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Salary: USD 160,000 - 200,000 / annual
Second Front Systems is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to lead technical delivery and customer relationships for high-complexity defense and intelligence community missions. You will own end-to-end technical deployments of Game Warden (a DevSecOps platform) into classified networks, DDIL environments, and systems spanning Impact Levels 2–6 and JWICS. Operating from customer sites in denied environments and connected networks, you will serve as the senior technical escalation point and primary authority for 2F's most demanding government engagements, making real-time architectural and risk-tradeoff decisions on-site.
Key responsibilities include architecting and deploying secure Kubernetes-based infrastructure (Talos Linux, Docker, Istio, GitLab, Helm, Terraform) across multi-cloud government environments; leading and mentoring forward-deployed and DevSecOps engineers; translating field experience into product roadmap priorities; driving accreditation and continuous ATO (cATO) outcomes in partnership with security/compliance teams; and maintaining rigorous configuration management and audit-ready evidence across engagements. You will also represent 2F to senior customer stakeholders (program managers, ISSOs/ISSMs, mission owners), support 24/7 incident response in zero-connectivity scenarios, and travel to client locations as needed for deployments, updates, and high-impact operational exercises.
Second Front Systems, founded by three former U.S. Marines, develops Game Warden, a fully managed and compliant DevSecOps platform that accelerates accreditation of SaaS applications for government use. The company is a public benefit corporation focused on empowering defense and national security professionals to leverage emerging technologies securely and effectively.
REQUIREMENTS:
• 7–10 years of experience in systems deployment, DevSecOps, or platform engineering in regulated/classified government environments, with demonstrated ownership of complex, mission-critical deployments (not just support/execution)
• Multi-cloud, government-authorized infrastructure: hands-on experience deploying and hardening workloads across AWS GovCloud/Commercial, Microsoft Azure Government, and Google Cloud, including Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalent) tailored to DoD Impact Level 2–6 and JWICS environments
• Container & orchestration security: expertise securing Kubernetes/OpenShift or equivalent container platforms — image hardening, admission controls, network policies, and runtime security — within accredited enclaves
• Observability & incident response: skilled in implementing logging, monitoring, and alerting stacks (ELK, Splunk, Prometheus/Grafana) to support 24/7 incident response, penetration test remediation, and Day 2 operations
• Expert-level proficiency in Linux (Talos, RedHat) server administration, along with deploying and maintaining Kubernetes on cloud platforms and disparate compute hardware
• Demonstrated leadership: experience mentoring engineers, leading technical design reviews, or acting as a technical lead on customer-facing engagements
• Strong scripting/automation ability in Go, Rust, Python, or Bash, with a track record of building internal tooling to remove manual toil from security and operations workflows
• Active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance (or eligibility, with active clearance strongly preferred); U.S. citizenship required
• Must reside in one of the approved hiring hubs: DC/Maryland/Virginia, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill NC, Denver/Colorado Springs CO, or Dallas/Fort Worth TX
