Systems Engineer

Systems Engineer

Company: Innovatus Technology Consulting
Location: Patuxent River, MD
Employment type: Full-time
Clearance: Active U.S. security clearance required (Secret minimum; higher clearance preferred if the lab environment requires it)
Citizenship: U.S. citizenship required

About Innovatus

Innovatus Technology Consulting delivers technology frameworks, products, and services that help government and defense customers achieve mission success. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Diego, CA, Innovatus is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Minority Business Enterprise (MBE). We specialize in cybersecurity and information assurance, cloud and infrastructure engineering, DevSecOps, and mission systems support.

Position overview

Innovatus is seeking a hands-on Systems Engineer to support the Data Fusion Lab. This is not a traditional enterprise help-desk or office-IT role. You will own the lab's development, integration, simulation, and test infrastructure - hardware, Windows and Linux, virtualization, containers, and authorization posture - so developers can keep shipping capability.

You will treat ATO and security requirements as engineering constraints to solve, not reasons to stop work. Maintaining development velocity is at least equal in priority to maintaining the authorized security posture.

A strong candidate already interviewed for another Innovatus role aligns well with this position and is interested; we are also open to additional qualified applicants.

What you will do

• Provide hardware support and day-to-day operations for lab systems (compute, storage, networking, and related peripherals).
• Deliver Windows OS, Linux OS, and application support across development, integration, and test environments.
• Support containers and orchestration, including Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Support OpenStack and virtual machine environments used for development, simulation, and test.
• Own compliance assurance: STIG hardening, patching, backups, ACAS/Tenable scanning, and remediation.
• Automate operations with shell, PowerShell, and related scripting (provisioning, configuration, hardening, scanning, monitoring, inventory, evidence collection, and repeatable builds).
• Maintain RMF / ATO artifacts and processes: SSPs, POA&Ms, continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, change control, and authorization evidence (including eMASS as applicable).
• Own infrastructure, cybersecurity, RMF documentation, change-control, and ATO implications so developers stay focused on delivering capability.
• When a developer request conflicts with the authorized baseline, find the fastest secure, compliant path forward - do not default to "no" or immediately elevate.
• Translate developer needs into control language and security requirements into practical engineering solutions; bridge developers and cybersecurity personnel without making developers into RMF experts.
• Support high-performance and simulation workloads, networking, storage, identity, and distributed systems as used in the lab.

Required qualifications and skills

1. Mission-enablement mindset - Treat ATO/security requirements as solvable engineering constraints. Development velocity and authorized posture are co-equal priorities.
2. Rapid, solution-oriented problem solving - When requests conflict with the baseline, identify a compliant path rather than blocking or escalating first.
3. Ability to minimize developer overhead - Own infrastructure, cyber, RMF documentation, change control, and ATO impact.
4. Development/test infrastructure experience - Hands-on support of software development, integration, DevSecOps, simulation, and test environments (not primarily corporate/office IT).
5. Strong Linux / virtualization / cloud skills - RHEL/Linux, OpenStack, VMs, containers (Podman/Docker/Kubernetes), networking, storage, identity, distributed systems, and high-performance/simulation workloads.
6. Practical ATO/RMF expertise - Hands-on maintenance of government ATOs: RMF, NIST SP 800-53, STIGs, SSPs, POA&Ms, continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, change control, and authorization evidence.
7. Risk understanding, not checklist-only compliance - Know why controls exist, what risk they mitigate, and how to apply alternative mitigations within the authorization / risk-acceptance process.
8. Automation - Provisioning, configuration, STIG hardening, scanning, monitoring, inventory, evidence collection, configuration validation, and repeatable builds.
9. Bridge between developers and cybersecurity - Translate both directions without forcing developers to become RMF experts.
10. Government / DoW environment experience - DoW/DoD ATO environments, eMASS, ACAS/Tenable, DISA STIGs, and controlled or classified environments.

Core technical tasking

• Hardware support
• Windows / Linux / application support
• Container support (Podman / Docker / Kubernetes)
• Compliance assurance (STIG, patch, backup, ACAS scan/remediation)
• Scripting and automation (Shell, PowerShell, and similar)
• OpenStack VM support

Preferred qualifications

• Active Secret or higher clearance already adjudicated
• Direct experience supporting Navy / NAVWAR / DoD lab or range environments
• Experience with classified or tightly controlled networks
• Infrastructure-as-code and configuration-management tooling (e.g., Ansible) in addition to shell/PowerShell
• Familiarity with DevSecOps pipelines in authorized environments

Success in this role looks like

• Developers get a secure path forward quickly instead of a stop-work answer.
• The lab stays inside its ATO while environments stay current and usable.
• STIGs, scans, patches, backups, and evidence are routine and largely automated.
• Change control and RMF paperwork do not become the developers' problem.
• Cyber and engineering speak the same language because you translate both sides.