DevOps Engineer

Description:
Our client is seeking a highly skilled DevOps Engineer to design, build, and optimize GitLab CI/CD pipelines and Terraform-based cloud infrastructure across multiple environments. This role is integral to automating workflows, increasing deployment velocity, and ensuring secure, reliable delivery of containerized applications.

Location: Local to Washington D.C. (Remote)

Pay: $60 - $65 an hour

This position is a contract-to-hire opportunity, where applicants must be willing and able to work on a W2 basis and convert to full-time employment following the contract duration. The company offers a comprehensive benefits package for W2 consultants, which includes Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits, a 401k plan with company matching, and life insurance.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build reusable CI/CD pipeline templates, jobs, and stages in GitLab to support consistent deployment practices across teams.
• Configure and manage GitLab Runners, environment variables, and secrets to support secure and scalable delivery processes.
• Implement and maintain GitOps practices to manage version-controlled pipeline infrastructure.
• Monitor pipeline performance, troubleshoot failures, and resolve performance bottlenecks.
• Integrate automated testing, security scanning, code quality checks, and monitoring tools within CI/CD workflows.
• Optimize pipeline stages to reduce deployment times and improve reliability.
• Automate rollback, promotion, and approval processes for seamless delivery to production.
• Develop and maintain Terraform modules to provision and manage secure cloud infrastructure across multiple environments.
• Manage Terraform state files, remote backends, and integrate secure secrets management.
• Perform Terraform code reviews, ensure best practices, and collaborate on cloud architecture decisions.
• Automate build and image workflows, including documentation and rollout to ECS or container orchestration platforms.
• Conduct vulnerability scans, remediate findings, and ensure compliance with security standards.
• Monitor infrastructure health, troubleshoot provisioning issues, and drive root cause analysis.
• Maintain detailed documentation for pipelines, infrastructure architecture, performance metrics, and operational workflows.
• Track incidents, changes, and metrics to support internal auditing and compliance.

Experience Requirements:

• 8+ years of IT experience, including at least 2 years hands-on experience with Terraform.
• Strong understanding of Infrastructure as Code (IaC), cloud architecture, and Git-based workflows.
• Hands-on experience building and maintaining GitLab CI/CD pipelines.
• Proficiency with scripting languages such as Python or Bash.
• Experience managing and optimizing pipelines for containerized applications.
• Working knowledge of artifact management and container image lifecycle.
• AWS or relevant cloud certification (e.g., AWS DevOps Engineer, Solutions Architect Associate).
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated passion for automation, consistency, and quality in software delivery.
• Experience with ECS or similar container orchestration platforms.
• Familiarity with cloud cost optimization practices and GitLab Runner tuning.
• Proven collaboration skills working with cross-functional engineering teams.

Education Requirements:

• BA/BS in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related technical field.
• Equivalent professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.