Sr Systems Engineer (Linux/Automation)

Leidos • Orlando, FL

19h • $107,900 - $195,050 • Onsite

About The Position

Leidos is seeking a cleared Senior Systems Engineer to design, deploy, and maintain secure Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) infrastructure within Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of the Navy/Air Force/Army (DoW) networks. This individual will own the automated provisioning pipeline end to end — from bare-metal and virtual machine Kickstart configurations through enterprise-wide configuration management using Ansible and Bash — ensuring systems are deployed consistently, securely, and in compliance with DoD standards.

Requirements

• BS degree and 8+ years of enterprise Linux system administration and engineering experience. Additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
• DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II or III certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CISSP).
• US Citizen; Currently possessing an Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• Expert proficiency in Python and Bash shell scripting for system administration.
• Deep hands-on experience with Ansible (Playbooks, Vault, and large-scale inventories).
• Proven capability in designing and troubleshooting automated Kickstart installation profiles.
• Strong familiarity with NIST controls, RMF, and automated STIG validation.

Nice To Haves

• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) or Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation; Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) a plus.
• Experience administering Red Hat Satellite for patch, content, and subscription lifecycle management across large RHEL fleets.
• Working knowledge of Python in addition to Bash for automation and tooling beyond shell-level scripting.
• Familiarity with Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes, or Docker in DoD/DoW environments.
• Experience with Git/GitLab and CI/CD pipelines to support infrastructure-as-code workflows.
• Exposure to automating RHEL workloads in AWS GovCloud or Azure Government.
• Hands-on experience with SCAP Compliance Checker or Evaluate-STIG for automated hardening and assessment.
• DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level III (CASP+, CISSP, or GCIH) in lieu of Level II.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain attended/unattended RHEL OS installations using advanced Kickstart configuration files and PXE boot environments.
• Write and optimize idempotent Ansible playbooks, roles, and collections to manage server infrastructure at scale.
• Build robust Bash automation scripts for custom initialization tasks, local system diagnostics, and integration glue.
• Enforce Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) and Risk Management Framework (RMF) standards using automated remediation scripts.
• Troubleshoot complex OS-level performance issues, manage package/patch lifecycles, and update technical documentation and operational runbooks.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior