Platform Engineer

We are seeking talented and experienced Platform Engineers to join our team in a hybrid capacity in the Los Angeles, California area. The ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our Space Portfolio’s pipeline team, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide junior engineers.

You will join a team of dedicated unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally by making software a strategic deterrent. Our teams are working on architecting, building, and deploying mission critical software capabilities for the United States Space Force.

In this role, your primary responsibilities will include leading and guiding the team architecting the Space Portfolio’s CI/CD pipelines. You will be a crucial link between the Application Development team and the Production Environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between the application development teams and platform teams.

In this position, you will be expected to: 

• Validate Solutions/Implementations: Ensure that solutions and implementations align with the outlined tasks and business requirements. Conduct thorough validations to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the platform.
• Independently Problem Solve: Demonstrate the ability to identify and solve business problems independently. Develop small components to address specific challenges without relying on explicit architecture diagrams.
• Understand Medium-Level Tasking: Comprehend how medium-level tasks contribute to the achievement of overall goals. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate various components into a cohesive and functional platform.
• Estimate Time and Effort: Provide accurate time and effort estimates for medium-sized tasks. Assist in project planning and resource allocation based on estimated timelines.
• Demonstrate Programming Language Proficiency: Possess familiarity with at least one programming language. Exhibit a basic understanding of when to use a programming language versus a shell script for efficient task execution.

Own the bridge between the Application Development team and the Production Environment:

• Interject "best practices" to the application development team and facilitate collaboration between the application development and platform teams.
• Inform discussions on the benefits of using cyber-secure tools.
• Establish and facilitate automated Zarf builds as part of CI for multiple app dev teams.
• Collaborate with the Platform team on End-to-End (E2E) and Integration testing.
• Understand CI/CD and other automation best practices and lead implementation of deployment pipelines

Build and maintain automated pipeline functions, leading teams towards delivery and sustainment options.Implement infrastructure as code and contribute to the build/maintenance of kubernetes clusters on various distributions (i.e EKS & RKE2)

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. 

• Active TS/SCI clearance highly preferred
• Proven experience as a DecSecOps Engineer, with a focus on system architecture and development.
• Familiarity with continuous delivery, distributed systems and architecture, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services (specifically AWS).
• Active participant in open source projects and product repositories, showcasing a commitment to industry innovation.
• Expertise in solving highly technical problems that span multiple knowledge domains.
• Deep knowledge in 1-2 key technologies, demonstrating proficiency in areas such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others.

• A critical thinker capable of weighing various methods for solving business problems with a focus on product excellence.

• Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on an Authority to Operate (ATO'd) system.
• Possess a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
• Experienced with Big Bang, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.
• Knowledgeable about DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
• Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework.
• Comfortable and experienced in working on projects with compliance requirements.
• Experienced with automated testing.

Salary Ranges: 
Mid: $147,175 - $190,000
Senior: $180 - $219,000

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.

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