Senior Platform Services Lead Engineer

Empower AI is AI for government. Empower AI gives federal agency leaders the tools to elevate the potential of their workforce with a direct path for meaningful transformation. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Empower AI leverages three decades of experience solving complex challenges in Health, Defense, and Civilian missions. Our proven Empower AI Platform® provides a practical, sustainable path for clients to achieve transformation that is true to who they are, what they do, how they work, with the resources they have. The result is a government workforce that is exponentially more creative and productive. For more information, visit www.Empower.ai.

Empower AI is proud to be recognized as a 2024 Military Friendly Employer by Viqtory, the publisher of G.I. Jobs. This designation reflects the company’s commitment to hiring and supporting active-duty and veteran employees.

SUMMARY

DIGIT is seeking a Senior Platform Services Lead Engineer to support GSA platform management services which encompass operations, continuity services, and recovery services for all IT core infrastructure services required to deliver any technology. In support of platform management, the Platform Services Lead Engineer duties will include, but not be limited to, oversight of multiple teams focused on the installation, configuration, and hardening of systems, system back-ups, O/S loading, restoration, and image creation. 

As a leading provider of advanced information technology solutions and professional services to U.S. federal government agencies, is the prime for a $807m task order in support of the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Digital Infrastructure Technologies (IDT) DIGIT (Digital Innovation for GSA Infrastructure Technologies) task order driving digital transformation and delivering continuous improvement and business value to its customers.  The team is comprised of the best-in-class technology partners to leverage forward-leaning technologies and best practices to transform GSA’s IT capabilities and shift offerings to provide a more flexible service delivery model, completing the agency’s shift to a fully digital experience along with its adoption of advanced, emerging technologies such as intelligent automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This position shall perform the following (to include but not limited to) activities:

• Oversight of teams focused on and, as needed, direct involvement in the following:
• Installing, monitoring, and upgrading UNIX and Windows system software.
• Creating and maintaining UNIX and Windows user accounts and access management systems.
• Creating and setting standardized backup and recovery policies, as well as security policies.
• Applying patches and upgrades in accordance with agreed upon schedules .
• Analyzing impact of software changes across other functional units.
• Establishing, implementing, and recording Unix and Windows Administrator best practices.
• Recognizing trends and issues; foreseeing upcoming risks, identifying existing risks, and taking necessary measures to eliminate them. 
• Functioning as Level / Tier III support for analyzing, troubleshooting, and implementing solutions related to Unix OS technical problems.
• Actively involved with third parties engaged in to ensure acceptable quality of service delivery and, prevent information security incidents.
• Assist COOP/DR exercises, projects and tasks as required.
•  Participating in meetings with executives to discuss technical issues and propose solutions
• Collaborating with other members of the engineering team to design new features or improve existing ones
• Escalate issues to vendor and third-party entities, as necessary and directed by the Government.
• Interacts with the Government regarding Systems Engineering technical considerations and for associated problems, issues and conflicts 
• Prepares program and test specifications 
• Prepares test procedures and data 
• Prepares complete documentation of methods, procedures, and design 
• Supervises revisions and changes 
• Directs and oversees the implementation of combined hardware/software systems 

CONTRACT REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

This following are REQUIRED for this position:

• Public Trust Clearance and ITILv4 Foundation Certification within 120 days of start date
• Possesses and applies a comprehensive knowledge across key tasks and high impact assignments.
• Plans and leads major technology assignments.
• Evaluates performance results and recommends major changes affecting short-term project growth and success.
• Functions as a technical expert across multiple project assignments.
• Will supervise others.
• Operates with appreciable latitude in developing methodology and presenting solutions to problems. 
• Contributes to deliverables and performance metrics where applicable.
• Design and develop solutions to complex applications problems, system administration issues, or network concerns. 
• Perform systems management and integration functions
• Proven ability to work independently in a full and/or partial remote environment with limited supervision.
• Possess the ability to communicate in both oral and written forms, demonstrating an ability to communicate effectively with all levels of staff as well as clients.
• Maintain standard working hours per the DIGIT contract and to be available for meetings, and other collaborative efforts during working hours.
• Demonstrated ability to apply comprehensive knowledge across key tasks and high impact assignments with the ability to use practical experience and training to determine how to accomplish tasks.
• VMware experience is required.
• Storage experience is required.
• HCI knowledge is required (vSAN, VXrail, Nutanix, Cisco HX).
• Proven ability to design and implement datacenter infrastructure.
• Proven understanding of scalable and resilient datacenter infrastructure.
• Experience with Datacenter networking.

CONTRACT DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

The following are DESIRED for this position:

• Familiarity with multiple information technologies that include operating systems, databases, server virtualization, cloud-based infrastructure, automation, and middleware with expertise in several of the technologies, including RedHat/CentOS Linux, Solaris, VMWare, X86 hardware and AWS.
• Familiarity with base OS image creation, server configuration and automation tools such as Ansible, Puppet, Chef, Cobbler, Kickstart, Cloud formation, etc.
• A familiarity of Active Directory, GPO, Sites and Services.
• Familiarity with high availability, disaster recovery, and load balancer concepts is a plus
• Experience using ServiceNow for ticket management and inventory management.
•  Good analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and quickly learn new skills and techniques.
• Strong aptitude for an independent working environment and high productivity rate.
• Excellent communication and customer relationship skills.
•  Proficiency in the Google Suite (Gmail, Calendar, Chat, Meet, Docs, Slides, Sheets), Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Slack, and ServiceNow.
• Must be willing to work a variety of shifts, including holidays as scheduled.
• Experience documenting and updating Security Controls.
• Experience modifying and updating Architectural Diagrams.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

The following are the education and experience required for this position:

• 7 - 12 years of experience and bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• Experience as a remote worker demonstrating time management and self discipline with cultural change management and Agile mindset.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
The physical demands described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to do the following: 

• If remote, maintain home workspace in a safe manner, free from safety hazards and in line with information security policies. 
• Communicate verbally in person, over the phone or by video chat and clearly/succinctly in writing, primarily utilizing a keyboard. 
• Appear on camera for meetings with co-workers and government partners via video chat and ensure the protection of proprietary company and customer information is consistent with the company’s expectation of information security.
• Viewing computer screens and sitting for long periods of time. 
• Travel approximately 10% of the time via car or plane, which requires ability to manage luggage, laptop, and briefing materials (up to 25 pounds).

All hiring and promotion decisions at Empower AI are based on merit to bring the best talent available to contribute to our firm’s overall success. It is the policy of Empower AI not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or employee because of age, color, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. Empower AI is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.