Continuous Integration /Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) SME

CI/CD Subject Matter Expert (SME) Location: Austin, TX – Hybrid with periodic on‑site meetings as required by the customer. Security Clearance: Public Trust. Clearance level must be able to obtain: None. Regular requisition. Expected to start August‑September2026.Job Description The CI/CD Subject Matter Expert (SME) is the technical authority for building and operating secure, reliable, and efficient delivery pipelines across on‑prem and multi‑cloud environments. The SME owns the last mile to production, designing, implementing, and operating continuous deployment practices that move changes safely and automatically from “approved” to “live,” with policy, security, and evidence built in.Responsibilities Release orchestration, progressive delivery (blue/green, canary, feature flags), automated rollback, and post‑deployment verification against SLOs.End‑to‑end traceability in ITSM; align day‑to‑day practices to federal frameworks (NIST RMF/CSF, Zero Trust/TIC3.0, SSDF).Sustain ATO requirements through automation; integrate deployment records and audit‑ready evidence for RMF/ConMon.Replace legacy deployment practices with gated, observable, and reversible deployments that run without drama.Bake risk controls into the pipeline—pre‑prod contract tests, change approvals as code, traffic shaping, health checks, and error‑budget‑aware promotion—to cut change failure, shrink MTTR, and raise deployment frequency without increasing incidents.Standardize a “paved road” to production so teams spend time building features, not handcrafting releases; provide accurate, real‑time status; maintain rollback readiness; ensure auditors see consistent records and evidence generated automatically with every deploy.What You'll Need to Succeed Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field, or 4 years of related experience.10+ years of experience in DevOps/Platform Engineering with hands‑on ownership of production deployments at enterprise scale.3+ years in regulated or federal environments (VA/DoD/DHS/HHS or highly regulated industry).Demonstrated results improving DORA metrics (deployment frequency ↑, lead time ↓, change failure rate ≤5–10%, MTTR ↓20–40%) using progressive delivery and automated rollback.Proven implementation of feature‑flag‑driven releases, blue/green and canary strategies, and zero‑downtime database changes (online migrations, backward‑compatible schemas).Experience integrating deployments with ITSM (automated change models/approvals, deployment records, back‑out plans) and generating audit‑ready evidence for RMF/ConMon.Track record operating in multi‑vendor/SIAM environments with cross‑team release trains and joint incident “swarming.”Technical Skills Release Orchestration & Progressive Delivery: deep experience with blue/green, canary, traffic shaping (gateways, service mesh, rollout controllers); automated promotion based on SLOs, synthetic checks, real‑user signals; automatic rollback on guardrail breach.Feature Management: design of flag strategies (kill switches, dark launches, percentage rollouts), flag lifecycle hygiene, blast‑radius containment; governance to prevent flag debt.Policy & Security‑as‑Code: OPA/Conftest, Sentinel, Checkov, Cloud Custodian; required tags/encryption, CIS/STIG baselines; pre‑merge and pre‑deploy enforcement.Deployment Automation: GitOps/desired‑state reconciliation (ArgoCD/Flux), immutable artifacts, environment drift detection and auto‑reconcile, promotion through environment rings.Containers & Platforms: Kubernetes/OpenShift operations (admission control, image policies, mTLS/service mesh), serverless and event‑driven patterns; blue/green & canary releases.Post‑Deployment Verification: telemetry‑based health checks, canary analysis, error rates/latency budgets, capacity/perf gates, automated smoke/contract tests in production‑like paths.Security & Compliance in the Pipeline: policy‑as‑code (tags, encryption, network controls), SSDF/supply‑chain controls (SBOM, signed artifacts, provenance), secrets management, OSCAL/RMF evidence emission per deploy.ITSM Integration: ServiceNow (or equivalent) change models, risk scoring, approvals‑as‑code, deployment records, and back‑out plans tied to pipeline events; status page and comms hooks for RevOps.Resilience & Chaos‑Safe Practices: fault injection/chaos experiments in pre‑prod, controlled in‑prod experiments with guardrails; DR runbooks validated via scripted drills.Cost & Performance Awareness: ephemeral environments, right‑sized runners, cache strategies, parallelization; collaboration with FinOps on cost per deploy and pipeline ROI.Skill & Expertise Outcome Orientation: design deployments to measurable targets—deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, MTTR, SLO burn—and publish trends transparently.Clear Communication: explain rollout plans and risks in plain language for executives, engineers, and non‑technical stakeholders; write crisp runbooks and “go/hold/rollback” criteria.Enablement & Leadership: coach teams onto the paved road; run release readiness reviews; build a community of practice for deployment excellence.Risk Management Mindset: use counter‑metrics (speed paired with quality) to prevent gaming; enforce “small, reversible changes” and safe‑to‑fail defaults.Collaboration in SIAM: coordinate cross‑vendor release trains, enforce handoff OLAs, and lead post‑incident learning that becomes pipeline policy.Discipline & Governance: maintain versioned deployment standards and exception processes; ensure OneVA TRM alignment where applicable; keep documentation current.Preferred Certifications AWS Certified DevOps EngineerMicrosoft Certified DevOps Engineer ExpertCertified Kubernetes Administrator / Application DeveloperDocker Certified AssociateBenefits Full‑flex work week to own your priorities at work and at home.401(k) with company match.Comprehensive health and wellness packages (medical, dental, vision, HSA).Internal mobility team dedicated to helping you build your skills and own your career.Professional growth opportunities, including paid education and certifications.Paid vacation and 10 company‑paid holidays.Short‑term and long‑term disability benefits, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness, and business travel and accident insurance.EEO Statement Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans.#J-18808-Ljbffr

CI/CD Subject Matter Expert (SME) Location: Austin, TX – Hybrid with periodic on‑site meetings as required by the customer. Security Clearance: Public Trust. Clearance level must be able to obtain: None. Regular requisition. Expected to start August‑September2026.Job Description The CI/CD Subject Matter Expert (SME) is the technical authority for building and operating secure, reliable, and efficient delivery pipelines across on‑prem and multi‑cloud environments. The SME owns the last mile to production, designing, implementing, and operating continuous deployment practices that move changes safely and automatically from “approved” to “live,” with policy, security, and evidence built in.Responsibilities Release orchestration, progressive delivery (blue/green, canary, feature flags), automated rollback, and post‑deployment verification against SLOs.End‑to‑end traceability in ITSM; align day‑to‑day practices to federal frameworks (NIST RMF/CSF, Zero Trust/TIC3.0, SSDF).Sustain ATO requirements through automation; integrate deployment records and audit‑ready evidence for RMF/ConMon.Replace legacy deployment practices with gated, observable, and reversible deployments that run without drama.Bake risk controls into the pipeline—pre‑prod contract tests, change approvals as code, traffic shaping, health checks, and error‑budget‑aware promotion—to cut change failure, shrink MTTR, and raise deployment frequency without increasing incidents.Standardize a “paved road” to production so teams spend time building features, not handcrafting releases; provide accurate, real‑time status; maintain rollback readiness; ensure auditors see consistent records and evidence generated automatically with every deploy.What You'll Need to Succeed Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field, or 4 years of related experience.10+ years of experience in DevOps/Platform Engineering with hands‑on ownership of production deployments at enterprise scale.3+ years in regulated or federal environments (VA/DoD/DHS/HHS or highly regulated industry).Demonstrated results improving DORA metrics (deployment frequency ↑, lead time ↓, change failure rate ≤5–10%, MTTR ↓20–40%) using progressive delivery and automated rollback.Proven implementation of feature‑flag‑driven releases, blue/green and canary strategies, and zero‑downtime database changes (online migrations, backward‑compatible schemas).Experience integrating deployments with ITSM (automated change models/approvals, deployment records, back‑out plans) and generating audit‑ready evidence for RMF/ConMon.Track record operating in multi‑vendor/SIAM environments with cross‑team release trains and joint incident “swarming.”Technical Skills Release Orchestration & Progressive Delivery: deep experience with blue/green, canary, traffic shaping (gateways, service mesh, rollout controllers); automated promotion based on SLOs, synthetic checks, real‑user signals; automatic rollback on guardrail breach.Feature Management: design of flag strategies (kill switches, dark launches, percentage rollouts), flag lifecycle hygiene, blast‑radius containment; governance to prevent flag debt.Policy & Security‑as‑Code: OPA/Conftest, Sentinel, Checkov, Cloud Custodian; required tags/encryption, CIS/STIG baselines; pre‑merge and pre‑deploy enforcement.Deployment Automation: GitOps/desired‑state reconciliation (ArgoCD/Flux), immutable artifacts, environment drift detection and auto‑reconcile, promotion through environment rings.Containers & Platforms: Kubernetes/OpenShift operations (admission control, image policies, mTLS/service mesh), serverless and event‑driven patterns; blue/green & canary releases.Post‑Deployment Verification: telemetry‑based health checks, canary analysis, error rates/latency budgets, capacity/perf gates, automated smoke/contract tests in production‑like paths.Security & Compliance in the Pipeline: policy‑as‑code (tags, encryption, network controls), SSDF/supply‑chain controls (SBOM, signed artifacts, provenance), secrets management, OSCAL/RMF evidence emission per deploy.ITSM Integration: ServiceNow (or equivalent) change models, risk scoring, approvals‑as‑code, deployment records, and back‑out plans tied to pipeline events; status page and comms hooks for RevOps.Resilience & Chaos‑Safe Practices: fault injection/chaos experiments in pre‑prod, controlled in‑prod experiments with guardrails; DR runbooks validated via scripted drills.Cost & Performance Awareness: ephemeral environments, right‑sized runners, cache strategies, parallelization; collaboration with FinOps on cost per deploy and pipeline ROI.Skill & Expertise Outcome Orientation: design deployments to measurable targets—deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, MTTR, SLO burn—and publish trends transparently.Clear Communication: explain rollout plans and risks in plain language for executives, engineers, and non‑technical stakeholders; write crisp runbooks and “go/hold/rollback” criteria.Enablement & Leadership: coach teams onto the paved road; run release readiness reviews; build a community of practice for deployment excellence.Risk Management Mindset: use counter‑metrics (speed paired with quality) to prevent gaming; enforce “small, reversible changes” and safe‑to‑fail defaults.Collaboration in SIAM: coordinate cross‑vendor release trains, enforce handoff OLAs, and lead post‑incident learning that becomes pipeline policy.Discipline & Governance: maintain versioned deployment standards and exception processes; ensure OneVA TRM alignment where applicable; keep documentation current.Preferred Certifications AWS Certified DevOps EngineerMicrosoft Certified DevOps Engineer ExpertCertified Kubernetes Administrator / Application DeveloperDocker Certified AssociateBenefits Full‑flex work week to own your priorities at work and at home.401(k) with company match.Comprehensive health and wellness packages (medical, dental, vision, HSA).Internal mobility team dedicated to helping you build your skills and own your career.Professional growth opportunities, including paid education and certifications.Paid vacation and 10 company‑paid holidays.Short‑term and long‑term disability benefits, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness, and business travel and accident insurance.EEO Statement Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans.#J-18808-Ljbffr

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