DevOps Engineer, Jira

DevOps Engineer

Our client, a federal government agency, requires a DevOps Engineer to deploy, configure, administer, and integrate Jira SaaS in Atlassian GovCloud with other enterprise applications in their ecosystem. This is a 1 year renewable contract requiring the resource to work onsite in Washington, DC.

The objectives of this role are to:

• Administer, configure, and integrate Jira SaaS for GovCloud within the client's ecosystem.
• Consolidate enterprise collaborative planning tools—transitioning from On-prem Azure DevOps and GitLab to Jira SaaS for government.
• Build robust, automated, and secure integrations between Jira SaaS and core enterprise systems (ServiceNow, GitLab), enabling end-to-end visibility across planning, development and operations

This candidate will be selected for their strategic and technical acumen.

Responsibilities:

• Administration:
• Administer, configure, and optimize Jira SaaS to meet enterprise project management and Agile delivery needs.
• Design and maintain custom workflows, issue types, screens, fields, and automation rules aligned with organizational Agile frameworks and guidelines.
• Manage user permissions, group roles, and security schemes to ensure governance and compliance.
• Monitor Jira license utilization, user growth, and application usage to ensure efficient use of subscriptions.
• Collaborate with procurement teams to support renewal, optimization, and budget decisions.
• System Integration & Development:
• Design, implement, and maintain seamless integrations between Jira with other enterprise systems, such as GitLab (source control & CI/CD), and ServiceNow (ITSM), using Okta, REST APIs, webhooks, middleware, and scripting.
• Automate data synchronization across platforms to support traceability from planning to release.
• Troubleshoot and optimize integration pipelines to ensure performance, security, and scalability.
• Partner with infrastructure and cybersecurity teams to align integrations with enterprise security and compliance standards.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, standards, and best practices.
• Agile Enablement:
• Partner with the Agile Transformation Office to translate Agile practices into effective Jira configurations and usage patterns.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and teams on best-practice tool utilization.
• Support reporting and analytics initiatives, ensuring reliable Agile metrics (velocity, burndown, cycle time, etc.).
• Support and enable teams transition from Azure DevOps Boards, Gitlab, Jira (hosted) to JIRA SaaS.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience administering and/or engineering Jira (Self-hosting or SaaS).
• Proven, hands-on experience developing custom integrations with enterprise platforms, especially GitLab and ServiceNow.
• Proficiency in scripting (Python, PowerShell, or JavaScript) and REST API integration.
• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe) and DevSecOps principles.
• Experience in enterprise migrations from Azure DevOps or similar tools to Jira.
• Familiarity with Atlassian ecosystem (Confluence, Bitbucket) and marketplace apps.
• Experience with information security, privacy, and risk assessment standards including FISMA, SOX, FedRAMP, etc.
• Atlassian Certified Professional (ACP-620, ACP-120, or equivalent) preferred.
• Experience in the federal government is preferred