Jr Automation & Orchestration Engineer

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineers to support a long-term DOD program focused on automation, orchestration, site reliability, release management, and infrastructure engineering. This position is 100% onsite in Norfolk, VA, with multiple openings supporting a large-scale enterprise environment. The Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineer will support the automation and reliability of virtualized, on-premises, and commercial cloud infrastructure. This role will focus on automating routine operations, software updates, system configurations, testing, deployments, and release processes while leveraging Ansible, PowerShell, Python, CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and DevOps toolsets. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with automation in enterprise environments and an interest in growing within a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), DevOps, or infrastructure automation discipline. This position is Monday-Friday, day shift, with a start time between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM.

Responsibilities of the Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineer include:

• Support site reliability engineering, infrastructure automation, orchestration, release management, implementation, migration, and integration activities across enterprise environments
• Automate routine infrastructure tasks, software updates, system configurations, patching, deployments, and operational processes
• Develop, test, troubleshoot, and maintain automation scripts and workflows
• Develop Ansible playbooks, roles, and automation workflows for infrastructure configuration, deployment, testing, and operational management
• Perform Ansible development and testing in non-production environments before migrating automation capabilities into production networks
• Automate Windows infrastructure and endpoint administration using Ansible, PowerShell, Python, and related scripting technologies
• Develop automated solutions for system configuration, patching, software deployment, and infrastructure maintenance
• Support continuous development and continuous integration activities across enterprise infrastructure
• Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, GitLab, and related DevOps platforms
• Support automated functional, integration, security, regression, acceptance, load, and stress testing
• Develop and document automated acceptance-testing approaches for new applications, capabilities, releases, and infrastructure changes
• Develop automated integration and regression testing procedures to improve release quality and operational reliability
• Support the design, implementation, testing, and deployment of infrastructure automation capabilities
• Participate in release management activities including release planning, scheduling, implementation, migration, and validation
• Establish, maintain, and update release management documentation, schedules, procedures, and implementation plans
• Assess release packages, infrastructure dependencies, software requirements, and existing equipment to identify potential deployment issues
• Support implementation and migration activities across production and non-production environments
• Troubleshoot automation failures, deployment issues, configuration problems, and infrastructure defects
• Analyze system and application behavior to identify opportunities for additional automation and operational improvements
• Support day-to-day infrastructure operations across virtualized, on-premises, cloud, and classified environments
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, work instructions, automation procedures, testing procedures, operational runbooks, and knowledge-transfer materials
• Document automation and orchestration processes to support repeatable and standardized operations
• Provide training and knowledge transfer when new technologies, automation capabilities, tools, or processes are introduced
• Participate in site surveys and infrastructure assessments as required to validate equipment, software, dependencies, and release requirements
• Collaborate with infrastructure, network, systems, cybersecurity, DevOps, SRE, and operations teams across distributed environments
• Support program execution within classified environments and assist with activities requiring access to SIPRNet
• Participate in continuous process improvement and identify opportunities to increase infrastructure reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency
• Follow Agile, DevOps, SRE, configuration management, and enterprise release-management processes

Qualifications of the Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineer include:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 1–2+ years of hands-on experience in site engineering, infrastructure automation, systems engineering, DevOps, SRE, or a related technical discipline
• Active Secret Clearnace
• Ability to obtain an IAT Level II baseline certification within the first 3 months of employment, such as Security+ CE, CySA+, GSEC, SSCP, CND, GICSP, or CCNA Security
• Hands-on experience with Ansible, including playbook development, automation, testing, and troubleshooting
• Experience using Ansible with Windows environments
• Experience with automated scripting, script development, coding, debugging, and maintenance
• Experience with PowerShell and/or Python
• Experience with CI/CD tools and pipelines, such as Jenkins, GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, or similar technologies
• Basic understanding of Azure DevOps, including workflows, projects, repositories, and configurations
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and collaborative software/infrastructure development practices
• Understanding of infrastructure automation, configuration management, and automated deployment concepts
• Ability to troubleshoot automation scripts, infrastructure configurations, deployment issues, and system failures
• Ability to work effectively as part of a distributed and geographically dispersed technical team
• Ability to work in a highly collaborative, forward-thinking, and innovation-driven environment
• Ability to support program execution in classified environments
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to create clear technical documentation, procedures, work instructions, and operational runbooks
• Ability to work onsite in Norfolk, VA Monday-Friday with a 6:00–8:00 AM start time

Preferred Qualifications of the Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineer include:

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation
• Experience automating infrastructure and/or test environments using Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation
• Experience with Git, GitLab, GitHub, Jenkins, or other source-control and CI/CD platforms
• Experience with automated infrastructure testing and validation
• Experience with functional, integration, regression, security, load, stress, or acceptance testing
• Experience supporting Windows Server environments
• Experience with PowerShell automation and Windows administration
• Experience with Python scripting and automation
• Experience with Azure DevOps and Microsoft Azure environments
• Experience supporting virtualized infrastructure and/or commercial cloud environments
• Experience with release management, software deployment, migration, and configuration management
• Experience with DevOps, DevSecOps, SRE, or platform engineering
• ITILv4 certification or applicable ITIL experience
• Scrum Master certification or Agile/Scrum experience
• SAFe certification or experience working within a SAFe Agile environment
• Experience working with enterprise infrastructure at scale
• Security+ or another DoD 8570/IAT II certification
• Experience working with automated patching, configuration management, compliance, and infrastructure lifecycle management
• Experience developing reusable Ansible roles and automation frameworks
• Experience integrating automation with APIs, cloud platforms, configuration-management databases, or enterprise management systems

Compensation for the Jr. Automation & Orchestration Engineer includes:

• Salary: $95,000-$100,000 depending on experience
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k Plan, Holidays, PTO, sick leave as required by law

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