Sr. Principal Pipeline Engineer (TS/SCI Clearance)

Sr. Principal Pipeline Engineer - TS/SCI Clearance REQUIRED
Location: Aurora, CO
Rate: $200,000 - $225,000 with full Gov't benefits
Type: Contract or Contract to Hire

We are seeking a Sr. Principal Pipeline Engineer to design, architect, and develop the CI/CD pipelines, automation, and tool chains that enable secure, reliable, and scalable software delivery across our hybrid-cloud enterprise. These environments—a mix of servers, workstations, storage, networks, and custom hardware—provide the backbone for development, integration, and test activities for a large Program delivering a critical national asset.

This role requires deep expertise in CI/CD systems, DevSecOps automation, and pipeline architecture, with the technical ability to engineer, extend, and optimize tools—not just use them. The Sr. Principal Pipeline Engineer will architect, develop, automate, and maintain core pipeline services using tools such as AWS, RHEL, Ansible, Artifactory, Jenkins, GitLab, and Terraform to support our Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and secure software supply chain objectives.

What You Will Do

-You will design, architect, and modernize end‑to‑end CI/CD pipelines, ensuring secure, automated, and repeatable software delivery.
-You will architect and manage enterprise pipeline tools, including Artifactory repositories, Jenkins automation frameworks, and GitLab CI/CD pipelines, developing custom integrations, plugins, and configurations as needed.
-You will develop software packages using Maven, Docker, Helm, PyPI, YUM, Conan, and similar tools to support automated build, test, and release workflows.
-You will develop and integrate Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) into automated pipeline processes to support software supply chain security.
-You will design automated hybrid-cloud workflows using tools such as Ansible and Terraform.
-You will build, package, and deploy containerized applications into Kubernetes environments using automated CI/CD workflows, including developing and troubleshooting container images, Helm charts, and deployment manifests used within the pipeline.

Qualifications You Must Have

-Typically requires a BS/BA Degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)—such as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or Physics—and 10+ years of related work experience.
-Current TS/SCI security clearance is required on day 1. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance
-Demonstrated experience architecting, developing, automating, and maintaining enterprise‑scale CI/CD systems including Artifactory, Jenkins, and GitLab (not just using these tools, but designing and implementing them).
-Experience building, packaging, and deploying containerized applications using CI/CD workflows integrated with Kubernetes environments.
-Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform and Ansible; Docker or Podman, and container orchestration frameworks such as Kubernetes or Rancher.
-Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or similar on‑prem/self‑hosted infrastructure).

Qualifications We Prefer

-Experience designing and operating large‑scale CI/CD pipelines and software delivery ecosystems.
-Expert-level knowledge of Git and modern branching strategies.
-Experience with RHEL Linux systems.
-Experience implementing Scaled Agile Frameworks.
-Programming experience with Python, Bash, Ruby, or related languages.
-Background in installing, configuring, automating, and integrating COTS/FOSS products—specifically architecting and extending Artifactory, Jenkins, and GitLab.
-Ability to apply creative, out‑of‑the‑box thinking to resolve complex technical issues.
-Knowledge of problem management practices and ServiceNow.