Role Description:
We are seeking a talented Platform Engineer to join the Navy Certificate to Ship (CtS) team, which translates to a mix of a devops and a platform application security team. The ideal candidate will play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of our platform, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, problem-solving skills, and the ability to guide other engineers. We are seeking an experienced professional who can fulfill technical responsibilities and contribute to the strategic vision and innovation of our products.
As a Platform Engineer within our organization, you will join a team of dedicated unicorns who are focused on advancing freedom and independence globally. Our teams work on various different technical baselines depending on specific engagements. We focus our Products on the Platform layer, but to deliver for our Heroes, we also work on CI/CD components, runner deployments and maintenance, and automating processes.
Responsibilities:
You will serve as a crucial link between applications, either custom development, COTS, or OSS, and the Navy platform environment, advocating best practices and facilitating communication between application teams and platform teams.
In this position, you will be expected to:
1
- Innovate and Solve Problems: Evaluate and weigh different methods for solving complex business problems; identify innovative solutions.
- Demonstrate Technical Skill: Solve technical problems that span 2-3 knowledge domains, showcasing a broad understanding of diverse technological landscapes. Demonstrate expert knowledge in 1-2 key technologies such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others, contributing to the team's technical excellence.
- Influence the Strategic Vision: Contribute to the strategic planning that aligns technological advancements with the mission objectives.
- Exhibit strong programming skills and deep familiarity with Linux/Unix operating systems.
- Implement infrastructure as code and contribute to the build/maintenance of kubernetes clusters on various distributions (i.e EKS & RKE2).
- Apply extensive experience with cloud native technology deployments, emphasizing secure coding practices and vulnerability remediation.
- Elevate the technical knowledge of the team. Build relationships with external mission app teams and collaborate with other platform teams.
Travel Expectations: 10%-25%
The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.
Preferred Experience and Qualifications:
- Expertise in solving technical problems that span multiple knowledge domains.
- Deep knowledge in 1-2 key technologies, demonstrating proficiency in areas such as pipelines, GitOps, Kubernetes, Go, or others.
- Experience working with YAML to create Kubernetes manifests, Kubernetes CRDs, and pipeline configurations.
2
- Proficient with security automation and familiarity with API Security, Container Security, and Cloud Security.
- Proficient in architecture security design, monitoring, and performance instrumentation in a complex enterprise environment.
- Experience with continuous delivery, distributed architectures, systems, everything-as-code, containerization, and cloud services.
- Experienced in working on a team following an Agile framework in a remote environment. Comfortable leading a team, as required.
- Proficient in identifying and articulating gaps in existing processes, helping us iterate to better ways of working.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently.
- Proven track record of evaluating and selecting optimal methods for solving complex business problems.
- Experienced at assessing and making decisions on new products, understanding their potential impact on mission objectives.
- Ability to mentor, develop and grow junior level engineers in their role through pairing and code reviews.
- Hold a security clearance/Eligible to apply for a security clearance.
- Possess or ability to obtain a DoD 8570 IAT II certification.
- Confident in DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD theory.
- Experienced in Department of Defense work, specifically working on a production Authority to Operate (ATO'd) system.
- Experienced with UDS Core, Iron Bank, and/or C-ATO processes.
If you are a skilled Platform Engineer looking to contribute to the growth and success of a dynamic organization, we invite you to apply and join our team.
Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
What We DoWe create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Who We ServeDefense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
What We Work On- Kubernetes
- Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
- Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
- Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
- GitOps
- Containers
- CNCF projects and open source products and packages
- Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
- Building and improving security delivery
- Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Health Savings Account
- Life Insurance
- Disability Insurance
- 401k Retirement Plan
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Budget
- We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
- Paid Parental Leave
- Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.
At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
CCPA DISCLOSURE
Similar Jobs
.png)
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
