Classified Linux Administrator / Site Reliability Engineer

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

At Aerospace, we are committed to providing an inclusive and diverse workplace for all employees to share in our common passion and aspiration – to carry out a mission much bigger than ourselves.

Job Summary

In this role, you will use strong enterprise Linux expertise and programming/scripting skills to manage a very large number of enterprise Linux systems in a classified environment that is mostly on-premise, but with increasing cloud usage and emphasis. You will support rocket scientists using these systems to perform scientific and engineering analyses that support critical national space assets. For example: simulations and modeling of space launch & orbital trajectories, collision avoidance, imagery processing, computational fluid dynamics, and much more. To excel in this role, you would be familiar with system security hardening, and can design and implement system management methods to ensure the accreditation and continued sustainment of classified systems.

Work Model

This is a full time position based in Chantilly, VA, which requires 100% onsite work.

What You’ll Be Doing

Providing enterprise Linux expertise and troubleshooting

Security hardening, for compliance of classified environments

Rely on programming/scripting skills to enhance and automate operations

Manage large-scale Linux computing on-premise and growing use in predominantly Amazon clouds (AWS, C2S, etc.)

Support scientists and engineers running workloads and apps on Linux systems

Document and train operations staff to run, maintain, security update, and monitor Linux clusters and workloads and apps

What You Need to be Successful

Minimum Requirements for Site Reliability Engineer Staff II:

This position requires a TS/SCI security clearance with CI polygraph, issued by the US government. U.S citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance.

DoD approved 8570 baseline certification such as Security+, CISSP, or equivalent

3 years of experience in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or CentOS Linux systems administration, including provisioning, configuration, troubleshooting, performance tuning, and security hardening for classified and unclassified enterprise environments

1 year of experience as software developer or implementing infrastructure-as-code (for example one of: Puppet, Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible, Bash, Chef, Golang, Ruby, Python, or Perl)

Deep understanding of source code management with Git and GitOps workflow

Experience automating repetitive tasks with scripting or DevOps tools

How You Can Stand Out

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these:

Bachelors degree from an accredited program in Computer Science/Engineering/IT or equivalent experience

5 years of experience supporting an enterprise Linux environment including configuring and managing access to NFS file system shares and Active Directory integration with RHEL/CentOS

Puppet automation development & infrastructure administration

Experience with High Performance Computing clusters and workload managers (Slurm or SGE)

Experience deploying Kubernetes clusters and deploying apps in Kubernetes

A certification such as Red Hat Certified Engineer, Puppet Certified Professional, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), or Docker Certified Associate (DCA)

Leadership Competencies

Our leadership philosophy is simple: every employee, regardless of level and role, can demonstrate leadership. At Aerospace, our commitment is our people. To cultivate our talent and ensure that we have a strong pipeline of future leaders, we want individuals who:

Operate Strategically

Lead Change

Engage with Impact

Foster Innovation

Deliver Results

Ways We Reward Our Employees

During your interview process, our team will provide details of our industry-leading benefits.

Benefits vary and are applicable based on Job Type. A few highlights include:

Comprehensive health care and wellness plans

Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation

Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options

401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire

Flexible spending accounts

Variable pay program for exceptional contributions

Relocation assistance

Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career

Education assistance programs

An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect

We are all unique, from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life, yet one thing bonds all of us to each other—the belief that we can make a difference. This core belief empowers us to do our best work at The Aerospace Corporation.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

The Aerospace Corporation is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We believe that a diverse workforce creates an environment in which unique ideas are developed and differing perspectives are valued, producing superior customer solutions. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, color, religion, genetic information, marital status, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, or disability status and any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. If you’re an individual with a disability or a disabled veteran who needs assistance using our online job search and application tools or need reasonable accommodation to complete the job application process, please contact us by phone at or by email at . You can also review Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal, as well as the Pay Transparency Policy Statement.

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