Systems Engineer Sr - E3

Standard Job Description

This role bridges enterprise virtualization and Linux systems administration within a secure, compliance-driven environment. You’ll design, deploy, and manage virtualized server platforms (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper‑V, KVM) alongside enterprise Linux distributions (RHEL, Ubuntu, SUSE), ensuring seamless integration, automation, and operational continuity. A critical aspect of this position is aligning infrastructure with rigorous cybersecurity frameworks. You will implement, operate, and validate Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) scans across the environment, interpret results, and drive remediation to meet Technical Implementation Guidelines (STIGs) and organizational audit, accreditation, and continuous monitoring requirements. Day‑to‑day responsibilities include architecting virtual machines and Linux environments, authoring infrastructure and automation pipelines, troubleshooting cross‑platform issues, and collaborating with cybersecurity teams to embed security baselines into deployment pipelines. You’ll maintain system hardening standards, ensure compliance, and produce documentation and evidence artifacts for accreditation cycles. The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of virtualization and Linux operations, values automated compliance, and is committed to sustaining a resilient, secure, and high‑performance infrastructure that directly enables mission objectives.

The information below reflects the standard job description for this position:

Performs technical planning, system integration, verification and validation, cost and risk, and supportability and effectiveness analyses for total systems. Analyses are performed at all levels of total system product to include: concept, design, fabrication, test, installation, operation, maintenance and disposal. Ensures the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total systems solutions that acknowledge technical, schedule, and cost constraints. Performs functional analysis, timeline analysis, detail trade studies, requirements allocation and interface definition studies to translate customer requirements into hardware and software specifications.

Basic Qualifications

• Active DoD Secret clearance required
• 3+ years of experience designing, deploying, and managing virtualized server environments (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper‑V)
• 3+ years of hands‑on system administration experience with Linux distributions (RHEL, Ubuntu)
• Proficiency in network virtualization, storage integration (SAN/NAS), and virtual network configuration
• Hands‑on experience with hypervisor clustering, resource allocation, and high‑availability/DR implementation
• Familiarity with infrastructure automation and scripting for VM management (Python, Ansible)
• Understanding of backup, recovery, and patching procedures for virtualized platforms
• Solid knowledge of user/permission management, filesystem administration, networking fundamentals, and service configuration (systemd, cron, etc.)
• Experience with system monitoring, logging, and performance tuning across kernel and application layers
• Familiarity with security hardening practices and patch management for Linux servers
• Must possess and maintain a current CompTIA Security+ certification.

Desired Skills

• Active Top Secret, or TS/SCI clearance
• Experience integrating on-prem virtual environments with public cloud platforms in hybrid architectures
• Proficiency in infrastructure-as-code tools for automated VM lifecycle management
• Strong background in performance tuning, capacity planning, and SLA-driven resource allocation for virtualized workloads
• Familiarity with container orchestration (Kubernetes, OpenShift) deployed on top of virtual infrastructure
• Proven experience designing and testing disaster‑recovery and business‑continuity strategies for virtualized systems
• Knowledge of software‑defined networking and advanced virtual network design
• Advanced expertise in kernel tuning, performance analysis and low‑latency system optimization
• Proven track record with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) at scale
• Strong background in DevSecOps practices, automated security hardening, and compliance frameworks (CIS, SCAP, NIST)
• Experience configuring and scaling configuration‑management platforms
• Proficiency in enterprise‑grade monitoring/observability stacks (PRTG, Prometheus + Grafana, or Splunk)
• Familiarity with log aggregation, centralized tracing, and proactive anomaly‑detection workflows
• Certifications (RHCA, LFCS, CKAD) or active contributions to open‑source kernel/tools projects