform state consistency across environments
• Document infrastructure architecture and decisions
• Support infrastructure changes for new features
• Deploy GuardDuty Malware Protection to production (immediate priority: VISTA-1650)
• Maintain IAM roles and policies following least-privilege principles
• Support federal compliance requirements and ATO processes
• Address security findings and vulnerabilities
• Coordinate with security team on remediation efforts

Benefits

• Company-supported medical, dental, vision, life, STD, and LTD insurance
• Benefits include 11 federal holidays and PTO
• Eligible employees may receive performance-based incentives in recognition of individual and/or team achievements.
• 401(k) with company matching
• Flexible Spending Accounts for commuter, medical, and dependent care expenses
• Tuition Assistance
• Charitable Contribution matching

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 51-100 employees