Linux Infrastructure Automation Engineer

Role:
Linux Infrastructure Automation Engineer/Automation Services Engineer
Employment Type:
Full Time
Work setting:
Leesburg VA (Onsite Job)
Job Type: Full-Time
Interview: 2 round of virtual interview
Ideal Candidate Profile

• Experience working in:
• Infrastructure/platform teams
• Service providers / MSPs
• Environments where systems are built for others
• Comfortable with:
• Ambiguity
• Not a fit for candidates who:
• Only operate tools (don't build)
• Prefer narrow specialization

• Work on the core platform that powers engineering across the organization
• High visibility and impact across multiple teams
• Strong emphasis on automation, open-source, and modern infrastructure practices
• Opportunity to work on emerging internal AI use cases
• Broad technical exposure across systems, networking, CI/CD, and tooling

The client is hiring multiple Automation Services Engineers to join a growing team responsible for building the automation, tooling, and services that power internal engineering teams.

This team operates as a platform enablement function, creating the infrastructure, CI/CD validation pipelines, and automation frameworks that other teams depend on to reliably deliver outcomes.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on infrastructure generalist - someone who has worked with real systems in production and can build automation around them.

"Jack of all trades, master of none - but better than most."

• Build and maintain infrastructure automation frameworks using Ansible and related tools
• Develop and manage CI/CD pipelines (Git Lab) for validation, testing, and deployment
• Design and implement repeatable, reliable system configurations using infrastructure-as-code practices
• Automate installation, configuration, patching, and validation of systems and services
• Build and maintain nightly/continuous validation pipelines to detect drift and ensure system health
• Integrate and "glue together" open-source tools and platforms into cohesive solutions
• Support internal engineering teams by delivering platform services and automation tooling
• Troubleshoot issues across:
• Networking
• Storage
• Build or customize OS images for consistent deployments (Packer or similar tools)
• Contribute to internal AI initiatives (locally hosted AI use cases and tooling)
• Work within Git-based workflows (merge requests, code reviews, branching strategies)

• Hands-on experience with one or more configuration/automation tools:
• Ansible (preferred)
• Puppet, Chef, Salt
• Experience with:
• CI/CD pipelines (Git Lab preferred)
• Git-based workflows
• Ability to:
• Turn manual processes into automated, repeatable workflows
• Work across a broad technical stack rather than a narrow specialty

• Experience in:
• Managed services providers (MSPs), hosting, or service providers
• Supporting internal engineering teams
• Experience with:
• Image building tools (Packer strongly preferred)
• Open-source infrastructure and software ecosystems
• Networking fundamentals (routing, firewalls, connectivity troubleshooting)
• Familiarity with:
• Automating validation pipelines (including nightly checks)
• Managing multi-environment configurations and inventories

• Build vs Operate mindset - prefers creating systems/tools over manual ops work
• True platform engineering orientation (building for other engineers)
• Ability to connect systems and tools into cohesive platforms
• Interest in locally hosted AI and emerging internal tooling initiatives
• Automation-first thinking (idempotent, repeatable, testable systems)
• Strong troubleshooting instincts across layers
• Bias toward practical, maintainable solutions
• Focus on:
• Reliability
• Observability
• Documentation
• Long-term ownership

• Scripting or light development (Python, Bash, Go)