Space Systems DevOps Engineer

Position Overview

Responsibilities

• Embed with the orbital analyst team to translate mission and end-user requirements into infrastructure configuration, tuning, and automation.
• Serve as the primary technical liaison between the systems and infrastructure team and analyst mission users, ensuring system behavior meets operational needs and closing the gap between what is deployed and what the mission requires.
• Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks spanning compute, storage, network, and virtualization that affect analyst-facing applications and interactive sessions; isolate variables and validate hypotheses with controlled benchmarking before changing production.

• Administer, patch, and harden Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems in an air-gapped, DISA STIG-compliant environment (SELinux enforcing, Secure Boot).
• Configure and maintain enterprise virtualization (VMware vSphere/ESXi and VDI) and high-performance shared storage, including kernel, storage-client, and high-throughput network tuning.
• Monitor and maintain critical network services, storage, and infrastructure to ensure availability and performance of mission systems.
• Support vulnerability management and patch remediation in coordination with the ISSE/ISSO, verifying successful deployment of fixes.

• Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code automation for repeatable, auditable deployments in a disconnected environment.
• Develop and maintain Python 3 tooling for monitoring, lifecycle and end-of-life tracking, operational alerting, and routine automation.
• Debug and maintain existing code and data-processing workflows, providing bug fixes and facilitating ongoing development of legacy tooling.
• Conduct peer and code review and maintain clear documentation to ensure code quality, consistency, and long-term maintainability.
• Collaborate with development teams and project managers to deliver high-quality solutions that meet customer needs, and participate in planning and retrospective meetings to improve the delivery process.

Minimum Requirements

• US Citizenship required
• Security Clearance: An active DoD Secret clearance is required. Candidates must be willing to complete a background investigation and application for upgrade to a TS/SCI clearance, if necessary.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant experience.
• Experience:
  • 4+ years of combined experience across systems administration, DevOps, and/or software engineering (or 2+ years with a graduate degree).
  • DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CCNA-Security), or the ability to obtain one within a defined onboarding period.
  • Strong proficiency with Linux operating systems, including command-line administration, performance optimization, and troubleshooting.
  • Proficiency in Python 3 scripting and automation, with a track record of delivering efficient, maintainable code.
  • Experience with version control systems such as Git, and familiarity with CI/CD concepts and workflows.
  • Familiarity with virtualization (VMware, Red Hat, or similar) and core storage and networking fundamentals.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of combined experience across systems administration, DevOps, and/or software engineering, of which 2+ years are in a DoD, USAF, or USSF mission environment.
• Experience administering and hardening systems to DISA STIG / RMF standards (SELinux, Secure Boot, air-gapped operations).
• Experience tuning enterprise storage and high-throughput networking for high-performance or latency-sensitive workloads.
• Familiarity with configuration management and automation frameworks such as Ansible.
• Experience with enterprise virtualization and VDI (VMware vSphere / ESXi / Horizon).
• Familiarity with Python numerical and scientific libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and SciPy.
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability and messaging tooling (e.g., Grafana, message brokers).
• Proficiency in Linux shell scripting; familiarity with Perl a plus for maintaining legacy tooling.
• Understanding of parallel programming concepts such as multiprocessing, multithreading, or async.
• Understanding of DevOps principles and agile methodologies (Scrum or Kanban).
• Knowledge of the Space Domain Awareness/Command and Control (SDA/C2) mission.

Working Relationships

• Reports to: Systems Manager, Vandenberg.
• Collaborates with: Site orbital analysts, systems administrators, and network administrators across the Vandenberg team.
• Customer Interface: 18 SDS mission operators and government technical leadership, and Prime program personnel, as delegated.

Schedule and Environment

• On-site position in a secured classified facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, supporting the 18th Space Defense Squadron.
• Primarily standard business hours; periodic support outside normal business hours may be required to support mission operations and high-interest events.

Company Overview

Compensation and Benefits

• Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• HSA or FSA accounts
• Company-paid Short-Term/Long-Term Disability and AD&D insurance
• Paid Federal Holidays
• Paid Vacation and Sick Leave
• Parental Leave
• 401(k) with company match
• Supplemental insurance options (AFLAC, Voluntary Life)
• Professional Development Reimbursement