Senior Cloud Engineer at Pantheon Data in Reston, VA, USA

Job description

• Pantheon Data is seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer to lead the operational management and technical support of AWS GovCloud (US) environments. This role is critical in hosting secure federal workloads, including Generative AI (Bedrock) and ML (SageMaker) applications. You will ensure 99.9% availability, maintain compliance with NIST 800-53 Rev 5 and CMMC 2.0 Level 2, and serve as the primary technical escalation point for developers and DevSecOps engineers.

Responsibilities

• Environment Management: Provision and manage multi-account AWS GovCloud environments using Terraform and AWS Organizations, ensuring strict isolation of CUI, commercial data.
• Cloud Operations & Monitoring: Execute day-to-day operations including automated patching (AWS Systems Manager), backup verification (AWS Backup), and continuous monitoring via Amazon CloudWatch and CloudTrail.
• Security & Compliance Ops: Perform regular security updates, image hardening (AMI/Container), and vulnerability remediation based on Amazon Inspector and Security Hub findings. Ensure all endpoints meet FIPS 140-3 requirements.
• CI/CD & Dev Support: Partner with DevSecOps to integrate GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) into deployment workflows and provide deep-dive troubleshooting for developer-facing cloud environment issues (e.g., IAM policy debugging, VPC routing, and EKS connectivity).
• Incident Response: Lead root-cause analysis for performance bottlenecks and service interruptions in production and staging environments.

Requirements

• Cloud Expertise: 7+ years of hands-on experience with AWS, with at least 3 years specifically in AWS GovCloud.
• AI/ML Infrastructure: Familiarity with managing LLM infrastructure and RAG pipelines.
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform skills, including module development and remote state management in a cross-account environment.
• Networking & Security: Advanced knowledge of VPC architecture (Transit Gateways, PrivateLink, VPC Endpoints), IAM (ABAC/RBAC), and encryption via AWS KMS.
• Operational Tooling: Proficiency with AWS Systems Manager (SSM) for fleet management, AWS Config for compliance tracking, and Grafana/CloudWatch for observability.
• Compliance Frameworks: Understanding of FedRAMP High, NIST SP 800-53, CMMC v2/3 technical controls.
• Ability to work effectively remotely in cross-functional teams.
• Ability to meet deadlines and produce quality work.
• Proficient in Microsoft Suite software including Outlook, Word, Excel, SharePoint, and PowerPoint.
• Applicants selected will be subject to a security investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements. Secret Clearance is required for continued employment.
• Scripting: Advanced Python or bash for custom automation and Lambda-based lifecycle hooks.
• Kubernetes: Operational experience with Amazon EKS, specifically cluster upgrades and worker node group troubleshooting.
• Certification: AWS Certified Solutions Architect or AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate.
• Leadership: Experience in mentoring junior engineers and contributing to architectural review boards (ARB).

Skills

Required

• AWS
• AWS GovCloud
• Terraform
• VPC architecture
• IAM (ABAC/RBAC)
• AWS KMS
• AWS Systems Manager (SSM)
• AWS Config
• Grafana
• CloudWatch
• FedRAMP High
• NIST SP 800-53

Preferred

• Python
• bash
• AWS Lambda
• Amazon EKS
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect
• Mentoring
• Architectural review boards

Benefits

• We are always looking for good people! Pantheon Data is committed to providing its employees with competitive salaries and benefits in order to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. In addition to our benefits, we also offer SmartBenefits through the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority, where you specify an amount of your pre-tax wages be paid directly to your SmarTrip account. In some cases, tuition assistance may be available for continuing education expenses and certifications related to their position. Additional details may be found at https://pantheon-data.com/careers/
• The salary range for this position is $100,000 - $150,000. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possibly contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.