Senior Software Engineer (Ansible Automation)

Sealing Technologies, a Parsons Company•Columbia, MD

2d•$127,000 - $157,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Sealing Technologies, a Parsons company, is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to develop and support software, hardware integration, cybersecurity engineering, and mission-support solutions, primarily in unclassified environments. The role focuses on engineering a complex automation framework, primarily using Ansible and Python, to deploy Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) hunt kits to physical hardware. The engineer will architect and develop custom Ansible modules, roles, and collections to automate networking, server hardware, operating systems, containers, and software, creating an integrated environment for cyber defenders. The position is based in Columbia, Maryland, with a hybrid arrangement requiring 2–3 days onsite and approximately 10% travel.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field; equivalent experience will be considered.
At least 8 years of experience as a Software Engineer and/or Automation Engineer.
Expert proficiency in Ansible, including writing, testing, and maintaining playbooks, roles, collections, and custom modules; deep understanding of Jinja2 and configuration management.
Experience using Ansible Galaxy for reusable components and Ansible Vault for sensitive data.
Experience using Ansible to configure and automate physical hardware and network appliances, such as servers, switches, routers, and firewalls.
Strong analytical and debugging abilities to resolve complex automation workflow issues.
Strong Python proficiency for developing, testing, and packaging custom Ansible modules and plugins, and Bash scripting proficiency.
Hands-on experience with RHEL-based Linux distributions, including administration of drivers, firmware, file systems, networking, and security.
Experience with virtualization and container platforms such as VMware, Kubernetes, and Docker or Podman.
Strong understanding of cybersecurity concepts, technologies, methodologies, infrastructure security, hardening processes, techniques, and industry best practices.
Experience with network protocols, architecture design, and defense-in-depth practices.
Understanding of security patching, authentication, and log-retention best practices.
Experience operating within security frameworks supporting compliance and auditing requirements.
Experience with Git/GitHub, code-review workflows, CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions, and Agile project-management workflows such as Jira.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document and maintain engineering processes and procedures.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting Defensive Cyber Operations within Service Cyber Command elements or other U.S. Government organizations.
Experience with defensive cyber tools such as Security Onion, Splunk, Elastic, Zeek, and pfSense.
Security certification such as CySA+ or CISSP.
Ansible certification, such as Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation.
Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE).
CompTIA Linux+.
Secret security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Responsibilities

Lead the design, development, testing, and maintenance of Ansible playbooks, roles, and collections for deploying DCO hunt kits, including infrastructure, configuration, and application deployment.
Design and develop custom Ansible modules and plugins in Python using modular design, error handling, and documentation practices.
Collaborate with software development teams to create parameterized Ansible automation aligned with the software product stack and project requirements.
Configure and automate physical hardware and network appliances, including servers, switches, routers, and firewalls.
Implement security controls, including STIG hardening and SELinux, in the automation pipeline to support secure-by-default deployments.
Build and maintain GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines for automated linting, unit testing, and integration testing of automation code.
Establish coding standards, code review practices, and testing strategies, and mentor other engineers.
Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure technology standards, security controls, and engineering practices are understood and consistently applied.
Partner with internal teams to deliver technical demonstrations and showcase company capabilities to customers.
Identify and define high-level functional and technical requirements with the user community, drawing on knowledge of existing DoD enterprise architectures.