SME Systems Engineer
Summary
Senior hands-on systems engineer designing and modernizing cloud/hybrid infrastructure on AWS for a government mission program: IaC (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation), Kubernetes/EKS containers, Linux administration, databases, CI/CD, monitoring, and architecture documentation. Requires 10+ years' experience and an active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph.
The Swift Group is a privately held, mission-driven and employee-focused services and solutions company headquartered in Reston, VA. Our capabilities include Software Development, Engineering & IT, Data Science, Cyber Enablement, Logistics, and Training. Founded in 2019, Swift supports Civilian, Defense, and Intelligence Community customers across the country and around the globe.
We are looking for a SME Systems Engineer with cloud and platform engineering experience to join our high-performing Infrastructure team on a dynamic, mission-focused program. This role requires a hands‑on technical expert capable of evaluating existing systems and applications, documenting current‑state architectures, designing future‑state solutions, and executing end‑to‑end enhancements or technology modernization efforts. The ideal candidate is a technical leader who delivers, not just advises—someone who collaborates seamlessly across infrastructure, platform, application, DevSecOps, security, and data teams while maintaining accountability for system reliability, performance, scalability, and security.
Responsibilities:
- Design, implement, and maintain cloud-based and hybrid infrastructure solutions in AWS environments.
- Develop, manage, and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation, and AWS CDK.
- Support the deployment, configuration, and management of containerized applications using Kubernetes, EKS, Docker Swarm, or similar technologies.
- Assist application teams with the creation, configuration, integration, and administration of Linux-based systems and platforms.
- Manage day-to-day system operations, including monitoring system performance, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
- Perform initial troubleshooting of system and data pipeline issues and collaborate with internal and external teams to efficiently resolve issues.
- Collaborate with software engineers, data engineers, analysts, and government stakeholders to design, implement, debug, monitor, and support complex data processing capabilities.
- Work within Agile development environments to support continuous delivery, rapid iteration, and mission responsiveness.
- Contribute to process improvement initiatives that enhance reliability, scalability, security, and operational efficiency of mission systems.
- Write and maintain technical documentation, including system documentation, processes, procedures, and training materials.
- Perform hands-on systems engineering across network, compute, storage, operating systems, middleware, databases, and applications
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent combination of education, training, or experience.
- 10+ years of relevant experience in Cloud Engineering, Platform Engineering, or Systems Engineering
- Extensive experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise infrastructure across networking, storage, compute, and container platforms
- Strong experience with Linux systems administration (Red Hat/CentOS), including configuration, hardening, automation, and troubleshooting
- Demonstrated experience designing and deploying hybrid and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), including cloud networking, identity, security, and cost optimization
- Experience with relational and NoSQL database technologies including Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB, and Redis
- Experience developing and integrating web services, APIs, middleware, and event-driven messaging systems (SQS, SNS, RabbitMQ)
- Proficient in scripting and automation using Python, Bash, and PowerShell, and Infrastructure-as-Code tools such as Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation
- Experienced in implementing CI/CD pipelines and GitOps workflows using Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, and ArgoCD
- Strong background in security best practices, systems hardening, and monitoring/incident response using Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, ELK Stack, and CloudWatch
- Skilled in creating as‑is and to‑be architecture documentation, detailed engineering designs, and implementation/migration plans
- US citizenship with an active TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance
Desired Skills:
- Knowledge of machine learning platforms (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, SageMaker)
- Familiarity with big data ecosystems (e.g., Hadoop, Databricks, Snowflake, Google BigQuery)
- Strong background in ITIL processes and agile methodologies
- Observability and monitoring tools (e.g., logging, metrics, tracing)
- Zero Trust and modern security architectures
- Data analytics, AI/ML platform exposure
- AWS Certification: Solutions Architect Professional or equivalent
Do you know anyone for this position, or other positions open at The Swift Group? We offer a $5,000 bonus for any referral candidate we hire, paid out at the new hire’s 90-day mark.
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Skills
- Agile
- AI
- Analytics
- Ansible
- API
- Argo CD
- Automation
- AWS
- Azure
- Bash
- BigQuery
- Cassandra
- CDK
- CI/CD
- Cloud
- CloudFormation
- CloudWatch
- Data Analytics
- Data Pipelines
- Data Science
- Databricks
- DevSecOps
- Docker
- DynamoDB
- EKS
- ELK
- Event Driven Architecture
- GCP
- GitHub
- GitHub Actions
- GitLab
- GitOps
- Grafana
- Hadoop
- Infrastructure as Code
- ITIL
- Jenkins
- Kubernetes
- Linux
- Machine Learning
- MongoDB
- MySQL
- Networking
- NoSQL
- Observability
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
- PowerShell
- Process Improvement
- Prometheus
- Python
- PyTorch
- RabbitMQ
- Redis
- SageMaker
- Snowflake
- SNS
- Splunk
- SQL
- SQL Server
- SQS
- Swift
- TensorFlow
- Terraform
- TypeScript
- Zero Trust