Associate Automation Engineer Jobs in Norfolk, VA

The AWS Cloud Engineer (Expert) will lead the architecture, engineering, and operational stewardship of AWS-based infrastructure supporting the NMMES program in Norfolk, VA. The role owns the cloud foundation on which NMMES applications, data pipelines, and AI/ML workloads are built, with a strong emphasis on security, cost efficiency, and compliance with DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (SRG) Impact Levels.
This is a senior, hands-on engineering role. The engineer will translate Navy mission requirements into well-architected, automated, and repeatable cloud solutions in AWS GovCloud (US), and will mentor mid-level engineers on infrastructure-as-code, resilience, and secure DevSecOps practices.
Key Responsibilities
Design and implement multi-account AWS GovCloud environments using AWS Organizations, Control Tower patterns, landing zones, and account-vending automation.
Author and maintain infrastructure-as-code using Terraform and/or AWS CloudFormation/CDK; enforce change control through Git-based workflows.
Architect networking (VPC, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, PrivateLink), identity (IAM, IAM Identity Center, federation with DoD identity providers), and data-protection controls (KMS, S3 encryption, Macie).
Build and operate CI/CD pipelines (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) supporting containerized and serverless workloads.
Implement observability using CloudWatch, X-Ray, and third-party tooling (e.g., Splunk, Datadog) to meet Navy monitoring and audit requirements.
Support the Assessment & Authorization (A&A) / RMF process: produce architecture diagrams, control implementation statements, and evidence artifacts aligned to NIST SP 800-53 and DoD SRG.
Optimize cost and performance through right-sizing, reserved capacity / Savings Plans, and workload placement analysis.
Lead incident response and root-cause analysis for cloud-hosted workloads; drive continuous improvement of runbooks and automated remediation.
Partner with the AI, data, and application teams to ensure their workloads land on a compliant, resilient, and cost-effective platform.
Required Qualifications
7+ years of professional IT experience, with 5+ years designing and operating production AWS environments.
Demonstrated expertise across core AWS services: VPC, EC2, S3, IAM, KMS, RDS, Lambda, ECS/EKS, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail.
Strong infrastructure-as-code skills with Terraform (preferred) and/or CloudFormation/CDK.
Proven experience in AWS GovCloud (US) or another regulated cloud environment (FedRAMP High, DoD IL4/IL5).
Practical scripting proficiency in Python, Bash, or PowerShell for automation and tooling.
Working knowledge of DoD RMF, NIST SP 800-53, and DoD Cloud Computing SRG.
Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (ECS, EKS, or Kubernetes).
Active DoD Secret clearance at time of hire.
Preferred Qualifications
Prior experience supporting Navy, NAVSEA, Marine Corps, or other DoD programs in Norfolk / Hampton Roads.
Familiarity with Platform One, Iron Bank, or other DoD DevSecOps reference implementations.
Experience integrating with DoD PKI, CAC-based authentication, and ICAM services.
Multi-cloud exposure (Azure Government, Oracle Government Cloud).
TS/SCI clearance.
Education
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field. Additional years of directly relevant experience may substitute for the degree in accordance with contract labor-category definitions.
Certifications
Required
DoD 8570 / 8140 IAT Level II baseline certification (Security+ CE minimum); IAT Level III (CISSP, CASP+, or CCSP) required for privileged access to accredited systems.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (minimum).
Preferred
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional
AWS Certified Security - Specialty
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)