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Platform Engineer

AI Summary
Defense Unicorns is seeking a remote U.S.-based Platform Engineer to build, automate, and maintain secure cloud-native production platforms for government-focused engagements. The role bridges application teams and production environments, with responsibilities across Kubernetes, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, containerization, and DevSecOps practices. Candidates should be comfortable independently solving medium-complexity technical problems, estimating work, debugging systems, and guiding junior engineers. U.S. citizenship is required, while an active Secret clearance, DoD experience, and security automation expertise are preferred. The position includes occasional travel estimated at 10% to 25%.
Remote from
USA
Salary
Undisclosed
Employment
Full Time
Experience
Entry-Level, Junior
Published
Apply before
11 Dec 2026
Listing views
19
Application actions
1
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Opportunity details

About this role.

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION REQUIRES U.S. CITIZENSHIP.

Role Description

We are seeking a talented and experienced Platform Engineer to join our team. Possessing strong proficiency with Kubernetes, the ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our platform, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide junior engineers.

As a Platform Engineer within our organization, you will join a team of dedicated unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally. Our teams work on various different technical baselines depending on specific engagements. We focus our Products on the Platform layer, but to deliver for our Heroes, we also work IaC automation, security, and implementation.

Responsibilities

You will help us automate and build a runtime Production Environment and serve as a link between the Applications, either custom development, COTS, or OSS, and that environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between the application teams and platform teams.

In this position, you will be expected to:

  • Validate Solutions/Implementations: Ensure that solutions and implementations align with the outlined tasks and business requirements. Conduct thorough validations to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the platform.
  • Independently Problem Solve: Demonstrate the ability to identify and solve business problems independently. Develop small components to address specific challenges without relying on explicit architecture diagrams.
  • Understand Medium-Level Tasking: Comprehend how medium-level tasks contribute to the achievement of overall goals. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate various components into a cohesive and functional platform.
  • Estimate Time and Effort: Provide accurate time and effort estimates for medium-sized tasks. Assist in project planning and resource allocation based on estimated timelines.
  • Demonstrate Programming Language Proficiency: Possess familiarity with at least one programming language. Exhibit a basic understanding of when to use a programming language versus a shell for efficient task execution.
  • Own the Bridge Between Application Development and Production: Own the bridge between the Application Development team(s) and the Production Environment.

The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.

Clearance & Travel Requirements

  • Clearance Requirement: Active Secret clearance highly preferred.
  • Travel Expectations: 10%–25%.

Required Experience and Qualifications

  • Proven experience as a Platform Engineer or similar role, with a focus on system architecture and development.
  • Demonstrated experience with cloud-native technologies such as Kubernetes, Google Cloud, and Docker.
  • Familiarity with continuous delivery, distributed architectures, systems, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services.
  • Proficiency in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, Go, Ansible) and a basic understanding of shell scripting.
  • Proficient with YAML.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently.
  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
  • Comfort with debugging systems and reading/writing code.
  • Knowledgeable about DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a clearance.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

  • Active Secret security clearance or higher.
  • Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework in a remote environment.
  • Experience with security automation and familiarity with API Security, Container Security, and Cloud Security.
  • Familiar with architecture security design, monitoring, and performance instrumentation in a complex enterprise environment.
  • Possess a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
  • Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on a production Authority to Operate (ATO’d) system.

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

  • Kubernetes
  • Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
  • Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
  • Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
  • GitOps
  • Containers
  • CNCF projects and open source products and packages
  • Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
  • Building and improving security delivery
  • Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

Health:

  • Medical/Dental/Vision
  • Premiums are 100% Company Paid
  • Health Savings Account
  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance

Financial:

  • 401k Retirement Plan
  • Company Stock Options
  • Home Office Budget

Leave:

  • We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
  • Paid Parental Leave

Learning:

  • Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
  • Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t meet every requirement listed.

At Defense Unicorns, we’re committed to diversity. If you’re enthusiastic about the role but don’t match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

CCPA DISCLOSURE

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This job listing has been manually reviewed by the Jobicy Trust & Safety Team for compliance with our posting guidelines, including verification of the company's legitimacy, accuracy of job details, clarity of remote work policy, and absence of misleading or fraudulent content.

Role DNA

A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.

Job Complexity

4/5
EasyHard

Pace & Pressure

4/5
RelaxedFast-paced

Autonomy Level

4/5
GuidedFull ownership

Communication Load

4/5
IndependentCollaborative
AI insightThis is a technically demanding infrastructure role requiring hands-on Kubernetes, cloud, automation, security, and production troubleshooting capabilities. Government security requirements, cross-team coordination, and independent delivery increase the role's complexity.

Salary analysis

Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.

Estimated job median (per year)Market rate
$145,000
US market range (per year)$120k–$175k
AI insightThe yearly pay period is inferred from the job context; it was not explicitly stated by the employer. No employer salary was disclosed. The annual median and market range are AI estimates for a U.S.-based Platform Engineer with Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, and security-clearance-related responsibilities; the yearly cadence is inferred from the full-time U.S. professional role.

Core skills

Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity.

Sample interview questions
How would you design a Kubernetes platform that supports multiple application teams while maintaining strong security controls?

I would establish standardized namespaces, RBAC policies, network policies, workload templates, image provenance controls, and admission policies. I would provide reusable deployment patterns through Helm or Kustomize, integrate secrets management, and embed security scanning into CI/CD pipelines. Platform observability and clear self-service documentation would help teams deploy safely without creating unnecessary operational bottlenecks.

Describe how you decide whether to use a programming language or shell scripting for an automation task.

I use shell scripting for short, linear operating-system or command-line tasks with limited error handling and data complexity. For reusable automation, API integrations, structured data processing, testing, concurrency, or more sophisticated error handling, I prefer a language such as Python or Go. The decision is based on maintainability, reliability, security, and the expected lifecycle of the automation.

What steps would you take to troubleshoot a production application that is failing after a Kubernetes deployment?

I would first assess impact and recent changes, then inspect deployment status, pod events, logs, container exit codes, resource limits, readiness and liveness probes, and service endpoints. I would validate configuration, secrets, image versions, network policies, and dependent services, using metrics and traces to narrow the failure domain. If necessary, I would roll back through the approved deployment process and document the root cause and preventive actions.

How do you incorporate security into a continuous delivery pipeline?

I integrate security early through code scanning, dependency and container-image scanning, infrastructure-as-code policy checks, signed artifacts, secrets detection, and automated compliance gates. I also ensure that deployment identities follow least privilege and that runtime controls, logging, and monitoring are in place. Security findings should be actionable and calibrated to avoid creating excessive noise for engineering teams.

How would you provide a realistic estimate for a medium-sized platform engineering task with incomplete architecture documentation?

I would clarify the desired outcome, identify assumptions and dependencies, inspect the existing environment, and break the work into discovery, implementation, validation, documentation, and rollout activities. I would estimate each component, include reasonable risk and integration contingency, and clearly communicate confidence level and blockers. As discovery resolves uncertainty, I would update the estimate and keep stakeholders informed.

This analysis is generated from the job description. Salary estimates, role characteristics and sample answers are guidance, not employer-provided facts.
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