What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Software Systems Engineer position at Careers Integrated Resources Inc?
Job Title: Senior Software Systems Engineer
Job Location: Richmond, VA(Onsite)
Job Duration: 12 Months (Possibility of extension)
Job Description:
Job Summary:
Key Responsibilities
Top Required Skills:
Preferred Qualifications:
What soft skill requirements do you have (team fit and personality requirements)?
Required Years of Experience:
Education:
Are any certification required: No, but here are some that would be beneficial for this role.
Are there any specific companies/industries you’d like to see in the candidate’s experience?
Job Location: Richmond, VA(Onsite)
Job Duration: 12 Months (Possibility of extension)
Job Description:
Job Summary:
- We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Software Systems Engineer who will be at the forefront of building our automation platform ecosystem – transforming the way we deliver IT infrastructure and services.
- The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining our automation and orchestration platforms, ensuring their optimal performance, scalability, and reliability in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
- The candidate will also be a member of a larger platform team and will assist with managing and troubleshooting infrastructure issues related to server OS, virtualization, and container orchestration platforms.
- This role is ideal for someone who thrives on building systems from the ground up, enProducts solving complex operational challenges, and has a passion for enabling others through automation.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, deploy, and administer automation platforms such as but not limited to Terraform Enterprise, Ansible Automation Platform, Vault, and Packer.
- Collaborate with development, operations, security, and COE teams to ensure seamless integration and secure & consistent automation practices.
- Establish and develop operational standards, documentation, and lifecycle management processes.
- Integrate self-service, CMDB, platform security, Products management, observability, and other solutions.
- Monitor system performance, troubleshoot issues, and optimize the platform for high availability and resilience.
- Implement and manage CI/CD pipelines and GitOps workflows using tools such as GitLab, Jenkins, or ArgClient.
- Provide guidance and training to other engineers on automation platforms and related technologies and develop related documentation.
- Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices related to automation platforms, containerization, and cloud-native architectures.
- Provide supplemental VMWare vSphere/VCF support: deployment and configuration of ESXi hosts, storage and performance monitoring, and performing security updates.
- Provide supplemental Kubernetes/Container support: troubleshooting client app issues, deployment and configuration, storage and performance monitoring, and performing security updates.
- Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation and respond to issues with systems and technologies supported by the team.
Top Required Skills:
- Proven expertise in automation platform deployment and administration (Terraform, Ansible, Packer, Vault, etc.)
- Strong understanding of platform automation architecture, components, and ecosystem, including hands-on experience.
- Automation pipeline development and CI/CD integration.
- Scripting and troubleshooting proficiency (Python, PowerShell, Bash, etc.)
- System reliability and observability (Prometheus, Grafana, etc.)
- Security and access management (SSO, RBAC, PKI)
- Strong problem-solving skills, with a proactive and collaborative approach to troubleshooting and issue resolution.
- Background in infrastructure lifecycle management and capacity planning.
- Solid foundation in infrastructure including understanding of database, networking, DNS, load balancing, storage, and backup concepts and solutions.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience designing hybrid automation architectures from the ground up.
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) certification.
- Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration.
- Familiarity with security best practices for containerized applications and Kubernetes environments, including role-based access control (RBAC) and network policies.
- Experience with database management systems (DBMS) in a Kubernetes context, such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, ArangoDB, or MongoDB.
- Experience in agile development methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban.
- Knowledge of container orchestration and cloud-native tooling (Helm, ArgClient, Flux).
- Familiarity with policy-as-code and compliance automation (OPA, Sentinel, Kyverno).
- Exposure to cost optimization, monitoring, and governance frameworks in large environments.
What soft skill requirements do you have (team fit and personality requirements)?
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team environment.
- Ability to lead, collaborate, or work effectively in a variety of teams, including multi-disciplinary teams
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Accountable and owns reliability, documentation, and planning for capacity and scalability.
- Curious, passionate and champion for new technologies
- Skilled at working through ambiguity and in environments where standards are still being formed.
Required Years of Experience:
- Minimum of 5 -8 years of experience in software systems engineering, with a focus on infrastructure engineering, DevOps, or platform operations.
- Minimum of 2 years of hands-on experience administering automation or IaC platforms (Terraform, Ansible, etc.).
Education:
- Minimum High School Diploma or equivalency (required)
Are any certification required: No, but here are some that would be beneficial for this role.
- HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
- Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) or Ansible Automation Specialist
- VMware Certified Profession (VCP) – Data Center or Cloud Management
- AWS/Azure/GCP Associate Certification
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
- Red Hat Certified Specialist - OpenShift Administration
Are there any specific companies/industries you’d like to see in the candidate’s experience?
- Preference for candidates with experience in the utility industry or other regulated industry. At a minimum candidates should have experience in large organizations with geographically dispersed systems that they were responsible for.
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