Senior System Engineer

Location: Fairfax, VA or Denver, CO

Clearance: Active TS/SCI (CI poly preferred)

About the role

We are supporting a specialist national security technology organisation looking to add a Senior Systems Engineer to its team. This is a highly technical position for someone who can work across systems and software engineering, helping shape and modernise complex mission-critical environments within the US Intelligence Community. You'll work closely with developers and customers to solve technical challenges, improve system architecture, and support the adoption of modern cloud-native and DevSecOps technologies. The environment includes an operationally supported container orchestration platform used across multiple government sites, enabling CI/CD and Continuous Operations.

Responsibilities

• Work with software and ground-processing teams to solve complex systems engineering challenges
• Help modernise existing systems through containerisation, Kubernetes, and modern deployment techniques
• Evaluate architectures and conduct technical trade studies to improve system resiliency
• Develop prototypes and technical solutions
• Work across Linux and cloud-native environments
• Support DevSecOps, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code initiatives
• Define and document system architectures, interfaces, CONOPs, and technical plans
• Collaborate directly with developers and Intelligence Community customers
• Use Jira and Confluence to manage technical roadmaps and engineering activity

Requirements

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• 15+ years of relevant technical experience
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline
• Strong technical Systems Engineering background
• Strong Linux systems experience
• Experience with cloud-native technologies and architectures
• Previous experience supporting an Intelligence Community customer
• Strong understanding of software engineering and modern software architectures
• Ability to operate independently within complex technical environments
• Strong communication skills and confidence working directly with technical teams and customers

Qualifications (Desirable)

• Active CI Poly
• Master's degree in a relevant technical discipline
• Software Engineering background
• Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, and container orchestration
• DevSecOps and CI/CD
• Ansible, Terraform, or Puppet
• Python, Bash, Go, or similar scripting/programming languages
• Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, or OpenSearch
• NRO ground systems experience
• SIGINT experience
• PKI, container security, and zero-trust principles

Benefits

• Employer-funded 401(k) contribution worth 25% of base salary
• Flexible benefits allowance worth 25% of base salary (take as benefits or additional compensation)
• 8 weeks PTO
• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
• Life Insurance
• 100% tuition reimbursement (Degrees, Certifications & Professional Development)
• Flexible working hours

Pay

$160,000 - $220,000 base salary (Total Compensation up to $330,000)