Senior Platform Engineer – TS/SCI

Tenica•Chantilly, VA

2d•$137,000 - $160,000•Onsite

About The Position

TENICA is seeking an experienced Senior Platform Engineer specializing in enterprise Linux infrastructure, Kubernetes, container orchestration, and platform automation. The role supports the design, deployment, security, and sustainment of mission-critical Kubernetes platforms in on-premises, isolated, and air-gapped environments. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience building Kubernetes clusters without cloud-managed services, implementing high-availability architectures, and managing infrastructure from physical hardware through containerized application workloads. The position is based in Chantilly, Virginia, supporting a government customer. An active Top Secret clearance is required, along with eligibility for SCI access and willingness to obtain a CI polygraph.

Requirements

Master's degree in a STEM field with at least 6 years of relevant experience, or bachelor's degree with at least 8 years of relevant professional experience.
At least 2 years of hands-on experience deploying and managing production Kubernetes clusters in on-premises or non-cloud environments.
Demonstrated experience building Kubernetes clusters using Kubespray, kubeadm, or equivalent technologies.
Strong experience administering enterprise Linux systems in production environments.
Knowledge of Kubernetes architecture, cluster lifecycle management, container runtimes, and infrastructure troubleshooting.
Experience developing automation scripts and playbooks using Ansible, Bash, Python, or comparable technologies.
Demonstrated experience designing and implementing high-availability infrastructure architectures.
Experience implementing GitOps workflows using ArgoCD or comparable continuous deployment tools.
Experience supporting air-gapped, isolated, or offline infrastructure deployment environments.
Understanding of container networking, software-defined storage, infrastructure security, and system performance optimization.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, technical documentation, and communication skills.
Active Top Secret clearance, eligibility for SCI access, and willingness to obtain a polygraph.

Nice To Haves

Active TS/SCI clearance with CI polygraph.
Experience supporting Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, or other federal government infrastructure programs.
Expertise in enterprise identity and authorization standards, including X.509, SAML, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, and LDAP.
Experience integrating Kubernetes platforms with enterprise Identity, Credential, and Access Management solutions.
Familiarity with Oracle or comparable enterprise identity management technologies.
Experience implementing Kubernetes security policies, cluster auditing, and runtime security controls.
Knowledge of enterprise container networking, distributed storage, and infrastructure observability solutions.
Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) certification or comparable Kubernetes security credentials.

Responsibilities

Design, deploy, configure, and maintain enterprise Kubernetes platforms in on-premises and isolated environments.
Perform advanced Linux systems administration, including systemd service management, kernel optimization, and SSH configuration.
Install, configure, and troubleshoot container runtimes such as containerd and CRI-O.
Manage Linux namespaces, cgroups, and operating system isolation mechanisms.
Implement Linux security hardening using SELinux, AppArmor, and applicable security profiles.
Design and implement software-defined storage solutions, distributed storage clusters, and persistent volume management.
Configure Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers for dynamic storage provisioning.
Monitor storage performance, resource utilization, capacity planning, and data replication.
Build and maintain production Kubernetes clusters using kubeadm, Kubespray, or comparable deployment technologies.
Design high-availability Kubernetes control planes, load balancing configurations, and resilient cluster architectures.
Manage etcd operations, including backup, restoration, snapshots, and cluster maintenance.
Perform Kubernetes upgrades, node maintenance, troubleshooting, and disaster recovery procedures.
Implement Kubernetes monitoring, logging, observability, and security controls.
Configure role-based access control (RBAC), network policies, admission controllers, and container security standards.
Support cluster certificate lifecycle management, vulnerability remediation, and infrastructure security assessments.
Develop infrastructure automation using Ansible, Bash, Python, and Infrastructure as Code practices.
Implement GitOps workflows using ArgoCD or comparable continuous deployment platforms.
Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure testing, validation, and deployment.
Support container image management and deployment in air-gapped environments.
Troubleshoot Kubernetes workloads, pod events, container logs, and cluster infrastructure using tools such as kubectl, k9s, and crictl.
Collaborate with infrastructure engineers, software developers, cybersecurity personnel, and government stakeholders to support platform reliability and operational requirements.
Develop and maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, configuration procedures, and operational support materials.