Cloud Engineer (TS/SCI + Poly)

Description

The DarkStar Group is seeking a Cloud Engineer with a TS/SCI Poly clearance (applicable to this customer) to join one of our top projects in Herndon, VA.  Below is an overview of the project, as well as information on our company, our benefits, and our $25,000 referral program.

THE PROGRAM
The DarkStar Group is a member of 100% of the winning teams for the largest technology program in the Intel Community.  We've been supporting this customer on many different sub-projects of this program since our founding in 2013.  We've grown on this effort by providing the customer with Engineers who have done exceptional work, and we've retained our staff by paying very strong salaries, and working hard to ensure each Engineer is doing work that aligns with their career interest.

THE PROJECT
The Sponsor plans to build a new secure cloud-based enclave and migrate off of legacy on-premises infrastructure. The Sponsor requires cloud engineering support to help design and build the new cloud enclave, perform Operations and Maintenance (O&M) tasks, evolve and enhance the cloud architecture once the build out and migration is complete, help continuously identify and mitigate system and data risks and achieve and maintain Assessment & Authorization (A&A) compliance.

THE ROLE

• The Contractor shall work closely with the Sponsor for work prioritization.
• The Contractor shall set up, configure, update and maintain the Sponsor’s AWS cloud-based enclave, in all environments including PRODUCTION.
• The Contractor shall work in close coordination with the cloud vendor’s Professional Services as the cloud-based enclave is initially designed and stood up.
• The Contractor shall take the lead, in coordination with the Sponsor, in implementing the new cloud-based enclave architecture as well as moving mission data into the cloud for the migration from the legacy (Windows-based) on-premises enclave.
• The Contractor shall reach out to partners for technical details and solutions related to system implementation and security.
• The Contractor shall execute cloud engineering tasks to support the Sponsor’s information technology enterprise, as well as related tasks such as documentation, knowledge transfer, configuration management, systems security-related tasks and planning activities.
• The Contractor shall provide technical support and assist in the timely resolution of technical issues related to the Sponsor’s cloud environment and systems.
• The Contractor shall support system requirements gathering and refinement as directed by the Sponsor, and provide technical expertise on cloud computing techniques and technologies.
• The Contractor shall coordinate with and participate in meetings with internal and external teams and partners.
• The Contractor shall monitor current, and estimate future cloud-related costs and provide recommendations to the Sponsor for cost-optimization strategies.
• The Contractor shall provide input and recommendations to Sponsor staff and coordinate with the Information System Security Manager (ISSM) staff as necessary to help achieve and maintain ATO for the Sponsor’s cloud enclave.
• The Contractor shall provide support for application deployments, fixes and configuration changes in the cloud environment.
• The Contractor shall plan and implement backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions in accordance with Sponsor’s requirements.
• The Contractor shall evaluate cloud strategy and architecture and provide recommendations and roadmaps for changes to improve security, reduce cost, and streamline operations to the Sponsor.
• The Contractor shall select appropriate cloud services to design and deploy applications based on given requirements.
• The Contractor shall create functional design specifications, architectures, and render support to other cloud project deliverables.
• The Contractor shall design, build and maintain high availability cloud-based IT systems.
• The Contractor shall use Infrastructure-as-Code principles and automation within cloud environments to reduce the risk of errors, streamline operations and facilitate repeatability.
• The Contractor shall keep the Sponsor informed of security, data integrity or technical risks.
• The Contractor shall work off-hours on occasion to support deployments, fixes or operations (happens rarely).
• The Contractor shall identify, analyze, and resolve infrastructure vulnerabilities and application deployment issues.
• The Contractor shall perform O&M tasks related to Sponsors enclave.
• The Contractor shall perform cloud activities including but not limited to; Create and configure virtual private clouds (VPCs), Create EC2 instances, Create RDS instances, Create and secure AMIs that meet security requirements, Create, manage, and test Lifecycle policies for backup and DR purposes, Create public and private subnets, Create auto scaling groups, Configure load balancers, Configure security groups, Create users and groups in cloud environments, Integration with external services.

Required Skills

• Demonstrated experience including knowledge of Best Practices for implementing the security services provided by Amazon AWS (such as Identity Management, Secure Tokens, Cloud Watch and Cloud Monitoring).
• Demonstrated experience with knowledge of security constraints and required protections for enclave accreditation in an AWS cloud.
• Demonstrated experience making virtual machine configuration changes necessary to resolve trouble tickets or to comply with security requirements and IT best practices.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last two (2) years, setting up and maintaining an AWS-cloud based VPC.
• Demonstrated experience deploying and maintaining Windows environments in AWS.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last six (6) months, managing MS Product Suite.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last six (6) months, managing MS SQL.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last six (6) months, managing MS Server 2012/2016/2019/2022.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last six (6) months, deploying and managing log aggregation systems, such as Splunk.
• Demonstrated experience, within the last six (6) months, maintaining system accreditation.
• Certification(s):
  • AWS Cloud Solutions Architect - Professional

Desired Skills (Optional)

• Demonstrated experience with knowledge of security constraints and required protections for enclave accreditation in an AWS cloud in the Sponsor’s environment.
• Demonstrated experience transitioning an on-premises enclave solution to a virtual private cloud (VPC).
• Demonstrated experience making application software and operating system configuration changes necessary to resolve trouble tickets or to comply with Sponsor requirements and IT best practices.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating and mitigating software security vulnerabilities.
• Demonstrated experience with continuous monitoring from a security perspective.
• Demonstrated experience obtaining Certification and Accreditation within the Sponsor’s environment.
• Demonstrated experience with the Sponsor’s unique IT infrastructure and ongoing projects.
• Demonstrated experience executing O&M tasks as necessary to support the Sponsor’s software and hardware infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience understanding and implementing Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) with AWS.
• Demonstrated experiencing managing Windows services and devices. This experience should be related to managing a Windows based enterprise, such as maintaining Server ISOs and related AMIs, COTS updates, managing domain forests and group policy objects, user role-based authentication in active directory.
• Demonstrated experience managing LDAP authentication with COTS applications, load balancing and gateway services related to remote desktop service deployments.
• Demonstrated experience with troubleshooting errors utilizing Event Viewer and Splunk logging

About The DarkStar Group

Our Company

The DarkStar Group is a small business that solves BIG problems. We're one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the US, and our engineers and scientists support the most critical national security missions in Virginia, Maryland, and elsewhere. Data Science, Software Engineering, Cloud/AWS Infrastructure, and Cyber/CNO are our core areas of expertise. We offer interesting and important work, job security, some of the best and most flexible benefits you'll find in the IC, and salaries so strong that they'll likely surprise you. 

Our Benefits

The DarkStar Group offers exceptional compensation and benefits:

• very strong salaries;
• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and all dependents;
• the ability to get increased salary if you don't need medical/dental/vision;
• 100% company-paid disability and life insurance benefits;
• a generously-funded HSA;
• an 8% 401(k) contribution; 
• 31 days of PTO/holidays to start (more with tenure);
• the ability to flex time across pay periods without using your PTO;
• a generous training budget;
• $25,000 employee referral bonuses;
• business development / growth incentives; and
• top notch company swag.

** We have a huge growth opportunity, so we are offering up to a $25,000 reward for anyone new you refer whom we hire. **

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.