Sr. Infrastructure / DevSecOps Systems Engineer

Remote from: USA
Annual salary: Undisclosed
Salary information is not provided for this position. Check our Salary Directory to estimate the average compensation for similar roles.
Department: DevOps & Infrastructure
Employment type: Full Time,
Job posted: 10 Jun 2026
Apply before: 10 Jul 2026
Experience level: Senior
Views / Applies: 17 / 3

About ECS

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AI Summary

This is a senior-level remote role supporting NIH NIAID scientific computing. The engineer will lead incident resolution, infrastructure automation, and CI/CD pipelines for HPC environments. Requires 8+ years experience, active clearance, and expertise in DevSecOps, container orchestration, and scientific instrumentation. The position is contingent upon contract award and involves collaboration with IT staff and government stakeholders.

Role DNA

Job Complexity

Easy Hard

Pace & Pressure

Relaxed Fast-paced

Autonomy Level

Guided Full Ownership

Communication Load

Independent Highly Collaborative

AI Insight The role demands advanced technical skills in DevSecOps, HPC, and infrastructure automation, plus a security clearance and 8+ years of experience, making it highly challenging.

Salary Analysis

AI Insight The salary was not provided, but based on market data for a senior DevSecOps engineer with HPC focus, the estimated median is $155,000. The typical range in the US is $120,000-$190,000, depending on location and clearance level.

Key Skills

DevOps CI/CD Infrastructure Automation Container Orchestration Kubernetes HPC DevSecOps Linux Scientific Computing Configuration Management FISMA

Cover Letter Sample

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am excited to apply for the Sr. Infrastructure / DevSecOps Systems Engineer position with ECS supporting the NIH NIAID NEAT program. With over 10 years of experience in infrastructure automation, CI/CD pipelines, and high-performance computing, I am well-prepared to lead complex incident resolution and operational engineering for your scientific computing environment.

My background includes designing secure, scalable systems for biomedical research, container orchestration with Kubernetes, and integrating scientific instrumentation in federal settings. I hold an active Public Trust clearance and have deep expertise in DevSecOps practices, including FISMA compliance and agile methodologies.

I am eager to bring my technical leadership and collaborative approach to the NEAT team, ensuring reliable and reproducible scientific computing. Thank you for considering my application.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Possible Interview Questions

Describe your experience with CI/CD pipelines in a scientific computing environment. How do you ensure reproducibility and security?

I have built CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI and Jenkins for HPC workloads, integrating container builds, automated testing of scientific codes, and deployment to Kubernetes clusters. For reproducibility, I use version-controlled container images with locked dependencies and enforce security scanning (e.g., Trivy, Snyk) at each stage.

How do you approach incident resolution for critical infrastructure? Can you give an example of a complex incident you led?

I follow a systematic approach: first, triage and contain the issue to prevent further impact, then analyze logs and metrics to identify root cause. For example, I once resolved a performance degradation in a Lustre filesystem by identifying a misconfigured OST and rebalancing the load across servers.

Explain your experience with FISMA and system authorization processes. How have you ensured compliance in your previous roles?

I have experience supporting ATO processes by implementing security controls per NIST 800-53, conducting vulnerability assessments, and maintaining POA&Ms. For a recent project, I automated compliance checks using OpenSCAP and integrated them into our CI/CD pipeline to continuously monitor controls.

What tools and strategies do you use for infrastructure automation? How have you applied them to HPC environments?

I use Terraform for provisioning cloud and on-prem resources, Ansible for configuration management, and Kubernetes for container orchestration. In HPC, I have automated cluster deployment using Terraform with Slurm integration, and used Ansible to manage node configurations and software stacks.

Describe a time you had to communicate complex technical issues to a non-technical stakeholder. How did you ensure they understood?

I once explained the impact of a compromised SSL certificate to a program manager by focusing on business risk and timeline for resolution, avoiding jargon. I used a simple diagram showing how the issue affected data encryption and offered a clear remediation plan with milestones.

ECS is seeking an experienced Sr. Infrastructure / DevSecOps Systems Engineer to work remotely providing scientific computing support for the work performed under this contract for NIH NIAID Enabling and Advancing Technologies (NEAT). This engagement supports the Scientific Computing Services program area which includes Program Management, Scientific Instrumentation Support, and High Performance Computing.

Please Note: This position is contingent upon [contract win].

The NIAID NEAT Sr. Infrastructure / DevSecOps Systems Engineer will lead complex incident resolution, infrastructure automation, and advanced troubleshooting for scientific computing environments and deployment pipelines.

Key Responsibilities:

Lead complex incident resolution, infrastructure automation, performance tuning, operational engineering standards, and advanced troubleshooting across enterprise and scientific computing environments.
Oversee CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, infrastructure automation, security integration, configuration management, and reproducible scientific computing deployment pipelines.
Supervise, coordinate and/or perform additions and changes to network hardware and operating systems, and attached devices; including investigation, analysis, recommendation, configuration, installation, and testing of new network hardware and software.
Provide direct support in the day-to-day operations on network hardware and operating systems including the evaluation of system utilization, monitoring response time and primary support for detection and correction of operational problems.
Participate in planning design, technical review and implementation for new network infrastructure hardware and network operating systems for voice and data communication networks.
Maintain network infrastructure standards including network communication protocols such as TCP/IP.
Provide technical consultation, training and support to IT staff as designated by the government.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security or related field.
Active Public Trust or higher security clearance.
Minimum 8 years experience supporting IT infrastructure, systems, and applications, including HPC environments, support teams, and ensuring quality of service operations.
Experience with scientific instrumentation and HPC and knowledge of working in a scientific research organization, with an emphasis on biomedical research.
Experience supporting commercial scientific instrumentation, and the integration of this instrumentation in a federal government IT environment.
Experience supporting systems based on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, including both GUI and command-line operations and troubleshooting, and scripting in these environments.
Experience with container orchestration, infrastructure automation, and advanced troubleshooting.
Have documented experience with FISMA and system authorization processes.
Practical experience with industry best practices as articulated by, but not limited to, the Project Management Institute (PMI), Lean IT, Agile practices, DevOps and ITIL, as appropriate.
Reside within the Washington DC Metro area
Travel within the Washington DC Metro Area, and CONUS as needed.

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