Sr Staff Applications Operations Engineer – Engineering Tools Automation & AI Ops

GE Aerospace•Grand Rapids, MI

1d•Remote

About The Position

Responsible for supporting and maintaining critical applications and related data-processing platforms and services. The role ensures teams have the facilities, tools, resources, and skills needed to meet commitments, while tracking execution and delivery against Application Operations SLAs. The position is the operational owner for incident management, change controls, support coverage, and compliant provisioning. As the senior technical operations authority across engineering application pods—including software, hardware and electronic design, and project and portfolio management tools—the engineer supports US and UK users. The role defines and improves operational KPIs and SLAs, communicates status and risks, leads incident and change practices and high-severity escalations, and performs Linux and Windows server administration across development, test, and production environments. It also partners with cybersecurity and compliance teams on security, export-control, and regulatory requirements, including CMMC and NIST SP 800-171. The engineer automates repetitive operations using tools such as Python, Bash, PowerShell, Jenkins, and Ansible; advances CI/CD capabilities; and leads the use of AI in operations, including developing an Agentic Operations framework for broader Engineering Operations DT adoption. The role owns portfolio lifecycle and obsolescence planning, drives modernization and migrations from legacy platforms such as IBM Rational Synergy and Change, assesses AWS hosting options, and presents risk-assessed options to leadership while protecting regulated-program continuity. The position coaches and mentors Applications Operations engineers, sets technical standards and runbooks, influences technical decisions across teams, participates in Agile planning, and provides escalation coverage as required. The role requires U.S. work authorization and access to U.S. export-controlled information; employment is contingent on qualifying as a U.S. Person under the stated categories. The position is remote.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college and at least 5 years of professional experience, or an Associate’s degree and at least 8 years, or a high school diploma and at least 10 years.
At least 5 years of professional experience in Application Operations or systems administration supporting enterprise or engineering applications.
At least 3 years of hands-on Linux server administration experience.
Legal authorization to work in the United States; employment visas will not be sponsored now or in the future.
Ability to meet the stated U.S. Person status requirement for access to U.S. export-controlled information.

Nice To Haves

Deep hands-on Linux/Unix server administration, such as RHEL, including patching, tuning, troubleshooting, and scripting.
Hands-on AWS experience, such as EC2, S3, IAM, and VPC, hosting or migrating enterprise applications.
Experience using AI-enabled operational tools and automation to streamline infrastructure support, reduce manual effort, and improve service reliability.
Experience with IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (DOORS Next, EWM, ETM), DOORS Classic, or Rational Synergy and Change.
Experience leading platform migrations, including migration from legacy source control to Git-based tools such as GitHub.
Automation and CI/CD experience with Python, Bash, PowerShell, Jenkins, Artifactory, or Ansible, and experience with ITSM tools such as ServiceNow.
Experience in regulated aerospace or defense environments, including DO-178C, DO-254, export control, or CMMC.
Ability to prioritize operational work by program impact and build business cases weighing cost, licensing, and lifecycle trade-offs.
Recognized technical expertise and experience coaching and mentoring others.
Ability to influence without authority, build support across teams and levels, and drive alignment on technical direction.
Experience as a change agent in Agile delivery, such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including translating complex technical issues into clear, business-actionable messages.
Customer-focused, comfortable with ambiguity, data-driven, effective working independently and with global teams, curious, and improvement-oriented.

Responsibilities

Serve as senior technical operations authority across engineering application pods supporting US and UK users.
Define, track, and improve operational KPIs and SLAs; communicate status, risks, and trends to users and leadership.
Drive incident, problem, and change management across application pods; lead high-severity escalations and root cause analysis.
Administer Linux and Windows servers across development, test, and production environments.
Partner with cybersecurity and compliance teams to meet security, export-control, and regulatory requirements, including CMMC and NIST SP 800-171.
Automate provisioning, monitoring, patching, license management, and reporting using scripting and automation tools.
Advance CI/CD capabilities for engineering teams and measure impact against operational KPIs.
Lead the team’s use of AI for operations and develop an Agentic Operations framework for the broader Engineering Operations DT team.
Own the portfolio lifecycle and obsolescence roadmap; track end-of-support risks and execute upgrade, migration, and retirement plans.
Lead hands-on migrations from legacy platforms, including IBM Rational Synergy and Change, assess AWS hosting options, and protect continuity for regulated programs.
Present risk-assessed options to leadership, weighing the cost, risk, and benefit of change.
Coach and mentor Applications Operations engineers in Linux, automation, cloud, and operations practices.
Set technical standards and runbooks and influence engineering and partner-team decisions.
Participate in Agile planning and provide escalation coverage as required.

Benefits

Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage
Health Coach access
Employee Assistance Program with confidential assessment, counseling, and referral services
401(k) retirement savings plan with company matching contributions and company retirement contributions
Fidelity resources and planning consultants
Tuition assistance
Adoption assistance
Paid parental leave
Disability insurance
Life insurance
Paid time off for vacation or illness
Annual discretionary bonus