Systems Engineer (Senior)

Job title: Systems Engineer (Senior)

Description

• Hybrid in Ashburn, VA or Gaithersburg, MD

• Our client seeks a Systems Engineer who understands how complex cloud-hosted software systems fit together and can provide engineering direction across architecture, integration, security, and verification. The role spans cloud architecture and technical planning, platform trade studies, integration and fielding in regulated environments, security architecture, networking, DevSecOps, and AI-assisted engineering. Candidates will guide design, collaborate in Scaled Agile teams, and influence outcomes across multiple technical areas rather than focus on daily coding.

• Due to federal security clearance requirements, applicant must be a United States Citizen with an active Public Trust clearance. Due to client requirements, applicants must be willing and able to work on a w2 basis. For our w2 consultants, we offer a great benefits package that includes Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits, 401k with company matching, and life insurance.

• Rate: $60.00 to $70.00/hr. w2

Responsibilities

• Lead technical planning and cloud architecture for hybrid on‑prem to AWS designs across VPCs, GovCloud and commercial regions, and multiple clusters.
• Conduct platform trade studies and sizing for ECS, EKS, and OpenShift with cost and effort modeling across Dev, Test, and Ops environments.
• Drive integration, verification and validation, and fielding within FISMA High boundaries, including cutover to GovCloud.
• Design security architecture including trust boundaries, segmentation, and control mapping to SSP and ATO boundaries.
• Engineer networking patterns including ALB, WAF, routes and ingress, PrivateLink and endpoints, and Zscaler or PIV considerations.
• Own requirements development and analysis, technical writing, and authoring of technical papers and white papers.
• Provide system and software design guidance to developers and testers within Scaled Agile teams.
• Lead hardware and software integration and cloud system design for Java and microservices ecosystems.
• Apply DevSecOps practices, CI/CD, security scanning, SBOM, image signing, secrets management, and policy as code.
• Incorporate AI for coding, requirements, test creation, debugging, and analysis, including AI-driven test script generation.

Experience Requirements:

• Proven cloud architecture and technical planning experience for hybrid on‑prem to AWS systems.

• Hands-on with Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, and Red Hat OpenShift, including Kubernetes, Helm, operators, policies, routes, and pipelines.

• Track record in integration, V&V, and fielding for regulated environments such as FISMA High or FedRAMP High.

• Security architecture experience with segmentation and control mapping to support SSP and ATO.

• Networking expertise across ingress, ALB, WAF, PrivateLink, endpoints, and related enterprise access patterns.

• On‑prem to AWS migration of containerized workloads, including re‑platforming, parallel runs, data connectivity for MongoDB or PostgreSQL, and rollback planning.

• AWS GovCloud and commercial multi‑account and VPC design, including DMZ and private tier segmentation.

• DevSecOps toolchain experience with GitLab, Tekton, Argo CD, SAST, DAST, SCA, IaC scanning, SBOM, image signing and scanning, and secrets management.

• Scaled Agile experience collaborating within mixed teams and communicating technical decisions.

• Familiarity with Java ecosystems, microservices, REST, and cloud‑native development in Linux environments.

• Demonstrated AI-assisted engineering using tools comparable to Claude for development and testing.

• Skills, experience, and other compensable factors will be considered when determining pay rate. The pay range provided in this posting reflects a W2 hourly rate; other employment options may be available that may result in pay outside of the provided range.

• W2 employees of Eliassen Group who are regularly scheduled to work 30 or more hours per week are eligible for the following benefits: medical (choice of 3 plans), dental, vision, pre-tax accounts, other voluntary benefits including life and disability insurance, 401(k) with match, and sick time if required by law in the worked-in state/locality.