Senior IT Systems Engineer

JT4, LLC provides engineering and technical support to multiple western test ranges for the U.S. Air Force, Space Force, and Navy under the Joint Range Technical Services Contract, better known as J-Tech II. JT4 develops and maintains realistic, integrated test and training environments and prepares our nation's war-fighting aircraft, weapons systems, and aircrews for today's missions and tomorrow's global challenges.

JOB SUMMARY -- ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/DUTIES

The Senior IT Systems Engineer (Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure) will lead the architectural integration, modernization, and technical sustainment of our secure software development networks across both on-premises bare-metal/virtualized environments and secure hybrid cloud infrastructure (AWS FENCES).

In this role, you will serve as the internal technical authority and bridge between legacy on-premises infrastructure and our expanding cloud footprint. Working in tandem with our current Systems Administrators, Cybersecurity Analysts, and DevSecOps teams, you will provide critical technical oversight for third-party contractor implementations, partner with AWS Solutions Architects, and ensure our hybrid infrastructure meets stringent DoD security standards while providing exceptional performance for developer workloads.

The Senior IT Systems Engineer will serve as the internal technical authority and bridge between legacy on-premises infrastructure and our expanding cloud footprint. Working in tandem with our current Systems Administrators, Cybersecurity Analysts, and DevSecOps teams, you will provide critical technical oversight for third-party contractor implementations, partner with AWS Solutions Architects, and ensure our hybrid infrastructure meets stringent DoD security standards while providing exceptional performance for developer workloads.

Employee will be responsible for the following functions/duties:

• Architectural Strategy, Hybrid Design & Cloud Operations
• Plan, architect, document, and execute the phased migration of software development workloads, enclaves, and shared storage into AWS FENCES / GovCloud.
• Architect and manage core cloud services, including AWS EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, Transit Gateway, Route 53, and CloudWatch.
• Meet with other organizational groups and stakeholders to gather requirements and ensure technical needs are met with the architecture.
• Design, implement, and maintain resilient, secure hybrid network connectivity (Direct Connect, IPSec VPN tunnels, cross-domain proxies) bridging on-premises development labs with AWS cloud VPCs.
• Direct Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies, role-based access controls, and boundary trust relationships according to strict zero-trust and least-privilege principles.
• On-Premise Systems & Enterprise Virtualization
• Maintain high-availability architectural baselines for enterprise Linux (RHEL, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu) and Windows server environments supporting developer pipelines.
• Architect and manage enterprise hypervisors (VMware vSphere/ESXi, KVM) and underlying physical compute clusters across air-gapped development labs.
• Oversee bare-metal server hardware provisioning, lifecycle management, capacity planning, and hardware-level performance tuning.
• Design and manage distributed storage clusters and centralized storage systems (Ceph, SAN, NAS, NFS), ensuring high I/O throughput for CI/CD builds, robust backup strategies, and comprehensive disaster recovery readiness.
• Networking, PKI, & Enclave Connectivity
• Oversee core network infrastructure services within development networks: DNS, DHCP, NTP, LDAP / Active Directory / FreeIPA, and reverse proxies.
• Lead the implementation, issuance, and automated renewal of internal and external SSL/TLS certificates across Linux hosts, Kubernetes ingress points, and network appliances.
• Collaborate with network operations to configure switches, VLAN segmentations, routing policies, and firewall rules to strictly isolate development enclaves.
• Cybersecurity Hardening & Compliance Auditing
• Enforce compliance with DoD Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) and NIST SP 800-53 controls across operating systems, hypervisors, and cloud environments.
• Lead vulnerability assessment remediation (e.g., ACAS / Tenable Nessus findings) and coordinate system patching schedules to maintain continuous Authority to Operate (ATO).
• Architect unified logging and observability pipelines (Syslog, CloudWatch Logs, Splunk/ELK) for enterprise auditability and incident investigation.
• Automation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Mentorship
• Drive infrastructure automation and configuration consistency using Ansible, Terraform, and operational scripting in Python, Bash, or PowerShell.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level systems administration staff, establishing standard operating procedures (SOPs) and comprehensive architectural documentation.
• Partner closely with Platform and DevSecOps personnel to ensure underlying compute, network, and storage primitives seamlessly support container runtimes and automated pipelines.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Restricted & Classified Cloud Operations: Direct experience operating in disconnected, air-gapped, or specialized DoD environments (such as AWS FENCES, AWS Secret Region, or AWS GovCloud).
• Vendor & Project Oversight: Experience reviewing statement-of-work (SOW) deliverables, evaluating third-party contractor implementations, or collaborating directly with cloud vendor professional services.
• Cross-Domain Solutions (CDS): Familiarity with data transfer mechanisms and security controls between distinct classification domains.
• Storage Systems: Practical experience with distributed storage systems (e.g., Ceph, Rook, TrueNAS, NetApp).
• Container Runtimes: Conceptual familiarity with container technologies (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, MicroK8s).

The following qualifications are preferred:

• Systems Architecture & Hybrid Operations: Proven experience architecting and administering enterprise Linux (RHEL, Rocky, Ubuntu) and Windows environments coupled with hands-on technical management of AWS cloud infrastructure.
• AWS Core Infrastructure: In-depth working knowledge of foundational AWS services: VPC (networking, transit gateways, security groups), EC2, S3, IAM, and CloudWatch.
• Virtualization & Compute: Advanced administration of enterprise hypervisors (VMware vSphere, KVM) and physical enterprise compute hardware (e.g., Dell PowerEdge).
• Enterprise Networking: Strong grasp of TCP/IP routing, subnetting, VLANs, firewalls, reverse proxies, and secure site-to-site VPN tunnels.
• PKI & Certificate Operations: Direct experience managing and binding SSL/TLS certificates across heterogeneous Linux and cloud environments.
• Scripting & Automation: Proficiency in writing automation scripts and playbooks using Python, Bash, or PowerShell, with exposure to Ansible or Terraform.
• Systems Architecture & Hybrid Operations: Proven experience architecting and administering enterprise Linux (RHEL, Rocky, Ubuntu) and Windows environments coupled with hands-on technical management of AWS cloud infrastructure.
• AWS Core Infrastructure: In-depth working knowledge of foundational AWS services: VPC (networking, transit gateways, security groups), EC2, S3, IAM, and CloudWatch.
• Virtualization & Compute: Advanced administration of enterprise hypervisors (VMware vSphere, KVM) and physical enterprise compute hardware (e.g., Dell PowerEdge).
• Enterprise Networking: Strong grasp of TCP/IP routing, subnetting, VLANs, firewalls, reverse proxies, and secure site-to-site VPN tunnels.
• PKI & Certificate Operations: Direct experience managing and binding SSL/TLS certificates across heterogeneous Linux and cloud environments.
• Scripting & Automation: Proficiency in writing automation scripts and playbooks using Python, Bash, or PowerShell, with exposure to Ansible or Terraform.
• Strategic Technical Thinker: Capable of balancing short-term operational demands with long-term hybrid architecture goals.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Confident in auditing external technical solutions, communicating tradeoffs to leadership, and defending sound engineering practices.
• Collaborative Leader: Dedicated to knowledge sharing, mentoring team members, and creating detailed architecture diagrams and runbooks.
• CompTIA Security +

REQUIREMENTS -- EDUCATION, TECHNICAL, AND WORK EXPERIENCE

One of the following educational requirements must be met for this position:

• A bachelor’s degree in an associated discipline and a minimum of 14 years of related experience
• A master’s degree in an associated discipline and a minimum of 10 years of experience
• A PhD in an associated discipline and a minimum of eight years of experience

In addition, a Computer Scientist V must possess the following qualifications:

• Demonstrated expertise with computer-based systems and applications
• Senior-level programing skills in languages used for job-specific programming tasks
• Senior-level expertise in the application of industry standard hardware and software design and documentation techniques
• Extensive knowledge of systems engineering and software development lifecycles
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent planning/organizational skills
• Ability to work under deadlines

BENEFITS

• Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance
• Benefits Active on Day 1
• Life Insurance
• Health Savings Accounts/FSA's
• Disability Insurance
• Paid Time Off
• 401(k) Plan Options with Employer Match
• JT4 will match 50%, up to an 8% contribution
• 100% Immediate Vesting
• Tuition Reimbursement

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

Each employee must read, understand, and implement the general and specific operational, safety, quality, and environmental requirements of all plans, procedures, and policies pertaining to their job.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Work is performed in a typical office environment with no unusual hazards. Occasional lifting (up to 20 pounds), constant sitting while using the computer terminal, constant use of sight abilities while reviewing documents, constant use of speech/hearing abilities for communication, and constant mental alertness are required.

Travel to remote company work locations may be required.

DISCLAIMER

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by personnel assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of persons so classified.

Tasking is in support of a federal government contract that requires U.S. citizenship. Some jobs may require a candidate to be eligible for a government security clearance, state-issued driver's license or other licenses / certifications and the inability to obtain and maintain the required clearance, license or certification may affect an employee's ability to maintain employment.

SCC: JSD12; JCORP12