Forward Deployed Engineer TS/ SCI

Aperio Global•Fort Meade, MD

7h•$210,000 - $230,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a technically deep Forward Deployed Engineer to serve as the hands-on technical presence at government facilities, including Department of War (DoW) representative lab environments. This role bridges engineering and operations, packaging and hardening virtual machine images, implementing sensor integrations, and directly supporting lab performance exercises in classified environments. The ideal candidate has forward deployed engineering experience with OS/container hardening, observability tooling, and complex network environments.

Requirements

Active TS/SCI clearance (no exceptions).
4+ years of hands-on systems or infrastructure engineering experience in DoW or classified environments.
Experience with container hardening (Docker, Podman) and VM packaging for secure/air-gapped deployments.
Hands-on experience with observability tooling (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, or equivalent).
Demonstrated ability to operate in DoW-representative or similarly complex, high-security network environments.

Nice To Haves

Strong Linux systems administration skills; comfort with bash scripting and automation.
Experience with Kubernetes or other container orchestration in classified environments.
Familiarity with DISA STIG implementation for Linux systems and containerized workloads.
Background in network security monitoring, sensor deployment, or traffic analysis.
Security+ or equivalent DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II+ certification.

Responsibilities

Package, configure, and harden virtual machine images for deployment in classified, air-gapped, and restricted network environments.
Implement and validate sensor integrations across diverse network topologies representative of the DoW environment.
Support and execute lab performance exercises — including system-under-test configuration, data collection, and results documentation.
Diagnose and resolve environment-specific integration issues on-site, with minimal remote support capability.
Develop and maintain deployment runbooks, configuration guides, and environment-specific technical documentation.
Collaborate closely with the compliance/security engineer to ensure deployed configurations meet STIG requirements.
Provide real-time technical feedback to the product and engineering teams based on field observations.