Cloud Systems Engineer

About NFF

Since 1996, Networking For Future, Inc. (NFF) has been engineering the backbone of mission-critical systems for government and enterprise clients. With headquarters in Washington, DC, we provide expert technology consulting and design-build solutions that solve complex challenges and deliver measurable real-world results.

NFF is an ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015 certified company. Our expertise includes solutions for Artificial Intelligence Enablement, Data Center & Cloud, Intelligent Networks, Secure, Connected IoT Technologies, Professional and Managed Services, Workforce Solutions and Zero Trust Strategies. NFF leverages a strategic portfolio of over 200 industry-leading technology brands to deliver precisely tailored solutions that align with each client's unique requirements and mission objectives.

NFF is a Cisco Gold Integrator Partner, Splunk Partner, Arista Partner, Cohesity Partner, Apptega Partner, NetApp Gold Partner, VMware Enterprise Partner, Alloterra Labs Partner, Axis Communications Partner, Asimily Partner, Signify Partner, Rapid7 Partner, Foresite Partner, Arctic Wolf Partner, Microsoft Certified Silver Partner, and Dell Solution Provider Partner.

NFF also holds GSA Schedule 47QTCA21D0047 and many other government contract vehicles.

About this Position / Responsibilities

BACKGROUND:
The Cloud Engineer is a hands-on technical resource responsible for supporting the implementation, operation, and continuous improvement of the Enterprise Data Platform (EDP). EDP is hosted on AWS GovCloud and provides secure, scalable cloud infrastructure supporting enterprise data, analytics, and AI/ML workloads. This role will work closely with senior platform engineers, cloud infrastructure, security, and application teams to provision and maintain cloud infrastructure, automate repeatable platform operations, monitor platform health, troubleshoot issues, and support secure delivery of EDP capabilities. The position is intended for a candidate with foundational cloud engineering skills
who demonstrates strong technical aptitude, problem-solving ability, and a willingness to learn and expand their cloud engineering expertise on the job.

REQUIREMENTS:

Working knowledge of core AWS services and concepts, including VPC, EC2, S3, IAM, EKS, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store.
Foundational understanding of AWS networking concepts, including VPCs, subnets, routing, security groups, and connectivity between cloud resources.
Familiarity with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), including roles, policies, permissions, and least-privilege access concepts.
Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concepts and experience or familiarity with AWS CloudFormation.
Experience using source/version control systems such as GitLab, GitHub, or Bitbucket, with GitLab preferred.
Familiarity with CI/CD concepts and tooling, including automated build, test, deployment, and environment promotion processes.
Familiarity with cloud monitoring and logging concepts using services such as CloudWatch and CloudTrail.
Ability to troubleshoot technical issues, analyze logs and system behavior, and work collaboratively with other engineering teams to resolve problems.
Ability to learn new cloud technologies, tools, and engineering practices and apply them under guidance from senior engineers.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to document technical configurations, procedures, and troubleshooting steps.

Highly valued(Desirable, but not required) knowledge, skills and experience
Basic understanding of containerization and container orchestration concepts; familiarity with Amazon EKS/Kubernetes is preferred.
Basic understanding of cloud security practices, including secrets/configuration management, secure access, logging, and encryption.
Hands-on experience provisioning AWS infrastructure using CloudFormation or another Infrastructure as Code technology.
Experience developing or maintaining CI/CD pipelines, preferably using GitLab CI/CD.
Familiarity with Terraform or other infrastructure automation frameworks.
Familiarity with Kubernetes concepts and Amazon EKS administration.

Provision, configure, and maintain AWS infrastructure components supporting EDP environments, including networking, compute, storage, identity and access management, and logging/monitoring services.
Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and other approved automation tools to enable repeatable and consistent infrastructure deployments.
Support CI/CD pipelines used to deploy infrastructure and platform configurations across development, testing, and production environments.
Maintain source-controlled infrastructure code and configuration using Git-based repositories, preferably GitLab.
Assist with configuration and administration of AWS networking components including VPCs, subnets, route tables, security groups, and related connectivity.
Support cloud infrastructure associated with containerized workloads running on Amazon EKS, including basic troubleshooting and operational support.
Configure and maintain platform monitoring, alerting, dashboards, and health checks using AWS monitoring and logging capabilities.
Monitor and analyze CloudWatch logs, metrics, and alarms and CloudTrail events to identify operational or security issues.
Assist with implementing standardized secure cloud configurations aligned with organizational security requirements and engineering standards.
Troubleshoot infrastructure, deployment, connectivity, permissions, and platform issues in coordination with senior engineers and other technical teams.
Assist with cloud infrastructure upgrades, configuration changes, feature deployments, and environment maintenance activities.
Support implementation and maintenance of audit logging and operational visibility required for security reviews and compliance activities.
Assist with secure cloud connectivity patterns, including private connectivity, service endpoints, egress controls, and integration with enterprise network services.
Build and maintain development, sandbox, and proof-of-concept cloud environments using repeatable infrastructure configurations.
Support cost management activities by identifying unused or underutilized AWS resources and assisting with implementation of cost-control measures.
Assist with automation of routine platform administration and operational activities using Infrastructure as Code, scripting, APIs, and command-line tools.
Maintain technical documentation including infrastructure configurations, deployment procedures, operational runbooks, troubleshooting guides, and architecture diagrams.
Support integrations between AWS infrastructure and enterprise data, analytics, security, and monitoring platforms.
Participate in incident troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and implementation of corrective actions.
Participate in platform capacity planning, infrastructure scaling, and performance monitoring activities.
Support onboarding of new applications, development teams, and platform users by provisioning required infrastructure, permissions, and environment configurations.

Work with senior engineers to continuously improve platform automation, reliability, security, and operational processes

Qualifications

Knowledge/Skill Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate or Professional

NFF Disclosures

NFF offers a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits and flexible paid time off options, for eligible employees:

• Medical, Dental and Vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Account
• STD, LTD, Supplemental life insurance and ADD&D
• Comprehensive 401k plan
• Paid Time Off

NFF is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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