Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; Master's degree may substitute for experience.
Ten years of relevant IT/engineering experience with Windows Server operations and cloud engineering environments.
Strong hands-on experience with Windows Server administration and production support (95% Windows environment).
Demonstrated immediate senior-level performance with minimal ramp-up; practical production experience emphasized.
Willingness to participate in on-call rotations and resolve after-hours incidents effectively.
Strong experience with AWS GovCloud required.
Ability to work independently in secure environments with excellent communication and analytical skills.
Responsibilities
Own Windows Server production operations and provide hands-on support for critical applications.
Administer and maintain Windows Server systems, ensuring their availability and recovery during incidents.
Lead production incident response and root-cause analysis across cloud and container platforms.
Engineer secure cloud infrastructure and implement scalable cloud architectures across Windows and Linux systems.
Automate environment provisioning using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible) as a secondary responsibility.
Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps automation per best practices.
Design and implement monitoring and alerting solutions to ensure system performance and availability.
Develop technical documentation and mentor junior engineers.
Benefits
Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
Parental Leave
401(k) Retirement Plan
Group Term Life and Travel Assistance
Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance
Health Savings Account, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits
Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development, Certifications & Learning Opportunities
Employee Referral Program
Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
Care.com annual membership
Employee Assistance Program
Supplemental Benefits via Corestream
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
Full Job Description
Job Family: Systems Engineering
Travel Required: Up to 10%
Clearance Required: Ability to Obtain Public Trust
What You Will Do:
Own Windows Server production operations (day one). Serve as the senior technical owner for a predominantly Windows Server environment (~95% Windows), providing hands-on production support for mission-critical applications hosted in government cloud (AWS GovCloud).
Administer and sustain Windows Server. Maintain, troubleshoot, patch, harden, and recover Windows Server systems in production - sustaining availability during business hours and through a shared on-call rotation, independently resolving after-hours incidents.
Lead incident response. Drive production incident response and deep-dive root-cause analysis across Windows Server, cloud, and container platforms.
Engineer secure cloud infrastructure. Design, implement, and maintain secure, scalable cloud architectures across Windows and Linux systems; work independently or lead small teams.
Automate with IaC (secondary). Develop and manage Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and Ansible to provision and configure environments - secondary to Windows operations and Kubernetes troubleshooting.
Build CI/CD and DevSecOps. Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps automation aligned with government and industry best practices.
Monitor and ensure availability. Design and implement monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions; establish performance baselines and ensure system availability.
Harden federal environments. Enforce security best practices, including identity and access management and system hardening for federal environments.
Document and mentor. Develop and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and SOPs; mentor junior and mid-level engineers and provide technical leadership across DevOps practices.
Must work on client site in Washington, DC.
What You Will Need:
Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field; a Master's degree may substitute for additional years of experience per contract guidance.
Ten (10 ) years of relevant IT/engineering experience, including senior-level Windows Server operations and 3+ years supporting cloud engineering environments
U.S. citizenship or Green Card status is required.
Windows Server operations - highest priority. Strong, current, hands-on Windows Server administration/engineering: production support, troubleshooting, maintenance, recovery, and patching. The environment is approximately 95% Windows.
Day-one senior contributor. Demonstrated ability to perform at a senior level immediately with minimal or no ramp-up; practical production operations experience rather than primarily cloud-native development.
On-call readiness. Willing and able to participate in a production on-call rotation and independently resolve after-hours incidents.
Government cloud. Strong hands-on experience with AWS GovCloud.
Core skills. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision in complex, secure environments; strong analytical and advanced troubleshooting skills; excellent written, verbal, and stakeholder communication; demonstrated technical leadership and mentoring.
Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal or DoD "PUBLIC TRUST"; candidates must obtain approved adjudication of their PUBLIC TRUST prior to onboarding with Guidehouse. Candidates with an ACTIVE PUBLIC TRUST or SUITABILITY are preferred.
What Would Be Nice To Have:
Windows automation & certs. PowerShell scripting; Microsoft / Windows Server Administrator certifications.
IaC depth. Deep Terraform (Infrastructure as Code) and Ansible (configuration management/automation) expertise.
Current Kubernetes expertise. Able to independently operate, troubleshoot, and take ownership of a production Kubernetes environment and answer senior-level Kubernetes questions.
Kubernetes at scale. Service mesh, API gateways, and Kubernetes security tooling.
Federal compliance. Experience with FISMA, NIST, and FedRAMP frameworks.
Security adjacencies. Familiarity with PKI, identity services, or credential management systems.
Enterprise scale & scripting. Experience supporting large-scale, multi-environment enterprise systems; scripting in Python and Bash.
The annual salary range for this position is $149,000.00-$248,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.
What We Offer:
Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.
Benefits include:
Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
Parental Leave
401(k) Retirement Plan
Group Term Life and Travel Assistance
Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance
Health Savings Account, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits
Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development, Certifications & Learning Opportunities
Employee Referral Program
Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
Care.com annual membership
Employee Assistance Program
Supplemental Benefits via Corestream (Critical Care, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Assistance and ID theft protection, etc.)
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
About Guidehouse
Guidehouse is a management consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. The firm provides consulting services to clients in the public and commercial sectors, with a focus on energy, financial services, healthcare, national security, and aerospace and defense. Guidehouse was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from PwC. The firm has over 7,000 employees and operates in more than 50 locations worldwide.
