Tier 2 Help Desk Technician - San Diego, CA

The purpose of the Tier 2 Help Desk Technician role is to provide advanced, second‑line technical support for the Joint Forces Network (JFN), ensuring that all hardware, software, and network services operate securely and reliably across classified and field environments; the technician resolves complex issues escalated from Tier 1, configures and manages operating systems, applications, and DoD/IC authentication services, performs troubleshooting and remediation of hardware and software failures, documents procedures and solutions in Agile tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence), and contributes to the continuous improvement of JFN's operational readiness while adhering to DoD cybersecurity and physical‑security policies.

CORE FUNCTIONS / JOB DUITES


Able to perform the following independently, under minimum supervision:


Participate in designing and implementing scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure on project-specific cloud platforms under senior team guidance.


Set up and maintain software and network infrastructure environments that deploy physical and virtual machines.


Support evaluation and implementation of hardware and network infrastructure changes, including deployment, integration, configuration, upgrades, and patching on physical and virtual systems.


Automate deployment processes for specific projects using Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) tools with supervision.


Help automate manual processes related to the software development life cycle.


Assist in building and maintaining software build and test pipelines to support development and distribution of software artifacts.


Participate in implementing cloud development environments to support software development tools and continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines.


Manage configuration technologies for assigned projects with guidance.


Monitor system performance and resource utilization on virtual machines and report findings.


Learn and implement security guidelines such as Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) in cloud and HWIL systems with support from senior engineers.


Research virtual hosting service options to support the software development program's needs.


Maintain build and test pipelines to support software development artifact distribution.


Collaborate with development teams to improve software delivery and deployment processes, taking directions from senior staff.


Support in testing and deploying changes to existing software under supervision.


Assist in defining tools needed for cloud-based data repositories and configuration management.


Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies by learning from peers and training to help improve DevOps practices.


Responsible for asset installation/configuration, operation and maintenance of systems hardware, software and related infrastructure.


Configure and manage operating systems (Windows and Linux), applications (commercial and government), networks (IPs, subnets, etc.), and network equipment (switches)


Configure and manage DOD and IC standard distributed authentication services


Review documented and maintain comprehensive knowledge base articles, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and technical guides for Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams to use in resolving common issues and adhere to government policies.


Perform regular file archival and purge, as necessary.


Create, change and delete user accounts per request.


Repair and recover from hardware or software failures for multiple sites.


Work with internal development teams, to report and resolve bugs, request feature enhancements, and address product-related issues on Linux platforms


Contribute technical content and tutorials to product documentation

SKILLS & ABILITIES


Possess a deep understanding of:


DevOps Methodologies


Agile Software Development, ability to represent successful completion of work in Agile Management systems (e.g. Jira, Confluence, GitLab)


Programming or Scripting language


Version Control Tools


CI/CD Tools


Cloud Computing Concepts and Services


Infrastructure as code


Container Technologies


Monitoring and logging stacks


Security concepts, best practices and how to apply them, such as Secure Shell, public key encryption, access credentials, certificates, TLS, and data encryption to include Department of Defense and Intelligence Community security policies/processes


Four plus (4+) years of experience with implementation and understanding of Engineering principles in a professional environment


A minimum of two to three (2-3) years of progressive IT support experience, with at least two to three (2-3) years in a Tier 1 or a similar role with a focus on Linux environments.


U.S. Government computers, networks, and security beneficial


Administering server-side technology and networked computing systems.


DNS / DHCP / Kickstart / LDAP / Kubernetes / Red Hat 7&8 / Windows 10 / ACAS / Rancher / Grafana / Cloud Security Gateway


Maintain and update system documentation.


Automate installation, configuration, and provisioning using Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, and Chef.


Configure and manage operating systems (Windows and Linux), applications (commercial and government), networks (IPs, subnets, etc.), and network equipment (switches)


DOD and IC network infrastructures, Preferred


Joint IO Range, Defense Research and Engineering Network, and other similar environments beneficial


Variety of development tools to include: Puppet, Ansible, Terraform, Bash, Powershell, Python, Kafka, Accumulo, Docker, Kubernetes


Software code development to automate run-time environment tools

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS


Required (BS STEM Degree)


IAT Level 1 Required


IT Operating System Certification, (i.e. LINUX, Microsoft, etc) Required

TYPICAL WORKING CONDITIONS


General office environment


Computer/Equipment lab

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS


May be expected to lift up to 25 lbs


Frequent use of keyboard and typing


Frequent sitting and standing

WORK SCHEDULE


5/40


The ability to work non-standard work hours and schedules in support of project requirements

PAY RANGE


$100,000.00 to $150,000.00 annually, DOE

U.S. Citizenship is Required

SECURITY CLEARANCE


Candidates must have an active Top Secret/SCI clearance and CI Polygraph within last 5yr, or ability to pass CI polygraph within 6mo of hire.

Tactical Engineering & Analysis, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Minority/Female/Disability/Protected Veteran Employer