Systems Engineer

MCSG Technologies•Greenbelt, MD

14h•Hybrid

About The Position

MCSG Technologies is seeking a Systems Engineer Principal in support of Earth Observing missions at NASA GSFC. The candidate will provide senior-level systems engineering, Linux administration, virtualization, automation, containerization, and operational support for mission-critical ground systems used across Mission Operation Centers (MOC), I&T, development, and test environments. This position requires strong technical judgment, a security-minded approach, hands-on troubleshooting experience, and the vision to help build a more efficient, resilient, and future-ready ground system from both a technical and resource perspective.

Requirements

Extensive experience administering Linux systems in an operational, engineering, or mission-critical environment.
Strong understanding of enterprise Linux, system hardening, patch management, repository management, baseline configuration, and troubleshooting.
Experience with container technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and RKE2.
Experience with virtualization and infrastructure platforms such as VMware ESXi, vSphere, XCP-ng, Xen Orchestra/XOA, Horizon View, or similar technologies.
Experience with automation, configuration management, and DevOps tools such as Ansible, Bash, Python, PowerShell, Git, GitLab, Bitbucket, Atlassian Bamboo, Jenkins, and related CI/CD tools.
Working knowledge of network protocols and services, including IP, TCP, UDP, DNS, SSH, SFTP, NFS, firewalls, routing, and switching concepts.
Experience with monitoring, logging, and observability tools such as Grafana, Prometheus, Elastic Stack, syslog, or similar platforms.
Ability to apply security best practices, including least-privilege access, patch compliance, system auditing, encryption, data protection, vulnerability remediation, and secure configuration baselines.
Ability to evaluate existing systems and recommend improvements that increase reliability, reduce operational burden, improve resource utilization, and support future ground system modernization.
Proven ability to work independently and as part of a large multidisciplinary engineering and operations team.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear technical documentation, procedures, and design artifacts.

Nice To Haves

Relevant certifications such as Red Hat, Linux Foundation, VMware, Kubernetes, AWS, Security+, or related technical certifications are preferred.
Prior experience supporting NASA, NOAA, DoD, or other government mission operations environments is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide senior-level systems engineering, administration, and operational support for mission operations and ground systems environments.
Install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Linux-based systems, including RHEL, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and similar enterprise distributions.
Support NASA GSFC Code 580 and mission operations tools and applications, including ITOS, GMSEC, and related in-house or project-specific software.
Perform system installation, configuration, capacity planning, performance monitoring, tuning, patching, and lifecycle management.
Support virtualization platforms such as VMware ESXi, vSphere, XCP-ng, and Xen Orchestra/XOA, including deployment automation, system migrations, and infrastructure sustainment.
Develop and maintain automation using Ansible, Bash, PowerShell, PowerCLI, Python, and other scripting or configuration management tools.
Support containerized environments and DevOps workflows using Docker, Kubernetes, RKE2, Git, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Atlassian Bamboo, CI/CD pipelines, and related tools.
Maintain system, software, and security baselines using configuration management, version control, documented change management, and repeatable deployment practices.
Support backup, recovery, and archive solutions for mission and engineering systems, including snapshot management, retention policies, and recovery validation.
Troubleshoot complex operational issues, outages, and system anomalies using logs, monitoring tools, network analysis, and root-cause investigation techniques.
Coordinate with and support infrastructure, network, and security staff responsible for monitoring/logging platforms, firewalls, switches, and network services.
Support observability and monitoring solutions such as Grafana, Prometheus, syslog, Elastic Stack, or similar platforms.
Identify opportunities to improve system efficiency, reduce resource consumption, improve maintainability, and modernize the ground system for future mission needs.
Create and maintain clear technical documentation, design diagrams, operational procedures, system architecture artifacts, and implementation plans.
Collaborate with software, systems, security, database, network, and mission operations teams to support reliable, secure, and repeatable mission system operations.