DevOps Engineer

DevOps Engineer – Fully Remote (Temp‑to‑Hire)
Salary: $125,000–$150,000

The VA Lighthouse Program is a major U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs initiative focused on modernizing access to VA data through secure, scalable APIs. Our program AI & Engineering team supports this mission by accelerating digital delivery, strengthening platform operations, and enabling modern engineering practices across the enterprise. This fully remote DevOps Engineer role is temp‑to‑hire, with conversion eligibility based on client requirements.

Role Overview

You will serve as a key engineer shaping the Lighthouse platform's cloud‑native architecture, DevSecOps practices, and self‑service capabilities. This role blends hands‑on engineering with platform strategy, automation, and cross‑team collaboration.

Core Responsibilities

• Create automated, self‑service capabilities for deploying containerized applications and exposing API endpoints.
• Define and communicate the architectural vision for a scalable, secure, cloud‑native platform.
• Collaborate with product owners, security teams, and stakeholders to prioritize features and maintain technical roadmaps.
• Establish engineering standards and best practices across the Lighthouse program.
• Deliver Platform‑as‑a‑Service solutions, including low‑code/no‑code capabilities and enterprise API engineering.
• Execute full lifecycle software development with a focus on automation, reliability, and operational efficiency.
• Own DevSecOps pipelines, including secure CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure automation, and monitoring.
• Continuously improve platform performance, developer experience, and operational resilience.
• Ensure compliance with VA, federal, and industry requirements, including audit readiness and documentation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience with AWS Cloud and/or DevOps at scale.
• Deep hands‑on experience with Kubernetes in production (design, implementation, scaling, troubleshooting).
• Strong understanding of L4–L7 networking using AWS resources and tools like Cilium or Istio.
• Experience with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and scripting languages.
• Experience leading engineering teams and defining program‑level standards.
• Experience building and maintaining monitoring solutions for platform health and insights.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a VA Public Trust clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years in software or platform engineering, including technical leadership roles.
• Experience with Terraform or OpenTofu for IaC.
• Experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef).
• Proven success implementing secure, automated DevSecOps pipelines and containerization tools.
• Experience with Blue‑Green deployments using ArgoCD.
• Experience with end‑to‑end encryption and managed mTLS.
• Familiarity with FedRAMP, FISMA, and other compliance frameworks.
• Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and mentoring skills.
• Experience in government or public sector environments.
• Ability to stay current with emerging cloud and platform technologies.