Sr Systems Engineer (Linux/Automation)

Position: Senior Systems Engineer (Linux / Automation) 

Location: Orlando, FL (On-site)

Mission Overview

Leidos is seeking a cleared Senior Systems Engineer to design, deploy, and maintain secure Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) infrastructure within Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of the Navy/Air Force/Army (DoW) networks. This individual will own the automated provisioning pipeline end to end — from bare-metal and virtual machine Kickstart configurations through enterprise-wide configuration management using Ansible and Bash — ensuring systems are deployed consistently, securely, and in compliance with DoD standards. 

Roles and Responsibilities

• Automated Provisioning: Develop and maintain attended/unattended RHEL OS installations using advanced Kickstart configuration files and PXE boot environments. 

• Configuration Management: Write and optimize idempotent Ansible playbooks, roles, and collections to manage server infrastructure at scale. 

• Scripting & Tooling: Build robust Bash automation scripts for custom initialization tasks, local system diagnostics, and integration glue. 

• Security & Compliance: Enforce Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) and Risk Management Framework (RMF) standards using automated remediation scripts. 

• System Lifecycle Support: Troubleshoot complex OS-level performance issues, manage package/patch lifecycles, and update technical documentation and operational runbooks. 

REQUIRED Skills, Education, and Experience:

• Education/Experience: BS degree and 8+ years of enterprise Linux system administration and engineering experience. Additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

• Certifications: DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II or III certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CISSP).

• Clearance: US Citizen; Currently possessing an Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance. 

• Technical Stack: 

  • Expert proficiency in Python and Bash shell scripting for system administration. 

  • Deep hands-on experience with Ansible (Playbooks, Vault, and large-scale inventories).

  • Proven capability in designing and troubleshooting automated Kickstart installation profiles. 

• Compliance Knowledge:

  • Strong familiarity with NIST controls, RMF, and automated STIG validation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Red Hat Certifications: Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) or Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation; Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) a plus. 

• Enterprise Content Management: Experience administering Red Hat Satellite for patch, content, and subscription lifecycle management across large RHEL fleets. 

• Extended Scripting: Working knowledge of Python in addition to Bash for automation and tooling beyond shell-level scripting. 

• Containerization: Familiarity with Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes, or Docker in DoD/DoW environments. 

• CI/CD & Version Control: Experience with Git/GitLab and CI/CD pipelines to support infrastructure-as-code workflows. 

• Cloud Environments: Exposure to automating RHEL workloads in AWS GovCloud or Azure Government. 

• Compliance Automation: Hands-on experience with SCAP Compliance Checker or Evaluate-STIG for automated hardening and assessment.

• Advanced Certification: DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level III (CASP+, CISSP, or GCIH) in lieu of Level II.

Ready to make an impact? Start your next career chapter with Leidos—apply today!

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If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

Pay Range:

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.