Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Engineer

Improvix Technologies | U.S. Department of State | Washington, DC

Compensation: $180,000 – $220,000

Location: Washington, DC — hybrid, 4 days onsite and 1 day remote per week

Clearance: Active Secret clearance required, with Top Secret eligibility. We sponsor and support the TS upgrade.

Employment Type: Full-Time

EVERY OTHER CLOUD POSTING WANTS AWS. GOOD.

Cloud engineering job postings blur together — AWS or Azure, pick one. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure shows up as a line item, if it shows up at all. So most people who know OCI well learned it by accident: one Oracle workload parked beside a much larger estate, maybe fifteen percent of the job, a skill that slowly goes stale because nobody around them treats it as the valuable thing it is.

Federal is where that math inverts. Agencies running serious Oracle database estates need real OCI depth, they need it from someone already cleared, and there are not many of those people in the country. Improvix Technologies is hiring an OCI Engineer to help the U.S. Department of State modernize and run secure, scalable cloud environments — where OCI is the platform, not the footnote. Compute, networking, storage, database, the tenancy and compartment model, and the Terraform and Ansible that define all of it.

You'll design it, deploy it, secure it to federal standards, and be the person the organization escalates to when something breaks at an inconvenient hour. That scarcity is a genuine problem for the program. It is a genuine position of leverage for you.

WHY ENGINEERS TAKE THIS ROLE

• Your rarest skill becomes the whole job. Tenancy and compartment design, VCN architecture, IaC, the database tier — deep OCI, daily, at enterprise scale. Not a side system you keep alive between AWS tickets.
• Design authority, not just operations. You'll architect the VCNs, set the compartment and policy model, and choose the IaC patterns. There is no architect above you quietly re-deciding it in a document you never see.
• A Top Secret clearance, sponsored. You start with a Secret; we process and support the upgrade. That clearance follows you for the rest of your career, and it compounds with the OCI depth rather than competing with it.
• Escalation point, not ticket-taker. When a complex OCI problem surfaces it comes to you — with the access and the authority to actually fix it, not to route it onward and wait.
• Mission you can explain at dinner. The environments you run support the Department of State. There's no ambiguity about what your work holds up.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

Architecture & Deployment

• Design, deploy, and manage OCI services across compute, networking, storage, and database.
• Architect Virtual Cloud Networks end to end — subnets, route tables, gateways, security lists and network security groups, load balancers, and the peering or FastConnect paths that tie the environment to everything else.
• Design the tenancy and compartment model, with the IAM policies, dynamic groups, and least-privilege boundaries that hold it together as more teams land in it.
• Support cloud migrations and enterprise modernization alongside security, development, and operations teams — including the unglamorous part where a legacy system has to keep running while it moves.

Infrastructure as Code

• Develop and maintain IaC with Terraform and Ansible, including OCI Resource Manager where it earns its place.
• Build the modules and repeatable patterns that keep the environment consistent as it grows, so the fifth landing zone looks like the first.
• Keep what's deployed and what's in the repository the same thing. Configuration drift is the problem you're being paid to prevent, not to document after the fact.

Security & Compliance

• Implement cloud security practices aligned to federal frameworks — NIST, FISMA, and FedRAMP.
• Configure the controls that actually enforce them: Vault and key management, Bastion for privileged access, Cloud Guard and Security Zones, audit logging, and network isolation.
• Work with the security team through accreditation and continuous monitoring, supplying the architecture artifacts and evidence assessors ask for rather than reconstructing them under deadline.

Performance, Cost & Reliability

• Monitor system performance and maintain high availability across OCI environments, including the database tier.
• Optimize cost deliberately — right-sizing, storage tiering, and knowing which workloads genuinely need what they were provisioned.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex OCI issues, serving as escalation support for the broader team.

Containers & Orchestration

• Run and support containerized workloads on Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) and Docker.
• Own the operational layer — cluster upgrades, networking, and the registry and image practices that keep deployments boring.

Documentation

• Maintain documentation of architectures, configurations, and operational processes that is genuinely useful at 2 a.m. to someone who isn't you.

WHAT YOU BRING

These are the requirements — everything in “Bonus Points” below is genuinely optional. If you meet this list, apply.

• 5 years as a cloud engineer, including 2 years working hands-on in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
• Strong working knowledge of OCI compute, storage, IAM, networking, and database services.
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code — Terraform, Ansible, or equivalent.
• Experience with cloud security, compliance, and monitoring in a regulated environment.
• Familiarity with Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) and Docker.
• Strong problem-solving instincts and the judgment that comes from supporting systems people depend on.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience.
• U.S. citizenship and an active Secret clearance with Top Secret eligibility.
• Ability to work onsite in Washington, DC four days per week.

BONUS POINTS

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect certification — Associate or Professional.
• Experience with Autonomous Database, Exadata Cloud Service, or OCI database migration.
• Hands-on work with OCI Resource Manager, Cloud Guard, or Security Zones.
• Hybrid or multi-cloud experience integrating OCI with on-premises systems or another hyperscaler.
• CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and automation frameworks.
• Hands-on experience supporting the Department of State or another federal civilian agency.
• Working knowledge of federal IT security standards and the accreditation process.
• A Top Secret clearance already in hand.

WORKING HERE

Improvix Technologies delivers secure, modern, integrated technology solutions that keep the nation's most critical systems running. We're small enough that a good idea reaches a decision-maker in a day, and close enough to the mission that you'll know exactly what your work supports.

A straight answer on schedule: four days onsite in Washington, DC, one day remote. The onsite time is driven by the environment you'll be working in and the teams you'll be working alongside — it isn't a preference we'd trade away later, so we'd rather you know now than find out in week two.

On the clearance: you need an active Secret to start, and Top Secret eligibility because we'll be processing that upgrade. If you hold a Secret and have never been through a TS adjudication, that's fine — we'll walk you through it.

An honest word about betting on OCI: some engineers worry that going deep on Oracle Cloud narrows their options, and in the commercial market that's a fair concern. In federal it runs the other way. The Oracle database estate across these agencies isn't going anywhere, the people who can architect for it at this depth are few, and pairing that with a Top Secret clearance puts you in a very small market with very little competition in it. That's a real tradeoff and you should make it with your eyes open — but we think it's the right one, and we'd rather argue it openly than let you discover the question later.

Ready to apply? Send us your résumé. If there's an OCI environment, migration, or gnarly networking problem you built or untangled, tell us about it — that's the conversation we want to have.

Why Improvix

At Improvix Technologies, we don't just deliver IT solutions — we deliver mission success. Our teams support critical government programs by building secure, innovative, and scalable technology that enables agencies to operate more efficiently and securely.

We believe great technology starts with great people. That's why we invest in our employees' growth, well-being, and long-term success. Our benefits include:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Three weeks of paid annual leave that increases with tenure

• Life insurance and disability coverage

• Transit and commuting benefits

• Professional development and paid training opportunities

• Performance-based incentives

At Improvix, you'll join a collaborative, mission-focused environment where your expertise drives meaningful impact.

Pay Range Statement

The compensation range above reflects the minimum and maximum base salary Improvix in good faith expects to pay for this position at the time of posting. The final offer will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, certifications, clearance level and contract requirements. Improvix does not ask for or consider an applicant's salary history.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Improvix Technologies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Improvix is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities during the application and employment process. If you require assistance or accommodation, please contact our Human Resources team.

Security Clearance / Citizenship Requirements

Due to the nature of our government contracts, U.S. citizenship may be required for certain positions, and some roles may require the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

Pay Transparency Statement

Improvix Technologies will not discharge or otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants for discussing, disclosing, or inquiring about their own compensation or the compensation of others.