Platform Engineer - IaC
Defense Unicorns
EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP.
Role Description:
We are seeking a dedicated and experienced Platform Engineer with strong multi-platform Infrastructure-as-Code proficiency to join our Federal Engineering team. This role involves managing Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS) deployments, generating training documentation, and training system integrators on our software tools. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in cross-functional relationship management, technical expertise, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, and a passion for helping mission heroes (what we call our customers) achieve their goals with the UDS platform.
Responsibilities:
- Implement and manage Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) modules to reliably provision and configure customer environments.
- Support deploying and managing UDS environments across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and on-prem for government-backed commercial vendors.
- Build and maintain custom UDS packages and application-specific modules, enabling streamlined deployment of customer environments.
- Adhere to SLA commitments, including on-call support for critical UDS issues in customer environments.
- Serve as the primary technical interface for System Integrators and mission heroes, providing guidance, troubleshooting, and resolution of complex UDS issues.
- Develop and deliver technical training content tailored to mission hero needs, including remote and on-site sessions demonstrating platform features and best practices.
- Coordinate customer onboarding and ensure smooth adoption of UDS deployments.
- Gather feedback from mission heroes and the community to provide actionable insights to internal teams, improving products, services, and deployment processes.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams for improvements to capabilities and strategies for improving deployment efficiency and customer outcomes.
- Analyze operational and usage data to identify trends, optimize delivery strategies, and drive process improvement.
- Experiment with new tools, techniques, and technologies to improve mission outcomes.
- Contribute to a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the organization.
Travel Expectations/Requirements: Less than 25% expected
The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive, and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.
Preferred Experience and Qualifications:
- Possess strong proficiency with Terraform, Terraform Automation and COllaboration Software (TACOS), Kubernetes, Helm, and containerized applications, enabling robust platform deployment and management.
- Proven experience as a Platform Engineer or similar role, with a focus on system architecture and development.
- Strong knowledge of hybrid cloud architectures, including networking, RBAC, and storage for cloud and on-prem clusters.
- Hands-on experience with Azure AKS, AWS EKS, or on-prem Kubernetes (e.g RKE2, K3s, k0s, etc.).
- Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, OpenTofu), Helm, GitOps, and cluster provisioning and lifecycle management.
- Knowledgeable about DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines running on GitLab or GitHub.
- Comfortable serving as the primary technical interface for mission heroes, providing architecture guidance, production support, and platform expertise.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex data for informed decision-making.
- Excellent communication skills and effectiveness in a remote team environment.
- Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Willingness to travel as needed for on-site training and support.
- DoD IAT Level II certification (such as Security+) is not required but preferred.
- A DoD Secret or higher clearance is not required but preferred.
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.
Who We Are
Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
What We Do
We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Who We Serve
Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
What We Work On
- Kubernetes
- Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
- Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
- Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
- GitOps
- Containers
- CNCF projects and open source products and packages
- Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
- Building and improving security delivery
- Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications
Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy
Health:
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Health Reimbursement Account
- Life Insurance
- Disability Insurance
Financial:
- 401k Retirement Plan
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Budget
Leave:
- Unlimited paid time off, with a mandatory 10 days off on top of 11 federal government holidays, week of Thanksgiving, last two weeks of December (including New Year’s Day)
- Paid Parental Leave
Learning:
- Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.
At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.