Senior Systems Engineer

Company Overview

At ValidaTek, we modernize and optimize IT services to solve some of the most critical challenges facing federal civilian and defense agencies. From customers to partners to top-talent employees, ValidaTek puts people first, empowering them to exceed expectations and transform government organizations. Our success starts and ends with our people, so we built a company where great people can do great things, with the resources and autonomy to make decisions that transform organizations. We operate as one team of diverse people, united by a passion for continuous growth and optimization. Our commitment to quality and performance optimization is the reason why our IT Service Projects and New Development Projects have been appraised at CMMI Maturity Level 5, positioning us as one of a handful of elite companies to receive the highest form of third-party validation. www.validatek.com

Summary

We are seeking a skilled Senior Systems Engineer who will play a crucial role in establishing the technical framework for delivering materiel capabilities to secure the infrastructure for the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Program Executive Office Cyber (PEO-Cyber). The ideal candidate will have experience in systems architecture, integration, hardening, and Operations & Sustainment (O&S) with a strong emphasis on RMF accreditation, Zero Trust engineering, and mission assurance across Non-classified Internet Protocol Network (NIPRNet), Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) and the Isolated Secret (ISOSEC) network. The role blends systems. This position requires expertise in developing, maintaining, and executing the program's Systems Engineering Plan (SEP), aligning with program plans, and developing an architecture that ensures conformance to standards, requirements, and associated systems. The Senior Systems Engineer will utilize the DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) and other frameworks as specified by the Government. You'll collaborate with government stakeholders, vendors, and cross-functional agile teams to design, deploy, and optimize enterprise services aligned to DoD and DISA policies.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and execute the program's Systems Engineering Plan (SEP) that aligns with program plans.
• Develop architectures that ensure conformance to standards, requirements, and associated systems, using DoDAF or other frameworks as specified by the Government.
• Establish and decompose requirements for the sensing capability, supporting the Government in this process.
• Maintain a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM).
• Conduct System Requirements Review/System Functional Review (SRR/SFR) to analyze project cost, schedule, and performance requirements.
• Provide preliminary and final designs in support of project and customer requirements, including system diagrams, design descriptions, and interface control documents.
• Support integration and testing of sensing software/hardware solutions with associated networks to validate software packages and devices.
• Develop user stories to capture system requirements from the user perspective.
• Troubleshoot and resolve operational issues escalated from Tier II support, providing updates according to Tier II reporting requirements.
• Design and test capabilities to address operational issues or shortfalls.
• Integrate and configure Windows/Linux servers, VMware/ESXi, Red Hat/OpenShift/Kubernetes, and enterprise storage/backup solutions.
• Deploy and integrate identity and access management (ICAM/PKI/CAC), network services (DNS/DHCP/IPAM), and automation (Ansible, PowerShell, Terraform) to drive repeatable builds.
• Implement observability stacks (Splunk/ELK, Prometheus/Grafana, SolarWinds) and SIEM/SOAR integrations to improve MTTD/MTTR.
• Support RMF lifecycle activities (categorization → ATO → continuous monitoring), producing and maintaining SSP, CONOPS, POA&M, Traceability Matrices, and test evidence.
• Apply DISA STIGs, SCAP scans, and ACAS/Tenable and HBSS/ESS baselines; drive remediation to meet control objectives (NIST 800-53, CNSSI 1253).
• Partner with ISSO/ISSM to sustain continuous ATO (cATO) posture and reporting dashboards.
• Own Tier III escalation for complex system issues; conduct root cause analysis and author RCAs with corrective actions.
• Build infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and configuration-as-code pipelines (GitLab/GitHub/Jenkins/Azure DevOps) for secure, automated deployments.
• Optimize cost, performance, and resilience across hybrid environments; maintain runbooks, SOPs, and KPIs/SLAs.
• Participate in IPTs, change advisory boards (CAB), and design reviews; brief senior leaders on risks and trade-offs.
• Produce high-quality design documents, test plans, implementation guides, and as-built documentation in line with DISA standards.
• Mentor junior engineers; contribute to engineering playbooks and best practices.

Qualifications

• Active DoD Secret clearance
• 8+ years of progressive systems engineering experience, preferably within the cybersecurity or IT sectors supporting the DoD/Federal programs.
• Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems or a related field.
• Proficiency in utilizing the DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) and other relevant frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain Systems Engineering Plans (SEPs).
• Strong understanding of system development life cycle and related processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to create reports and brief technical and executive stakeholders.
• Technical Depth in the following areas:

o OS/Virtualization: Windows Server, RHEL; VMware vSphere/ESXi, vCenter; RHEL/OpenShift/K8s.

o Cloud: AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or on-prem private cloud (e.g., Nutanix, OpenStack) at DoD impact levels.

o Networking Fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, load balancing, TACACS/RADIUS, VPN, SWGs, firewalls.

o Security Tooling: DISA STIGs/SRGs, ACAS, HBSS/ESS, SCAP, Syslog/SIEM (Splunk/ELK), EDR.

o Automation/DevSecOps: Ansible, PowerShell, Bash, Terraform; CI/CD (Jenkins/GitLab/Azure DevOps).

o Monitoring/Observability: SolarWinds, Prometheus/Grafana, Splunk ITSI (or equivalent).

o Identity/Zero Trust: PKI/CAC, SSO/SAML/OIDC, MFA, PAM.

• Standards & Frameworks: Solid working knowledge of RMF (NIST 800-37/53), FIPS 140-3, DoD Cloud SRG, and ITIL processes.

EEO Statement

ValidaTek is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to disability, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Applicants who are selected for employment will be required to verify authorization to work in the United States.

Offers of employment will be contingent upon passing a post-offer background check.