Ansible Automation Systems Engineer

Position Title: Systems Engineer – Ansible Automation
Location: Columbia MD (Hybrid work schedule)
Clearance Requirements: Eligibility for a Secret Clearance, Active Clearance would be great
Industry: Government / Defense / Secure Enterprise Environment

Position Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled Systems Engineer – Ansible Automation to architect, design, and own enterprise-scale automation frameworks. This is not a “playbook user” role — we are looking for someone who has built, structured, and maintained automation ecosystems from the ground up.
The ideal candidate has deep experience designing Ansible playbooks, modular role structures, and scalable configuration management frameworks that support secure, compliant, and repeatable infrastructure deployments. Experience operating in security-focused, federal, or DoD-adjacent environments is strongly preferred.
This role will serve as a technical leader in automation strategy, infrastructure as code (IaC), and configuration governance.

Key Responsibilities
Architect and own enterprise-wide Ansible automation frameworks
Design, develop, and maintain scalable playbooks and reusable role structures
Establish best practices for configuration management, inventory structuring, and secrets handling
Build modular, version-controlled automation aligned with infrastructure lifecycle management
Integrate Ansible with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps toolchains
Automate system provisioning, patching, hardening, and compliance validation
Develop standardized automation for Linux and/or Windows environments
Collaborate with Security, Infrastructure, and DevOps teams to ensure automation aligns with compliance frameworks (e.g., STIG, NIST, RMF)
Troubleshoot and optimize automation workflows for performance and scalability
Provide technical mentorship and governance around automation standards
Maintain documentation, testing frameworks, and change control for automation assets

Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience)
5+ years of systems engineering or infrastructure automation experience
Demonstrated experience architecting and owning Ansible automation frameworks
Deep expertise in:
Ansible playbook development
Role-based architecture and modular design
Inventory and variable structuring at scale
Ansible Tower / AWX (or similar orchestration platforms)
Strong understanding of:
Linux system administration
Infrastructure as Code principles
Configuration management best practices
Experience integrating Ansible into CI/CD pipelines
Strong scripting experience (Python, Bash, or similar)
Experience managing automation in large, multi-environment infrastructures (Dev/Test/Prod)

Preferred Qualifications
Experience in security-focused or DoD-adjacent environments
Familiarity with:
STIG hardening
NIST 800-53 / RMF controls
FedRAMP or IL-level environments
Experience in containerized or cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GovCloud)
Active or prior security clearance
Experience automating patch management and vulnerability remediation workflows
Familiarity with GitOps methodologies

What Makes This Role Different
We are specifically seeking someone who has:
Designed automation architecture — not just executed tasks
Owned lifecycle management of automation frameworks
Built reusable, scalable automation standards adopted by teams
Driven governance and technical direction around configuration management