Junior Cloud Engineer

Meridian Systematics•St. Louis, MO

5h•$120,000 - $150,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Junior Cloud Engineer with an active TS/SCI clearance to join the Continuous Operations Release Environment (CORE) team in supporting an intelligence community customer. The role helps automate, manage, and optimize distributed cloud services, CI/CD deployment pipelines, and platform infrastructure across AWS and OpenShift environments. Within a SAFe/Scrum framework, the engineer bridges software development and operations to build reliable, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions. Flexible work-from-home options are available.

Requirements

Active TS/SCI clearance and U.S. citizenship.
At least 3 years of experience in cloud operations, software development, or DevSecOps.
Practical understanding of TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, and Bash.
Hands-on experience with GitLab CI/CD pipelines deploying to AWS or Red Hat OpenShift.
Strong understanding of software development lifecycles, common network components such as load balancers and firewalls, and virtual or physical infrastructure design.

Nice To Haves

Active CompTIA Security+ CE certification or equivalent DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
Experience connecting cross-domain services across AWS, GitLab, OpenShift, Nexus, and AWS Diode.
Background in Linux system administration, unit and functional testing, and identity access management.
Familiarity with Jira and Confluence for workflow and documentation management.

Responsibilities

Maintain and optimize automated build and deployment pipelines using GitLab CI/CD to deploy services across development, test, and production environments.
Expand and refine cloud infrastructure, supporting autoscaling, serverless architecture, enterprise authentication integration, and cost optimization.
Monitor system performance, including server loads and resource utilization, and aggregate logs to identify security and operational incidents.
Apply software hardening, security patches, vulnerability testing, and access controls such as IAM, S3 policies, and SSH in coordination with Assessment & Authorization teams.
Participate in SAFe/Scrum ceremonies, document operational workflows, complete engineering tasks, and participate in an on-call rotation.