Senior/Staff AWS DevOps Engineer (NARA)

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, DevOps engineers work with developers throughout the software development life cycle to ensure code can be reliably and repeatedly released on demand with a high degree of quality. They understand both software development and operations, with expertise in areas such as networking, security, test automation, and continuous integration/deployment.

In this role, you’ll support the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as they modernize how critical government records are securely transferred, stored, and accessed. You’ll help manage and maintain cloud-based systems hosted in AWS — along with some Microsoft Azure environments — ensuring they operate efficiently, securely, and reliably. This work is essential to preserving and providing secure access to historical records, supporting NARA’s vital mission for generations to come.

What you’ll do

• Architect and manage cloud infrastructure. Design, configure, and maintain AWS resources across several accounts within an organization. Write your Infrastructure as Code, creating a cloud system designed for availability, reliability, and resiliency. You’ll optimize resource usage and costs within AWS with appropriate auto-scaling solutions.
• Ensure security and compliance. Implement and enforce access and security controls using AWS services. You’ll also set up and validate backup and recovery processes to keep critical data safe.
  Automate and streamline. Use containerization tools (like Docker) and build a robust CI/CD pipeline (using services like GitHub Actions or AWS Fargate) to enhance efficiency and reliability. Work with our software engineers to enhance and accelerate their SDLC.
• Monitor and troubleshoot. Track system performance, uptime, and health by building observability into your designs. Investigate issues quickly and escalate unresolved concerns with AWS support as needed.
• Collaborate with teams. Work closely with NARA staff, stakeholders, and fellow engineers to resolve incidents and continuously improve our services. Share knowledge, introduce fresh ideas, and contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture.
• Document and improve. Maintain clear, concise documentation for configurations, processes, and troubleshooting steps. Keep up with AWS updates, propose improvements, and help implement best practices.

What we’re looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Robust cloud infrastructure experience. Experience architecting solutions in AWS and managing Infrastructure as Code. You can also carefully balance performance and cost considerations when making decisions.
• Security and monitoring know-how. Comfortable using AWS tooling to configure infrastructures for monitoring, metrics, alerting, logging, and compliance.
• Networking and data migration skills. You know your way around a VPC and are ready to support a seamless data migration across cloud environments while minimizing downtime.
• Collaboration and problem-solving. You communicate clearly with diverse teams and stakeholders, proactively resolve incidents, and approach challenges with a solution-focused mindset.
• Professional services and values. You thrive in client-facing situations, demonstrate passion for creating better public outcomes, align with our core values, and are willing to travel occasionally if needed.

Nice-to-have qualifications

• AWS certification. AWS Solutions Architect Associate or AWS Solutions Architect Professional.
• Federal systems experience. Supporting large-scale federal systems or cloud-based records management projects.
• Compliance familiarity. FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, or similar standards.
• Multi-cloud experience. Working with hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
• Civic tech background. Prior involvement in the civic tech space.
• Remote teamwork. Experience collaborating effectively with distributed teams.

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• Public trust clearance. Ability to obtain and hold a federal public trust (Tier 2).
• Minimal off-hours work. Some weekend or evening testing and maintenance may be needed to avoid user impact.
• U.S. work location. All work must be performed within the U.S. (excluding territories), and certain federal contracts require U.S. citizenship.
• Work authorization. You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• Background check. You may be required to successfully complete a company background check.
• Federal contract qualifications. Some roles may require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a DevOps Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate DevOps Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
• DevOps Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
• DevOps Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior DevOps Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff DevOps Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal DevOps Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 11 federal holidays, and flexible sick leave
• Up to 12 weeks paid time off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Access up to $1,000 before payday to cover emergency expenses
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

We want you to have a great interview experience with us! Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at recruiting@skylight.digital.

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We're an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.