Senior WebSphere/DevSecOps Engineer
Location: Remote
We have an immediate need for a highly skilled Senior leveled WebSphere/DevSecOps Engineer to support federal programs hosted on AWS GovCloud. The primary role in based in McLean, VA, and requires expertise in WebSphere and knowledge of DevSecOps best practices, cloud automation, security compliance, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) to enhance the security, scalability, and efficiency of mission-critical applications.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the duties listed below
Automate IBM WebSphere Release and Patch Management
- Develop CI/CD pipelines (GitLab, Jenkins, or equivalent) to handle automated packaging, testing, and deployment of WebSphere updates.
- Implement patch orchestration using Terraform, Ansible, or Kubernetes manifests for containerized WebSphere instances.
- Define rollback and version control procedures for WebSphere configurations and custom JVM tuning parameters.
- Integrate WebSphere deployments with DevSecOps toolchains (e.g., Gitlab, SonarQube, Nexus, Vault, Jira, and ServiceNow).
Legacy Environment Upgrades and Rationalization
- Assess existing HCL Commerce versions (pre-9.x) and define upgrade paths to the latest supported release.
- Evaluate dependencies and migration blockers for outdated IBM suite components (WebSphere ND, IHS, MQ, DB2).
- Recommend modernization or containerization strategies where possible.
- Produce impact and remediation plans for deprecated middleware components.
Containerization and Cloud Integration
- Containerize IBM WebSphere workloads using Docker and Helm charts for deployment on Amazon EKS or other Kubernetes distributions.
- Tune JVM parameters, configure IHS, and optimize application server clustering in Kubernetes environments.
- Work with AWS IAM, Secrets Manager, and ECR to manage secure container image pipelines and keystore integrations.
IBM Suite Troubleshooting and Maintenance
- Perform deep-dive troubleshooting across IBM stack components (WebSphere ND, MQ, IHS, and HCL Commerce).
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Platform Alignment
- Create Terraform modules to define and provision underlying infrastructure (EC2, RDS, EKS, Load Balancers, VPC networking).
- Align deployment processes with DevSecOps governance models integrating with security scanning, configuration drift detection, and compliance baselines.
- Document architecture, topology, and operational playbooks for IBM WebSphere and HCL Commerce components.
Requirements:
Minimum Requirements
- ship with the ability to obtain successful DoD secret security clearance is required
- Mid level requires 5+ years of hands-on experience in WebSphere, DevSecOps, Cloud Engineering, or Infrastructure Automation roles.
- Senior level requires 7+ years of hands-on experience in WebSphere, DevSecOps, Cloud Engineering, or Infrastructure Automation roles.
IBM Stack Expertise:
- IBM WebSphere Application Server (ND, Liberty), IBM HTTP Server, IBM MQ, and HCL Commerce (7.x 9.x).
- Familiarity with IBM Installation Manager, WebSphere Administrative Console (wsadmin scripting), and IBM Deployment Manager topologies.
- Understanding of IBM SSL/KDB keystore management, Jython/JACL scripting, and wsadmin automation.
Modern Platform Skills:
- Kubernetes / Amazon EKS experience, including Helm and YAML-based configuration management.
- Strong Terraform background for IaC deployment, with GitLab CI/CD or Jenkins pipeline experience.
- Containerization (Docker), artifact repository management (NexArtifactory), and GitOps familiarity.
Security & Compliance:
- Hands-on experience managing SSL certs, keystores, and Java trust stores.
- Understanding of IAM integration between legacy and cloud-native components.
- Knowledge of patching and vulnerability management processes within a regulated or enterprise ecosystem.
- Security+, AWS Certified Security
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