Senior Proxmox Cluster Engineer

We're looking for a polygraph-cleared Senior Proxmox Cluster Administrator to take ownership of mission-critical virtualization infrastructure supporting multi-OS research environments. You'll collaborate directly with Nightwing engineers, mission partners, and government customers in a high-tempo operational setting.

This is a technical, hands-on role focused on ensuring platform availability, strengthening security controls, and advancing automation capabilities. Strong candidates will also have depth in Linux system administration and/or DevSecOps engineering practices., * Operate and maintain Proxmox VE clusters, including quorum health, HA configuration, node lifecycle management, and capacity planning

• Establish standardized workflows for VM and container provisioning
• Troubleshoot complex issues spanning compute, networking, and storage layers
• Configure and optimize host networking: bridges, bonding, VLAN trunking, and isolated management networks

Backup & Recovery Operations

• Implement and oversee backup strategies and disaster recovery capabilities
• Conduct regular restore drills to validate recovery procedures

Documentation & Governance

• Create and maintain operational documentation including runbooks, standard operating procedures, topology diagrams, and change logs
• Produce compliance artifacts aligned with program security and audit requirements

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work alongside Nightwing teams, mission partners, and government personnel to safely integrate new workloads
• Lead platform enhancement efforts and identify opportunities for operational improvements

Extended Capabilities (Nice to Have)

• Manage hardened Linux baseline configurations and platform services across the environment
• Build automation solutions using Ansible and Git-based workflows to eliminate manual tasks and prevent configuration drift

Experience Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree
• 6+ years with a Master's degree
• 4+ years with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• 14+ years of experience may substitute for a degree

Core Technical Skills

• Proven Linux administration experience in production settings (RHEL, Ubuntu, or equivalent distributions)
• Operational background managing virtualization platforms at scale (Proxmox VE strongly preferred)
• Proficient in automation using Ansible and scripting with Bash and Python

Technical Foundation

• High availability & clustering: Understanding of quorum mechanics, failover processes, and maintenance procedures
• Performance analysis: Diagnosing resource contention (CPU/memory/I/O), capacity forecasting
• Network architecture: VLANs, link aggregation, traffic segmentation
• Storage systems: Experience with ZFS, Ceph, or distributed storage, backup/restore methodologies

Certification Requirement

• Current industry certification in one of the following domains:

• Systems administration, information security, networking, virtualization, IT management, or project management
• Examples: Security+, CISSP, CISM, CASP+, CCNA, CCNP, RHCSA, RHCE, VCP, ITIL, PMP

Security Clearance

• U.S. Citizenship required
• Active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph, * Advanced Proxmox expertise: HA optimization, corosync diagnostics, multi-cluster architectures, version migrations
• Beyond-basic virtualization skills demonstrating platform design or architectural capabilities
• DevSecOps/Infrastructure as Code: GitOps methodologies, declarative infrastructure management
• Compliance & security operations: Hands-on experience with STIG implementations, RMF processes, NIST controls, and vulnerability management in classified environments
• Monitoring & observability: Familiarity with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, OpenSearch, Splunk, or SLO-based operational practices

#NEP

The salary associated with this position ($122,000-$253,000) is commensurate with the selected candidate's qualifications, years of relevant experience, and demonstrated level of expertise. Compensation will be determined based on these factors to ensure alignment with skills, responsibilities, and market standards. Nightwing offers medical, vision and dental insurance coverage in addition to a 401k plan, PTO, Holidays, and additional insurances.