Infrastructure Engineer

About the role

This position is responsible for architecting, building, and maintaining the core platform that delivers Onebrief's software to military planning teams. The role requires ensuring the security, reliability, and performance of systems across diverse environments, including commercial cloud and air-gapped appliances. The hire will work closely with cross-functional teams to translate operational requirements into robust infrastructure solutions. You will be instrumental in driving infrastructure decisions that impact the entire software delivery lifecycle. This role demands a high level of ownership and the ability to operate in ambiguous and high-stakes environments. You will play a key role in enabling the company's mission by providing the foundational systems that power our platform.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design, construct, test, refine, and deploy secure production systems across cloud-native and edge deployments, ensuring that infrastructure meets the demands of modern military applications.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to provide guidance on infrastructure, security, and deployment best practices suitable for production use, translating complex technical concepts into actionable plans.
• Take ownership of the complete infrastructure lifecycle for key programs or significant infrastructure projects, from initial design through decommissioning and capacity planning.
• Enhance the artifact pipeline to ensure consistent and secure builds across cloud, high-security, and air-gapped appliance environments, reducing risk and improving deployment reliability.
• Implement and manage infrastructure as code using modern tools to enable rapid, repeatable, and auditable provisioning of environments in both cloud and offline settings.
• Monitor system performance and reliability metrics, identifying bottlenecks and proactively addressing issues before they impact mission-critical operations or user workflows.
• Partner with security and compliance teams to enforce security policies, manage access controls, and ensure that all infrastructure components adhere to strict regulatory standards.
• Develop and maintain automation for deployment, scaling, and recovery processes to minimize manual intervention and increase system resilience.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and tools, conducting proof-of-concept exercises to determine their suitability for secure and high-availability environments.
• Serve as a technical leader for infrastructure initiatives, mentoring junior engineers and fostering best practices across the engineering organization.
• Work with containerized applications and orchestration platforms to optimize resource utilization, improve deployment speed, and enhance system observability.
• Troubleshoot complex infrastructure issues in distributed systems, coordinating with other teams to resolve problems quickly and effectively.
• Contribute to the development of runbooks, documentation, and operational procedures to ensure continuity and clarity in system operations.
• Support the integration of on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure to create a cohesive environment that meets the needs of both development and mission operations.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience managing production infrastructure in roles such as DevOps, DevSecOps, Platform Engineering, SRE, or Cloud Engineering, with a proven track record of delivering reliable systems.
• Experience with full-stack development, including designing, building, and operating services using backend languages like Go, Python, Rust, or TypeScript, enabling you to understand and contribute to codebases beyond infrastructure.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes, including operators, networking, storage, multi-cluster management, and understanding its behavior at scale in demanding environments.
• Proficiency with major cloud providers, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, with the ability to design solutions that work across different providers and security profiles while maintaining operational consistency.
• Solid understanding of application and infrastructure security principles, including identity management, network segmentation, secrets management, common vulnerabilities, and sound security judgment in uncertain situations.
• Proven ability to create functional solutions from scratch, integrate different applications, and contribute effectively to existing codebases, demonstrating strong problem-solving and engineering judgment.
• Experience packaging and deploying workloads to disconnected or air-gapped environments, ensuring that systems remain functional and secure without constant internet connectivity.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET security clearance, demonstrating your eligibility to handle sensitive information and operate in classified environments.
• Strong experience with Linux operating systems, shell scripting, and command-line tools, allowing you to perform deep system investigations and automate routine tasks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, enabling you to collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders in high-pressure situations.

Nice to have

• An active US SECRET or TOP SECRET security clearance, which would allow you to begin work more quickly and handle a broader range of classified tasks.
• Experience with government cloud environments like AWS GovCloud or Azure Government, providing familiarity with the specific requirements and constraints of public sector workloads.
• Familiarity with FedRAMP, IL4/IL5, IL6, or JWICS environments, demonstrating your ability to operate within strict regulatory and security frameworks.
• Experience with audits such as FedRAMP or SOC 2, showing your understanding of compliance requirements and documentation practices for regulated industries.
• Background in big data and distributed data systems, giving you the ability to work with complex data pipelines and large-scale information processing architectures.
• Previous work supporting defense, intelligence, or other regulated industries, providing insight into the unique challenges and operational tempo of mission-driven organizations.

Practical notes

• Candidates must be eligible to obtain a SECRET security clearance.
• Onebrief does not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruitment agencies.