Senior Platform Engineer - OpenShift / Container Platform

Peraton•Columbus, OH

5d•$146,000 - $234,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Platform Engineer will stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform (OpenShift), support a feasibility assessment of OpenShift versus Spectro Cloud, and drive the transition toward infrastructure-as-code managed provisioning using Terraform and Ansible. This individual will work in a bare-metal-first environment while actively reducing reliance on manual installs over time, and will support core platform services and OCONUS bootstrap activities. This role is flexible for occasional telework however, candidates must be within 50 miles to one of the following work locations: Oklahoma City, OK, Montgomery, AL, Ogden, UT, San Antonio, TX, Mechanicsburg, PA, Chambersburg, PA, Arlington, VA, Ft. Meade, MD, Columbus, OH.

Requirements

Minimum general work experience of 12 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 10 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 7 years with Ph.D.
5+ years of platform/systems engineering experience with hands-on Kubernetes-based container platform experience
US Citizenship
Active DoD Secret clearance
DoD 8570/8140 compliant certification
Hands-on experience deploying and administering OpenShift (or another enterprise Kubernetes distribution) on bare metal
Infrastructure-as-code proficiency, specifically Terraform and Ansible, for provisioning and configuration management
Working knowledge of virtualization/cloud orchestration platforms (Spectro Cloud, VMware, or equivalent)
Understanding of container platform architecture: networking (CNI), storage (CSI), cluster security, and lifecycle management
Ability to document platform architecture, licensing tradeoffs, and operational considerations
Strong Linux administration skills (RHEL)
Must have regular/recurring physical access to a DISA SIPR-accredited facility

Nice To Haves

Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Excellent writing and grammatical skills
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
Experience with GitOps workflows (e.g., ArgoCD, Flux) for platform configuration management
Experience bootstrapping platforms in disconnected or OCONUS environments including physical hardware installation

Responsibilities

Install, configure, and operate bare-metal OpenShift (or equivalent enterprise Kubernetes distribution) clusters
Design and implement infrastructure-as-code provisioning using Terraform and Ansible for platform and VM orchestration
Support the objective feasibility assessment of OpenShift versus Spectro Cloud, documenting licensing tradeoffs, operability, and long-term sustainability considerations
Manage OpenShift cluster lifecycle including installation, upgrades, patching, scaling, and day-2 operations
Deploy and support core platform services including authoritative DNS (e.g., PowerDNS)
Implement and enforce STIGs and cybersecurity compliance requirements on platform infrastructure
Monitor platform health, performance, and capacity using observability tools; manage platform logging and alerting
Support OCONUS hardware bootstrap activities including physical hardware installation and configuration
Document platform architecture, configuration decisions, and operational procedures
Transition platform provisioning from manual/bare-metal installs toward a fully IaC-managed model