Sr. Systems Engineer/Python Developer

We are seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to support mission-critical infrastructure for government and enterprise environments. This role requires a highly adaptable open-source technologist with strong systems engineering fundamentals and the ability to build custom software solutions that integrate, extend, and harden complex infrastructure. This is not a traditional DevOps role and not limited to scripting. The right candidate brings deep experience operating Linux environments, deploying open-source platforms in production, and writing real application-level code (primarily Python or other OOP languages) to solve integration and operational challenges. The role carries significant autonomy, technical decision-making responsibility, and long-term ownership of infrastructure design and maintenance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, build, deploy, and operate high-availability open-source infrastructure based on internal and customer requirements
• Develop custom applications and services (Python or other OOP languages) to tie systems together, enable observability, and solve integration problems
• Implement and maintain Ansible-based configuration management across Linux environments
• Deploy, configure, and operate open-source technologies with limited documentation, addressing real-world operational challenges
• Architect and maintain systems involving virtualization, containerization, load balancing, and failover
• Troubleshoot complex issues across hardware, networking, operating systems, and applications
• Perform hardware installation, replacement, and diagnostics as needed (servers, disks, RAM, power, cabling)
• Maintain operational documentation and ticketing rigor
• Provide technical mentorship and leadership to junior engineers and contribute to architectural best practices

Qualifications:

• 7+ years as a Systems Engineer working in Linux environments
• 7+ years of development experience in Python or similar object-oriented language (Java, C++, C#, etc.), with clearly described projects beyond scripting
• 4+ years of hands-on Ansible experience, including real configuration management and automation work
• Demonstrated experience deploying and operating open-source software in production
• Strong systems integration background across hardware, software, networking, and security
• Deep Linux expertise (Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL/CentOS)
• Experience with technologies such as:
  • HAProxy, NGINX, Keepalived
  • PostgreSQL / MySQL
  • Elasticsearch / OpenSearch
  • Kafka / RabbitMQ
  • Docker / Podman, KVM/QEMU
  • Monitoring & observability stacks (Zabbix, Grafana, Prometheus, InfluxDB, OpenTelemetry)
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and CI/CD tooling (Git, GitLab, Jenkins)
• Self-starter comfortable operating autonomously with accountability
• Active Secret clearance preferred (or equivalent recent clearance); must be able to obtain Top Secret

Compensation:

$75/hr - $95/hr / PTO/ Holidays/ Cigna Insurance/ 401k

Keywords:

Linux Systems Engineering, Open-Source Infrastructure, Systems Integration, Production Environments, High Availability, Fault-Tolerant Systems, Enterprise Infrastructure, Hardware Installation, Hardware Troubleshooting, Data Center Operations, Python Development, Object-Oriented Programming, Java, C++, C#, Application Development, Custom Software Development, Systems-Level Development, Configuration Translation, Ansible, Infrastructure Automation, Configuration Management, Provisioning Frameworks, Virtualization, KVM, QEMU, Containerization, Docker, Podman, HAProxy, NGINX, Keepalived, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Zookeeper, Monitoring, Observability, Zabbix, Grafana, Prometheus, InfluxDB, OpenTelemetry, Graphite, Metrics Collection, Alerting, Networking, VLANs, DNS, DHCP, Firewalls, VPNs, Load Balancing, Storage Systems, RAID, ZFS, Block Storage, Object Storage, Git, GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, Continuous Integration, Deployment Automation, Cloud Platforms, AWS, Azure, GCP, Secure Infrastructure Design, Government Environments, Regulated Environments, Security Clearance, Secret Clearance, Top Secret Clearance