Infrastructure Engineer (SME)

Location: Chantilly, VA. Security Clearance: Active TS or higher (required). Job Type: Full-Time.

About the role

The Infrastructure Engineer (SME) serves as the principal authority for enterprise systems architecture, infrastructure modernization, and zero-trust security implementation. This role leads the design, automation, optimization, and governance of highly available infrastructure environments across complex, cross-enclave systems. The SME provides strategic and technical leadership for Infrastructure as Code, configuration management, disaster recovery, compliance automation, cloud and on-premises infrastructure, cross-domain solutions, identity and access management, container orchestration, enterprise databases, and DevSecOps practices while ensuring resilient, scalable, and secure operations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the principal authority for enterprise systems architecture and infrastructure modernization.
• Lead the design, automation, and optimization of highly available infrastructure environments.
• Optimize infrastructure for scalability, performance, security, and operational resilience across complex environments.
• Provide strategic technical leadership for enterprise security and infrastructure initiatives.
• Support air-gapped, hybrid-cloud, and on-premises operational environments, including complex multi-enclave ecosystems.
• Support AWS GovCloud, SC2S, C2S, and GCP cloud platforms.
• Support multi-tenant Cross-Domain Solutions and high-assurance cross-domain environments.
• Support locally hosted GPU servers and distributed infrastructure components.
• Implement cloud cost-optimization techniques across supported environments.
• Support Cisco switching, routing, firewalling, and site-to-site connectivity, including IPsec, DMVPN, and SD-WAN.
• Configure and support cloud networking and VPC environments.
• Implement zero-trust security principles and secure cross-enclave interoperability solutions.
• Support cloud-native security implementation and security accreditation processes.
• Support high-assurance encryption solutions including TACLANE and NCAP.
• Configure and manage Nutanix hosts and clusters using Prism Central.
• Support Nutanix NDFS configuration and management.
• Support highly available virtualized and hyper-converged infrastructure environments.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code and configuration management initiatives using Terraform and Ansible.
• Support containerization and orchestration technologies including Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift.
• Develop and support advanced GitLab CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices.
• Guide teams on system administration, automation, infrastructure management, and secure engineering practices.
• Support enterprise database services including RDS, RDS Aurora, and DynamoDB.
• Support serverless architectures using AWS Lambda.
• Support microservices architectures and API Gateway implementations.
• Support monitoring, logging, and data platforms including Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, and Splunk.
• Apply development experience with Python, .NET/C#, and related languages to infrastructure automation and integration activities.
• Support identity and access services including Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP/OpenLDAP, Entra ID, and Keycloak.
• Integrate identity and access controls into enterprise infrastructure and security architectures.
• Establish and enforce governance frameworks for disaster recovery and compliance automation.
• Support backup, recovery, monitoring, and infrastructure performance optimization.
• Ensure infrastructure aligns with enterprise security controls, compliance requirements, and governance standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree. [Required]
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience. [Required]
• Extensive experience supporting Windows, Linux, and hybrid-cloud environments. [Required]
• Expertise with Infrastructure as Code and configuration management tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, or Chef. [Required]
• Experience with cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. [Required]
• Strong experience with system monitoring, disaster recovery, backup solutions, and performance optimization. [Required]
• Proven experience leading enterprise infrastructure initiatives and technical teams. [Required]

Preferred qualifications: Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field; experience supporting federal, defense, intelligence, or highly regulated environments; expertise in zero-trust architecture and secure infrastructure design; experience with containerized platforms such as Docker and Kubernetes; relevant certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Administrator/Architect, RHCE, VMware, CISSP, or similar; experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, and enterprise automation frameworks.

Skills

• Deep understanding of enterprise security controls, compliance requirements, and infrastructure governance. [Required]
• Strong knowledge of scalable, resilient, and secure enterprise infrastructure architecture. [Required]
• Ability to provide strategic and technical leadership across complex infrastructure environments. [Required]