Linux Engineer with Security Clearance

Apex is seeking a Senior Linux Engineer to join our technical operations team on a contract supporting the enterprise network and infrastructure at the Department of Homeland Security. The Linux Engineer is primarily focused on maintaining the Red Hat Linux (RHEL) environment and developing automation solutions using Ansible. They will quickly identify issues impacting the enterprise, troubleshoot, resolve incidents, document for root cause analysis, complete requests, and maintain enterprise servers. What You'll Get to Do:
Serve as a Senior Linux Engineering team member responsible for troubleshooting and improving the RHEL environment. Responsibilities include:

• Design, develop, and maintain Ansible playbooks and roles for infrastructure automation
• Implement and manage configuration management using Ansible across our RHEL systems

• Troubleshoot and resolve complex issues in Ansible deployments and RHEL environments

• Optimize existing Ansible code and RHEL configurations for improved performance and efficiency

• Collaborate with other teams to integrate Ansible automation into CI/CD pipelines

• Manage and Maintain RHEL systems, including patch management, upgrades, and security hardening

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior team members

• Stay current with industry trends, best practices, and developments in Ansible, RHEL, and related technologies
• Ensure compliance of current security policies and remediations.

• Proactively monitor and measure systems performance to detect trends and catch problems before users are impacted.

• Respond to systems alerts, triage, troubleshoot, and resolve incidents.

• Work closely with other support teams to ensure incident events are handled in a timely manner.

• Handle incoming technical escalations from Service Desk, Network Operations Security Center, Tier II, and other support teams.
• Document and map architecture of the current RHEL environment and support the development of a Infrastructure Automation roadmap

• Assist with postmortem related activities and support various efforts related to operational improvements.

• Based on recommendations from management, implement new and improved processes, change processes, perform new tasks, create reports, and address ad-hoc requests.

• Contribute to documentation in the Knowledge Base, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), work instructions, and job aids.
• Continuously cross-train to also support other technical tasks and responsibilities.

• Perform additional duties as assigned.
You'll Bring These Qualifications:

• Ability to obtain DoD Security Clearance

• Ability to obtain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Entry On Duty (EOD) - Active EOD preferred

• MA/MS + 10 years of applicable experience (or BA/BS + 13yrs of AA/AS + 15rs)

• Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)

• Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation

• ITILv4 Foundation certification (not required to start but expected to attain in first six months)

• Work on-call rotation to respond to incident escalations

• Expert troubleshooting of Amazon Linux, CentOS 7.4, CentOS 7.9, RHEL 6.1, RHEL 7.9, Ubuntu 18.04, and other Linux server operating systems

• Strong scripting and PowerShell skills

• Experience building, configuring, hardening Windows and Linux servers

• Experience using Service Now service management software (or similar tool) to document incidents and service requests These Qualifications Would be Nice to Have:

• Previous DHS or DoD experience

• The following certifications are highly desired:

• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

• Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)

• Red Hate Certified Specialist in Advanced Automation: Ansible Best Practices

• Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Network Automation

• COMPTIA A+, or Network+, or Security+
• Any other applicable Linux certifications
• Knowledgeable of Problem Management best practice and processes
• Prior experience with design, development, and management of cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and services in both the Commercial and Government Cloud space

• Significant experience with cloud platforms (AWS and Azure) and containerization technologies (Docker and Kubernetes)