Senior Customer Operations Engineer

Second Front Systems (2F) is seeking a Senior Customer Operations Engineer to lead customer implementation engagements on Game Warden, our FedRAMP High-certified, Kubernetes-native DevSecOps platform deployed across classified and unclassified government networks. Our customers are warfighters and national security professionals who depend on rapid time-to-deployment. Failure is not an option—and neither is a slow or broken implementation. As a Senior Customer Operations Engineer on the Implementations team, you will lead the technical execution of customer implementations, guiding organizations through onboarding, deployment, platform migrations, and production readiness within secure, highly regulated environments. You'll work closely with customer application teams, Platform Engineering, Product, Mission Success, and Customer Support to deliver predictable implementation outcomes while continuously improving the quality, repeatability, and efficiency of our implementation practices. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building strong technical partnerships with customers while turning complex implementation efforts into repeatable deployment patterns. Our mission extends beyond deploying software—we strive to accelerate customer adoption, reduce implementation risk, and establish the operational foundation that enables long-term customer success on Game Warden. Note: This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret security clearance. Candidates holding an active or interim DoD TS eligible clearance (or higher) are strongly preferred. Due to the strict federal security requirements for this role, U.S. citizenship is required. Additionally, candidates must reside in one of our approved hiring hubs: DC/Maryland/Virginia Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC Denver/Colorado Springs, CO Dallas/Fort Worth, TX What You’ll Do: Lead customer implementation engagements from technical onboarding through successful production deployment on Game Warden. Implement and maintain secure cloud-native deployment patterns within highly regulated environments, including container hardening and CVE remediation required for DoD accreditation. Lead application onboarding, platform migrations, runtime configuration, and production cutovers while minimizing deployment risk and customer disruption. Navigate ATO processes, government change control procedures, and classification-level constraints to deliver compliant implementations within customer-specific operational boundaries. Partner directly with customer application teams to design and execute secure deployment strategies aligned with platform best practices and government compliance requirements (FedRAMP High, DoD IL4/IL5/IL6). Partner with Platform Engineering, Product, Customer Support, and Mission Success to ensure successful onboarding, production readiness, and operational handoff. Identify recurring implementation challenges and improve customer onboarding through documentation, automation, standardized deployment processes, and implementation best practices. Contribute to technical documentation, reusable implementation guides, runbooks, and knowledge sharing that improve both customer onboarding and internal engineering effectiveness. Mentor Customer Operations Engineers through implementation planning, deployment execution, and technical coaching while fostering a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement. Skills You’ll Bring to Our Team: 5–7+ years of experience in DevSecOps, Platform Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Cloud Infrastructure, or a related technical discipline, with experience leading customer implementation or deployment engagements. Deep experience deploying and operating cloud-native applications on Kubernetes, with practical expertise in containerization, Helm, container hardening, and modern application architectures. Hands-on experience with one or more major cloud providers (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or GCP) and experience implementing secure cloud-native solutions within enterprise or government environments. Experience designing and implementing Infrastructure-as-Code, deployment automation, and repeatable engineering workflows using tools such as Terraform, Pulumi, or similar technologies. Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify and resolve issues across infrastructure, networking, Kubernetes, cloud services, and application layers during customer implementations. Familiarity with secure software delivery practices and experience working within highly regulated or compliance-driven environments (e.g., FedRAMP High, NIST 800-53, DISA Cloud Computing SRG, DoD IL4/IL5/IL6). Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to lead technical implementation engagements and build trusted partnerships with customer engineering teams and internal stakeholders. A passion for mentoring engineers, improving implementation processes, and creating documentation, automation, and reusable deployment patterns that accelerate customer success. Preferred Qualifications: Experience working in a fast-paced startup or high-growth defense technology environment. Experience leading customer implementations, platform migrations, or complex production cutovers for enterprise software platforms in government or DoD environments. Direct experience supporting DoD, IC, or federal civilian customers in a SaaS/PaaS context, ideally at classified or high-baseline authorization levels. Familiarity with ATO processes, government change management, and the operational constraints unique to classified or ATO-bounded environments. Familiarity with Zero Trust architecture principles and their application in government cloud environments. Experience with modern observability platforms and monitoring technologies (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, Mimir). Exposure to hybrid or multi-cloud environments spanning AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Familiarity with technologies in our ecosystem, including Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, Istio, Terraform, relational databases, and Git-based development workflows. Experience developing customer-facing implementation documentation, deployment guides, or technical enablement materials. The base salary for this position will fall between $120,000-160,000. Your ultimate compensation will be determined by professional background, technical proficiency, seniority, and regional cost factors. Furthermore, this opportunity includes potential eligibility for equity awards and discretionary bonuses, rounding out a comprehensive total rewards offering. Success at 2F Looks Like: Viewing obstacles as opportunities for growth Having a bias toward action and tangible, measurable results Striving to be both compassionate and direct with your feedback Being team-oriented and inclusive with your action Perks & Benefits: This role is a full time position. As a public benefit corporation, we’re a team of purpose-driven trailblazers transforming the future of U.S. national security. We hire the best to do their best and, as such, we are committed to providing the perks and benefits you need to be successful—both in- and outside the workplace. We offer you: Competitive Salary 100% Healthcare, vision and dental coverage 401(k) + 3% company contribution Additional benefit perks (One Medical membership, mental health resources and family planning assistance) Equity incentive plan Tech + office supplies stipend Annual professional development stipend Flexible paid time off + federal holidays off Parental leave Work virtually, near one of our hub locations Referral Bonus Visit our careers page to learn more. Who We Are: At Second Front Systems (2F), we empower defense and national security professionals to stay ahead in the ongoing race to leverage emerging technologies effectively and securely. Founded by three former U.S. Marines with firsthand experience of the dangers outdated technology poses in combat, our team is dedicated to fast-tracking government access to disruptive, commercially-proven technology for U.S. national security missions. Our Game Warden product, a fully managed and compliant DevSecOps platform, accelerates the process for accrediting software as a service (SaaS) applications for government use. Learn how 2F can help you make an impact on national security missions at One last thing: We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Are you ready to join our team: To apply, click the “Apply for This Job” button at the top or bottom of this page and complete the application form. This position will remain open until filled, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. State notices: Colorado: In accordance with Colorado law, applicants may redact their date of birth, dates of attendance, and dates of graduation from any uploaded documents. Maryland: Under Maryland law, an employer may not require or demand, as a condition of employment, prospective employment, or continued employment, that an individual submit to or take a polygraph examination or similar test. An employer who violates this law is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding $100.