Systems Engineer - Container Platform (Primary)

Business System Solutions•Leesburg, VA

11h•Remote

About The Position

The Systems Engineer - Container Platform (Primary) will lead the deployment, hardening, and operational management of containerized applications on AWS ECS or OpenShift platform for the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) environment. You will manage the technical architecture and support the Federal Risk Management Framework (RMF) Authority to Operate (ATO) process for a polypharmacy solution in a complex, multi-system cloud integration solution for a Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system that services millions of veterans. You will be responsible for evaluating and hardening vendor-supplied containers, implementing container orchestration infrastructure-as-code, and establishing secure, compliant container operations that support millions of client transactions while meeting RMF/ATO requirements. Location : This is a remote position. Why This Role Matters: As the container platform lead, you establish the foundation for secure, scalable application deployment serving millions of Veterans. Your efforts will directly impact the quality of care for the veteran. Your hardening work protects sensitive client data, your automation enables rapid scaling, and your operational excellence ensures high availability for critical service coordination capabilities.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or related technical field (relevant certifications and experience may supplement)
5-7 years in systems engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure roles
3+ years hands-on experience with container platforms (ECS, OpenShift, or Kubernetes) in production environments
2+ years working with AWS infrastructure and services
Experience with container hardening, security scanning, and vulnerability remediation
Background in federal, DoD, or highly regulated environments (preferred)
Prior involvement in RMF/ATO processes with container security control implementation
Container Orchestration: Strong expertise in AWS ECS (tasks, services, capacity providers) OR OpenShift (operators, deployments, routes)
Container Security: CIS Docker benchmarks, container image scanning tools, runtime security, STIG implementation, secrets management
Container Networking: Service mesh concepts, ingress controllers, network policies, service discovery
Infrastructure-as-Code: Terraform or AWS CloudFormation with modules/stacks for container infrastructure
Image Management: Docker registries (ECR, Harbor), image tagging strategies, vulnerability scanning integration
CI/CD for Infrastructure: Automated deployment pipelines, GitOps workflows
AWS Services: VPC, security groups, EC2, ALB/NLB, CloudWatch, Systems Manager, Secrets Manager, IAM
Monitoring & Logging: Container log aggregation, metrics collection, APM agent deployment
Scripting & Automation: Python, Bash, or PowerShell for operational automation
Linux Administration: RHEL/Amazon Linux container host management, security hardening
Version Control: Git workflows for infrastructure-as-code management
Understanding of NIST 800-53 security controls applicable to container platforms
Knowledge of federal container security requirements and STIGs
Experience implementing defense-in-depth strategies and least-privilege access controls
Familiarity with RMF documentation requirements (SSP contributions, security control evidence)
Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills with systematic problem-solving approach
Attention to detail and commitment to security-first operations
Effective written and verbal communication for documentation and cross-team collaboration
Adaptable to fast-paced, deadline-driven environment with changing requirements
Proactive mindset for identifying and resolving potential issues before they impact operations
Must be able to pass a government background investigation
U.S. Citizenship required

Nice To Haves

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate or Professional
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift
Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, AWS App Mesh)
Knowledge of container vulnerability management platforms (Prisma, Aqua, Twistlock)
Experience in VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC)
Federal government contracting or DoD infrastructure experience

Responsibilities

Deploy, configure, and manage AWS ECS or OpenShift container orchestration platform in production Federal environment
Evaluate and harden vendor-supplied container images applying CIS benchmarks, DSTI STIGs, and federal security baselines
Perform container image scanning and remediate vulnerabilities using tools
Configure container orchestration including task/service definitions, auto-scaling policies, and lifecycle management
Implement runtime security controls including container isolation, resource limits, secrets management, and least-privilege IAM roles
Document container security controls and provide evidence for RMF/ATO security assessment
Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code for repeatable container platform deployment
Build automated deployment pipelines with GitOps workflows for infrastructure change management and audit trails
Create repeatable, version-controlled infrastructure patterns for scaling
Develop automation scripts for container platform management, troubleshooting, and routine operations
Design and implement multi-AZ container deployments with health checks, readiness probes, and self-healing capabilities
Implement disaster recovery procedures including backup strategies and zero-downtime deployment patterns
Establish capacity planning and scaling strategies to handle variable workloads serving millions of clients
Create comprehensive operational runbooks, deployment procedures, and configuration baselines for RMF compliance
Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for routine maintenance, troubleshooting, and incident response
Collaborate with developers on container deployment requirements and application configurations
Work with networking team on container networking, load balancer integration, and ingress/egress controls
Partner with security teams on vulnerability remediation and coordinate with vendor technical teams on container specifications
Integrate container platform with monitoring solutions (Dynatrace, Splunk, DataDog) for metrics, logging, and tracing