Senior Proxmox Cluster Engineer

Nightwing provides technically advanced full-spectrum cyber, data operations, systems integration and intelligence mission support services to meet our customers' most demanding challenges. Our capabilities include cyber space operations, cyber defense and resiliency, vulnerability research, ubiquitous technical surveillance, data intelligence, lifecycle mission enablement, and software modernization. Nightwing brings disruptive technologies, agility, and competitive offerings to customers in the intelligence community, defense, civil, and commercial markets.

Senior Proxmox Cluster Engineer

About Nightwing

Nightwing delivers advanced cyber operations, systems integration, data analytics, and intelligence mission support to address the national security community's toughest challenges. Our expertise spans cybersecurity, software engineering, enterprise IT, distributed data processing, and intelligence operations. We've built a strong reputation delivering mission-critical outcomes for DoD, IC, and national security customers. Learn more at nightwing.com.

Position Overview

We're looking for a polygraph-cleared Senior Proxmox Cluster Administrator to take ownership of mission-critical virtualization infrastructure supporting multi-OS research environments. You'll collaborate directly with Nightwing engineers, mission partners, and government customers in a high-tempo operational setting.

This is a technical, hands-on role focused on ensuring platform availability, strengthening security controls, and advancing automation capabilities. Strong candidates will also have depth in Linux system administration and/or DevSecOps engineering practices.

Location: Full-time onsite at National Business Park, Maryland

What You'll Do

Virtualization Platform Management

• Operate and maintain Proxmox VE clusters, including quorum health, HA configuration, node lifecycle management, and capacity planning
• Establish standardized workflows for VM and container provisioning
• Troubleshoot complex issues spanning compute, networking, and storage layers
• Configure and optimize host networking: bridges, bonding, VLAN trunking, and isolated management networks

Backup & Recovery Operations

• Implement and oversee backup strategies and disaster recovery capabilities
• Conduct regular restore drills to validate recovery procedures

Documentation & Governance

• Create and maintain operational documentation including runbooks, standard operating procedures, topology diagrams, and change logs
• Produce compliance artifacts aligned with program security and audit requirements

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work alongside Nightwing teams, mission partners, and government personnel to safely integrate new workloads
• Lead platform enhancement efforts and identify opportunities for operational improvements

Extended Capabilities (Nice to Have)

• Manage hardened Linux baseline configurations and platform services across the environment
• Build automation solutions using Ansible and Git-based workflows to eliminate manual tasks and prevent configuration drift

Required Qualifications

Experience Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree
• 6+ years with a Master's degree
• 4+ years with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• 14+ years of experience may substitute for a degree

Core Technical Skills

• Proven Linux administration experience in production settings (RHEL, Ubuntu, or equivalent distributions)
• Operational background managing virtualization platforms at scale (Proxmox VE strongly preferred)
• Proficient in automation using Ansible and scripting with Bash and Python

Technical Foundation

• High availability & clustering: Understanding of quorum mechanics, failover processes, and maintenance procedures
• Performance analysis: Diagnosing resource contention (CPU/memory/I/O), capacity forecasting
• Network architecture: VLANs, link aggregation, traffic segmentation
• Storage systems: Experience with ZFS, Ceph, or distributed storage, backup/restore methodologies

Certification Requirement

• Current industry certification in one of the following domains:
  • Systems administration, information security, networking, virtualization, IT management, or project management
  • Examples: Security+, CISSP, CISM, CASP+, CCNA, CCNP, RHCSA, RHCE, VCP, ITIL, PMP

Security Clearance

• U.S. Citizenship required
• Active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Proxmox expertise: HA optimization, corosync diagnostics, multi-cluster architectures, version migrations
• Beyond-basic virtualization skills demonstrating platform design or architectural capabilities
• DevSecOps/Infrastructure as Code: GitOps methodologies, declarative infrastructure management
• Compliance & security operations: Hands-on experience with STIG implementations, RMF processes, NIST controls, and vulnerability management in classified environments
• Monitoring & observability: Familiarity with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, OpenSearch, Splunk, or SLO-based operational practices

#NEP

Salary & Benefits
The salary associated with this position ($122,000-$253,000) is commensurate with the selected candidate's qualifications, years of relevant experience, and demonstrated level of expertise. Compensation will be determined based on these factors to ensure alignment with skills, responsibilities, and market standards.
Nightwing offers medical, vision and dental insurance coverage in addition to a 401k plan, PTO, Holidays, and additional insurances.

Nightwing is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.