Principal DevOps Engineer

About the role

Qualis LLC is seeking a Principal DevOps Engineer (Level 3) to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. The position supports the Modeling and Simulation Vistas – Threat and Advanced Simulations Development (MSV TASD) program and will split time between a Northrop Grumman facility in Colorado Springs and Schriever Space Force Base, CO. This role requires candidates to be onsite daily, with limited remote/hybrid work available.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines to support frequent, reliable software delivery
• Automate infrastructure deployment, scaling, and management using configuration management and scripting tools
• Implement and manage containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Podman), including rootless vs. rootful configurations where appropriate
• Collaborate closely with development and test teams to improve build, integration, and deployment processes
• Integrate automated testing and quality/security tools (e.g., static analysis, code quality, coverage) into CI/CD pipelines
• Maintain security, compliance, and configuration baselines across environments
• Work with identity and credential management tools (e.g., credential managers, service accounts) to support secure automation and access control

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline from an accredited institution and 5 years of related experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of related experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 1 year of related experience
• Must have active, in-scope U.S. Government Secret security clearance at the time of application (required to start)
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 10% to support business needs
• Experience with containerization and container runtime technologies (Docker, Podman, or similar)
• Experience with automated testing and software development pipelines/factories (e.g., unit, integration, or acceptance tests in CI/CD)
• Experience deploying applications in containerized environments
• Experience with CI/CD and related tools such as the Atlassian tool suite, Jira, GitHub, GitLab, SonarQube, Checkmarx, Coverity, or Jenkins
• Hands-on experience with Unix/Linux operating systems

Qualifications

• Strong experience with Linux administration, shell scripting, and operations in production-like environments
• Familiarity with hypervisors, virtualized medium- and high-trust environments (e.g., experience working with hypervisors on medium trust environments)
• Experience working with credential and identity management solutions (e.g., credential managers, service accounts, Keycloak or similar technologies) to securely manage non-interactive access
• Exposure to Kubernetes or infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) is a plus
• Experience developing software in a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) environment
• Experience with Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) and tools such as Gherkin and Cucumber for automated acceptance testing

Benefits

Qualis LLC is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse and talented workforce who can contribute to the mission and vision of the Company. Our employees are our greatest asset and we promote a positive work environment, teamwork, professional growth, innovation, community involvement, flexible scheduling and a family-friendly work environment. Equal Opportunity Employer/M/F/Vet/Disabled and a Participant in E-Verify