Senior DevOps Engineer

Job Description

Company Description

About Element 84

Element 84 is a woman-owned small business that works with public, private, and non-profit sector clients to develop geospatial data processing pipelines & build software that helps answer big questions about our health, our infrastructure, and our changing planet. We solve challenging problems across a wide range of industries, but our superpower is cloud-based geospatial data processing, remote sensing, and Earth science systems. Our headquarters is located in Alexandria, VA, and we have a satellite office in Philadelphia, PA. Element 84 also supports a large remote workforce from a variety of other states.

A Few Other Things You Should Know

Element 84's values are: We Invest in Each Other, We are Reliable, and Our Work Benefits our World.

Element 84 works on meaningful projects that are challenging—from a technical, people, and team perspective. We make an impact on large projects through our leadership and expertise, both formal and informal.

Element 84 values life outside of work. We offer parental leave for everyone and support each other through family challenges like medical problems, adoptions, and new babies.

Element 84 has had a flexible work schedule since our founding in 2010.

Element 84 is committed to fostering a culture of curiosity and respect for all individuals as we constantly strive to create a work environment where everyone feels welcome and supported.

About You

You are curious about the world, are constantly learning, driven to lead (formally or informally), and have a strong work ethic. You're interested in solving impactful problems in science, medicine, and other projects that have a societal good. You can work independently or with a team, prioritize your projects, and be effective without micromanagement.

You'll care about writing. Our team is remote, and written communication is essential. In addition to caring about a well-crafted email and a succinct conference abstract, you understand that good writing is good design and engineering.

Job Description

Element 84 is seeking a highly experienced and motivated Senior DevOps Engineer with a strong background in AWS, Azure, and a proven track record utilizing Terraform to support our innovative projects, including those in the geospatial domain. In this role, you'll be instrumental in leading the design, implementation, and operation of cloud-native solutions for complex operational systems, collaborating closely with technical teams and customers.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in designing, deploying, and supporting enterprise-grade software within cloud environments (principally AWS and Azure), with a strong emphasis on infrastructure as code principles using Terraform. While direct experience with geospatial applications isn't required, a curiosity and aptitude for working in this domain will be beneficial.

What You'll Be Working On

Leading the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and secure cloud-native solutions on AWS and Azure.

Collaborating with security experts to translate organizational security requirements into secure and compliant cloud implementations.

Developing and maintaining Terraform code to manage and provision infrastructure across numerous AWS and Azure accounts, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

Maintaining and optimizing CI/CD automation pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab Pipelines) to facilitate rapid and reliable software deployments.

Crafting automation scripts in Python, Bash, JavaScript, and other relevant languages to streamline operational workflows.

Contributing to the development and maintenance of infrastructure supporting Generative AI applications on domain-specific datasets.

Planning, assisting, and executing migrations of on-premise systems to AWS or Azure.

Automating the creation and management of application containers (e.g., Docker, OCI).

Defining and advocating for best practices and standards for DevOps success across Element 84 and our customer organizations.

Required Qualifications

6+ years of experience in software development, with 3+ years specifically focused on Cloud Technologies.

Strong, hands-on experience with Terraform is a must, including writing, maintaining, and troubleshooting complex Terraform configurations for AWS and Azure environments.

Demonstrable experience designing, deploying, and managing infrastructure and services in AWS and Azure.

Ability to clearly document and communicate intricate architectural concepts at various levels, including delivering presentations, creating visual designs, and writing white papers.

Demonstrated experience in negotiating tradeoffs between critical factors such as security, performance, maintainability, and cost.

Proven ability to multitask and effectively prioritize work across competing demands and multiple customers.

Extensive experience working within an Agile Development software team.

Proficiency in writing and maintaining Infrastructure as Code (Terraform is paramount, CloudFormation, or CDK experience is a plus).

Strong experience with Linux environments.

Strong experience developing in Python or another high-level language (e.g., Bash, JavaScript).

Deep understanding of cloud architecture patterns and tradeoffs (e.g., Serverless, Docker, Kubernetes).

Expertise with build and deployment automation tools (Jenkins, GitLab, Github Actions, and/or AWS Code Deploy).

Proficiency with infrastructure monitoring tools, such as CloudWatch, AWS Config, Kibana, Splunk, Grafana, etc.

Experience with data engineering tools and technologies (e.g., ElasticSearch, SQL, NoSQL, DynamoDB, Redshift, Athena, Glue, etc.).

Strong experience with networking tools and technologies and troubleshooting issues (CloudFront, Route53, Load Balancers, API Gateway, VPCs, NACLs, etc.).

Technical cloud certification (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect Associate/Professional, AWS DevOps Engineer Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert) or willingness to obtain one.

Willingness to support 24x7 operations (with collaborative assistance) as needed.

This position requires that applicants be a US Person (US citizen or legal permanent resident) and authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future.

Preferred Qualifications

AWS Solutions Architect, AWS DevOps, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, and/or Certified Kubernetes Administrator certifications.

B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field (equivalent professional experience will be considered in lieu of a degree).

Experience with Generative AI technologies (e.g., AWS Bedrock, GCP Gemini, LLMs).

Experience working in regulated contexts (e.g., NIST 800-53, PCI, HIPAA).

Experience with authentication and authorization technologies (e.g., SAML, SSO, AWS Cognito, JWT, OAuth).

Demonstrated ability to proactively learn and integrate new technologies into existing workflows.

Experience supporting and executing migrations from on-premise into cloud-based solutions.

Familiarity with geospatial data processing, analysis, or visualization tools and concepts.

Additional information

Paying attention to who we are as a company–people, family members, friends, and colleagues–is our primary focus at Element 84. There are lots of ways to run a company, and, for us, we prioritize wanting to come to work, being around people we enjoy, taking on big things with people you trust, and sharing our achievements as a team.

You’ll get credit when things go right and we’ll have your back when things go wrong.

We only take on work that is challenging and right for us. There are projects we will turn down and the team has a say.

We may be a small company, but we have big company benefits meant to support the idea that we're here for the long term and happiness comes from much more than where you work.

We have an extraordinary retention rate because we hire extraordinary people. We hope that’s you.

The salary range for this position is $127,000 to $170,000. Actual compensation offered to candidate will be finalized at offer and may be above or below the posted range due to skill level, experience, industry-specific knowledge, education/certifications, and/or geographic location. Base salary represents just one component of the Element 84 total compensation package. Employees will also receive a number of benefits as listed below. Other compensation for this position may include bonus eligibility (dependent on employee performance and company profits).

Benefits Offered

Competitive medical, dental and vision benefits

Choice of PPO or HSA plans. HSA plans include a company contribution to HSA accounts.

Flexible spending accounts (medical, dependent care and transportation)

Life Insurance, Short & Long Term disability insurance

Voluntary Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Insurance

401(k) and Roth 401(k) retirement plans with a fixed 3% of salary employer contributions (paid regardless of employee participation)

Company-paid parental leave after one year of employment

Flexible work schedules

Paid employee assistance program

9 paid holidays

4 weeks + 1 day Paid Time Off per calendar year (prorated first year)

Monthly cell phone stipend

Element 84 is an equal opportunity employer.

Full-time

Hybrid remote