Description
The Federal Health Services (FHS) Group at Leidos currently has an opening for a Cloud Engineer to work 100% remote on a program supporting our nation’s Veteran community. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a fast-paced, geographically disbursed team of professionals dedicated to improving claims and benefits processing for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The Cloud Engineer plays a crucial role in managing and maintaining the operational health of a Centralized Mail Portal cloud infrastructure built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Their primary responsibility is to ensure the reliability, scalability, and security of the AWS environment. This involves tasks such as configuring and managing virtual servers, storage, databases, and networking components. They monitor system performance, troubleshoot issues, and implement solutions to optimize resource utilization and costs. The Cloud Engineer is also tasked with implementing and enforcing security measures, including access controls, encryption, and compliance with industry standards. They play a key role in disaster recovery planning, ensuring data backup and redundancy strategies are in place. Additionally, they collaborate closely with development teams to deploy applications, manage versioning, and maintain continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Overall, the Cloud Engineer is instrumental in keeping our AWS infrastructure running efficiently, securely, and in alignment with business objectives.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
Infrastructure Management: Set up, configure, and manage the AWS infrastructure, including virtual servers (EC2 instances), databases (RDS), storage solutions (S3), and other AWS services.
Monitoring and Optimization: Monitor the performance of AWS resources, identify any bottlenecks or inefficiencies and take corrective actions. This includes optimizing resource utilization for cost-effectiveness.
Security and Compliance: Implement and enforce security measures to protect data and resources within the AWS environment. Ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations and best practices.
Incident Response and Troubleshooting: Respond to incidents and outages promptly, diagnosing and resolving technical issues. This involves working closely with development teams and other stakeholders.
Backup and Recovery: Implement robust backup and recovery strategies to safeguard data against loss or corruption. This includes regular backups, testing recovery procedures, and maintaining redundancy.
Access Control and Authorization: Manage user access, permissions, and roles within the AWS environment, ensuring that only authorized personnel have the appropriate level of access.
Automation and Scripting: Leverage automation tools and scripting languages to streamline tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce manual intervention in managing AWS resources.
Capacity Planning and Scaling: Assess the resource needs of applications and services, plan for capacity requirements and implement scaling solutions to handle increased demand.
Disaster Recovery Planning: Develop and maintain disaster recovery plans, including failover and failback procedures, to ensure business continuity in case of catastrophic events.
Documentation and Reporting: Maintain comprehensive documentation of the AWS environment, including configurations, procedures, and incident reports. Generate system performance and resource utilization reports.
Stay Informed about AWS Services and Best Practices: Remain current with the latest AWS services, features, and best practices to continuously optimize and enhance the AWS environment.
Collaboration and Communication: Collaborate with other IT teams, developers, and stakeholders to ensure that the AWS environment aligns with the program’s overall goals and requirements.
REQUIRED SKILLS
AWS Services Proficiency: In-depth knowledge of various AWS services including EC2, RDS, S3, VPC, IAM, CloudWatch, and others is crucial. This includes understanding their functionalities, configurations, and best practices.
Operating Systems: Proficiency in Linux and Windows operating systems is essential for managing EC2 instances and configuring system-level settings.
Scripting and Automation: Strong scripting skills, particularly in languages like Python, Bash, or PowerShell, are important for automating routine tasks, creating custom solutions, and implementing infrastructure as code (IaC).
Networking: A solid grasp of networking concepts such as subnets, CIDR blocks, routing tables, VPNs, and VPC peering is crucial for configuring and maintaining AWS networking components.
Security and Compliance: Knowledge of security practices, encryption methods, identity and access management, and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) is vital for securing AWS resources.
Monitoring and Logging Tools: Familiarity with monitoring tools like CloudWatch, as well as log analysis tools, is necessary for tracking system performance, setting alarms, and identifying issues.
Backup and Recovery: Understanding backup strategies, snapshot management, and recovery procedures for AWS resources like EC2 instances, RDS databases, and S3 buckets is crucial for data protection.
Load Balancing and Auto Scaling: Proficiency in setting up and managing Elastic Load Balancers (ELBs) and implementing Auto Scaling groups for high availability and scalability.
IAM and Access Control: Expertise in managing Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, policies, and permissions to control user access and ensure security.
Troubleshooting and Debugging: Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to diagnose and resolve issues in a timely manner, often involving collaboration with developers and other teams.
Disaster Recovery Planning: Familiarity with designing and implementing disaster recovery strategies, including failover and failback procedures for critical AWS resources.
Continuous Learning and Adaptability: Given the rapidly evolving nature of cloud technologies, a willingness to learn, stay updated with AWS services, and adapt to new tools and practices is crucial.
Communication and Collaboration: Effective communication skills are important for working with cross-functional, geographically disbursed teams, conveying technical information clearly, and collaborating on projects.
Time Management and Prioritization: The ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritize them based on their criticality and impact on the program is essential for maintaining a stable and efficient AWS environment.
Clearance: Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.
DESIRED SKILLS
Certifications: Holding relevant AWS certifications, such as AWS Certified SysOps Administrator or related specialties like AWS Certified Solutions Architect or DevOps Engineer, demonstrates a high level of expertise and commitment.
Multi-Cloud Experience: Familiarity with other cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform can be advantageous, as it showcases a broader understanding of cloud technologies.
DevOps Practices: Knowledge of DevOps principles and practices, including CI/CD pipelines, automated deployment, and infrastructure as code (IaC), can enhance the candidate's ability to work in a collaborative, agile environment.
Containerization and Orchestration: Proficiency with containerization technologies like Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes can be valuable, especially in environments that utilize microservices architecture.
Configuration Management Tools: Experience with tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef for automating configuration management and ensuring consistency across environments.
Scripting in Additional Languages: While proficiency in Python, Bash, or PowerShell is crucial, familiarity with other languages like Ruby or JavaScript can broaden the candidate's toolkit.
Cybersecurity Knowledge: A strong understanding of cybersecurity concepts, including threat modeling, intrusion detection, and vulnerability assessment, can contribute to enhancing the security posture of the AWS environment.
Experience with Monitoring and Logging Tools Beyond AWS: Proficiency in using additional monitoring and logging solutions like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, or Splunk can be an asset in comprehensive system management.
Agile and ITIL Frameworks: Familiarity with Agile methodologies and ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) practices can be beneficial for aligning operations with program goals and best practices.
Soft Skills: Effective communication, teamwork, adaptability, and a customer-oriented approach are vital for collaborating with cross-functional teams, understanding business requirements, and providing responsive support.
Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking: Demonstrating a knack for troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and implementing innovative solutions can greatly contribute to maintaining a stable and efficient AWS environment.
Vendor and Technology Agnosticism: Being open to exploring and adapting to different technologies and vendors, even outside of the AWS ecosystem, showcases a versatile and forward-thinking mindset.
Compensation Target Range-$150,000-$170,000
Pay Range:
Pay Range $97,500.00 - $176,250.00The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.
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About Leidos
Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company’s 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.
Pay and Benefits
Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available here.
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Commitment to Diversity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.
