Senior DevOps Engineer

Business Unit:Cubic DefenseCompany Details:When you join Cubic, you become part of a company that creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation to make people’s lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities to help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global issues through innovation and service to our customers and partners. We have a top-tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Explore more on Cubic.com.Job Details:OverviewWe are seeking a Senior Platform & Release Engineer to help design, build, secure, and deliver Kubernetes-based platforms and release systems in complex operational environments, including offline and air-gapped deployments. This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of platform engineering, automation, release management, and developer enablement.The ideal candidate combines deep Kubernetes and infrastructure expertise with strong software engineering skills and a pragmatic, security-conscious mindset. You should be comfortable building automation and tooling, supporting deployment pipelines, troubleshooting across the full stack, and improving developer/operator workflows. We are also looking for someone who embraces AI-assisted engineering workflows and uses modern tooling to accelerate productivity and operational excellence.ResponsibilitiesDesign, build, and maintain Kubernetes-based platform and release systems for secure and constrained environmentsDevelop and maintain automation tooling, deployment workflows, and operational utilities using Python, Bash, and infrastructure-as-code approachesBuild and support release pipelines, artifact management workflows, and reproducible deployment bundlesMaintain and improve internal operator and engineering workbench tools using modern web technologiesSupport Kubernetes platform operations, including cluster provisioning, upgrades, configuration management, and troubleshootingEngineer secure deployment workflows with strong attention to credential handling, certificate management, secrets isolation, and deployment guardrailsCollaborate across engineering teams to improve platform reliability, deployment consistency, and operational efficiencyTroubleshoot complex issues spanning applications, containers, clusters, hosts, networking, storage, and artifact distribution systemsMentor junior engineers and help establish engineering best practices across platform and release operationsContinuously improve engineering workflows through automation, AI-assisted tooling, and operational best practicesRequired QualificationsSenior-level experience in platform engineering, release engineering, or DevOps/SRE roles supporting Kubernetes-based systemsHands-on experience operating Kubernetes in offline, air-gapped, or otherwise constrained deployment environmentsStrong expertise with:KubernetesHelmRKE2Ansible PlaybooksJinja templatingStrong automation and tooling development experience using:PythonBashWorking full-stack development capability with:TypeScript/JavaScriptReactTailwind CSSStrong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and artifact management workflows using:GitArtifactoryContainer registries (including Zot or similar)Helm chartsSigned and reproducible release bundlesExperience implementing secure engineering and deployment practices, including:Credential and secret managementTLS certificates and CA bundle managementDeployment boundaries and operational guardrailsStrong understanding of:Platform engineeringRelease engineeringPaaS/SaaS delivery modelsOperator-focused tooling and workflowsMust be eligible to obtain a DOD Security ClearancePreferred QualificationsExperience supporting government, defense, intelligence community (IC), or similarly regulated environmentsStrong Linux systems engineering experience, particularly in:RHEL/Rocky Linux environmentsDocker/container runtimesRKE2Networking and storage systemsHost provisioning and preparationSecurity-minded engineering approach that balances automation, maintainability, auditability, and operational constraintsStrong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills across:Application layersKubernetes clustersHost systemsNetworkingArtifact repositoriesAuthentication and credential systemsDemonstrated ability to mentor engineers and clearly communicate complex platform concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholdersWhat Success Looks LikeReliable, repeatable, and secure platform deployments across connected and disconnected environmentsStreamlined release and artifact workflows with strong operational visibility and reproducibilityImproved developer and operator experience through automation and toolingFaster issue resolution through strong systems-level troubleshootingContinuous improvement of engineering practices using modern automation and AI-assisted workflows‎ Cubic Pay Range:$112,000.00 - $138,000.00 + benefits.‎ The Cubic pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.‎ ‎ Worker Type:Employee‎ We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic under applicable law.SummaryLocation: Ashburn, VirginiaType: Full time