Senior Reliability Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC

Job Description

Site Reliability Engineer - Senior

Cloud Platforms | Zero Trust | IaC | GCP | Azure | GitOps | Automation

Tensley Consulting is seeking an experienced Master Site Reliability Engineer to support the architecture, modernization, reliability, and secure operation of cloud platforms across government and national security environments. This is a hands-on senior engineering role focused on distributed systems, Infrastructure-as-Code, zero-trust architecture, cloud security, automation, platform engineering, and custom tooling — not traditional systems administration.

Personnel at this level architect major systems, govern reliability standards, lead strategic engineering efforts, and drive the transformation of manual infrastructure administration into a disciplined software engineering practice. The SRE will work primarily across Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft cloud environments, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365/O365, GCC High, and Gov Cloud, to design scalable infrastructure, modernize application deployments, build reusable automation frameworks, and deliver secure, repeatable, well-architected solutions.

While the primary operating platforms for this role are Microsoft and Google, cloud engineering depth across AWS is also valued, particularly where it demonstrates strong cloud architecture, automation, security, and platform engineering fundamentals.

This role operates in a GitOps model with a strong emphasis on code quality, peer review, automated testing, reliability engineering, infrastructure governance, and compliance with federal security frameworks. The ideal candidate brings deep technical depth, strong engineering judgment, and the ability to lead complex cloud modernization and zero-trust implementation efforts across teams.

Locations: Onsite (Core Hours 9am - 2pm)/ Hybrid / Remote

Key Responsibilities

-Architect core components of distributed cloud platforms, with a focus on reliability, scalability, security, and operational resilience.

-Lead the design, build, and operation of secure cloud infrastructure across Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365/O365, GCC --High, Gov Cloud, and related environments.

-Deliver target-level zero-trust capabilities in cloud environments, including identity, access, segmentation, encryption, observability, and policy-driven enforcement.

-Design and manage declarative infrastructure using Terraform, Helm, GitOps workflows, and CI/CD pipelines to establish a reliable single source of truth.

-Develop advanced ICAM capabilities, data transformation modules, platform APIs, and internal tooling using Go, Python, Java, C/C++, or similar languages.

-Build reusable infrastructure modules, internal frameworks, automation services, and custom integrations to reduce manual toil and operational variance.

-Lead modernization initiatives that replace traditional “click-ops” administration with automated, version-controlled, testable infrastructure delivery.

-Provide authoritative root-cause assessments for major incidents involving application, network, platform, kernel-level, storage, identity, or integration issues.

-Apply deep knowledge of OSI network layers, TCP/IP, SSL/TLS, RSA/AES, and secure communication patterns to improve platform resilience and observability.

-Establish and govern reliability standards, operational health metrics, monitoring strategies, alerting models, and incident response practices.

-Lead the design, development, and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines, GitOps workflows, automated testing practices, and deployment governance.

-Support compliance and operational governance aligned to NIST 800-53, 800-171, 800-172, 800-207, CMMC, and national security-sensitive data requirements.

-Translate complex technical concepts, architecture decisions, zero-trust criteria, and operational risks for leadership, stakeholders, and cross- functional teams.

-Mentor senior, mid-level, and apprentice engineers in Agile, TDD, automation, reliability engineering, software development practices, and operational discipline.

-Develop and maintain technical documentation, including architecture designs, SOPs, implementation guides, decision records, and engineering standards.

Required Skills

-8+ years of relevant experience in software engineering, site reliability engineering, DevOps, cloud engineering, platform engineering, or enterprise infrastructure engineering.

-Mastery in architecting, operating, and governing distributed systems, scalable platforms, asynchronous architectures, and production cloud environments.

-Mastery in Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft cloud environments, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365/O365, GCC High, Gov Cloud, or national security-sensitive environments.

-Mastery in Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform, including module development, state management, reusable patterns, and infrastructure governance.

-Mastery in GitOps practices, including code reviews, branching strategies, merge request workflows, peer review discipline, and version- controlled infrastructure delivery.

-Mastery in CI/CD pipeline design and automation using GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Maven, Artifactory, or similar tools.

-Mastery in automation and scripting using Go, Python, PowerShell, Java, C/C++, or similar languages.

-Mastery in building custom tooling, platform APIs, reusable infrastructure modules, automation services, or internal frameworks to solve integration and orchestration challenges.

-Mastery in monitoring, observability, alerting, incident response, root-cause analysis, and operational reliability for distributed systems.

-Mastery in identifying operational inefficiencies and replacing manual work with automated, repeatable, version-controlled solutions.

-Mastery in cloud security, Zero Trust architecture, ICAM, identity governance, access control, encryption, and secure communication patterns.

-Mastery in networking fundamentals across Layers 3–7, including TCP/IP, routing, DNS, SSL/TLS, encryption protocols, and resilient communication patterns.

-Mastery in federal security and compliance frameworks, including NIST 800-53, 800-171, 800-172, 800-207, CMMC, and related national security requirements.

-Expert-level debugging and problem determination across application, network, platform, integration, and system-level components.

-Strong ability to translate complex technical concepts for technical teams, leadership, customers, and stakeholders.

-Proven ability to lead technical efforts, mentor engineers, establish standards, and operate independently with minimal supervision.

-Verifiable work history with consistent tenure and demonstrated senior-level technical performance.

Desired Skills

-Mastery in software engineering fundamentals and compiled languages such as Go, C#, C/C++, Java, Rust, or similar.

-Mastery in Kubernetes, Helm, containerized platforms, and service mesh technologies such as Istio.

-Mastery in Entra ID / Azure AD, including service principals, conditional access, Graph API, identity federation, and access governance.

-Mastery in advanced PowerShell, PowerShell modules, Desired State Configuration, or Windows automation.

-Mastery in Terraform provider concepts, including contributing to, extending, or debugging provider code.

-Mastery in Windows kernel, driver-level, storage-layer, network-layer, or system-level reliability engineering.

-Mastery in ICAM systems, identity data transformation, policy enforcement, and secure access models.

-Mastery in Agile engineering practices, TDD, automated testing, peer review, and software delivery discipline.

-Experience with RDP bitstream analysis, NIO-based auditing services, or comparable low-level platform tooling.

-Experience supporting government, Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, consulting, or national security cloud environments.

-Experience leading cloud modernization, platform engineering, zero-trust implementation, or large-scale infrastructure automation initiatives.

Education / Experience

-8+ years of relevant experience in software engineering, site reliability engineering, DevOps, cloud engineering, platform engineering, or enterprise infrastructure engineering.

-3+ years of experience operating at a senior, lead, staff, master, or architect-level capacity is preferred.

-Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field from an accredited college or university is required.

-Relevant Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, or AWS certifications are strongly preferred and may be considered in evaluating technical depth and cloud platform alignment.

Preferred certifications include, but are not limited to:

-Google Professional Cloud Architect

-Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

-Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer

-Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert

-Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert

-Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert

-Microsoft 365 Administrator or Security Administrator

-AWS Solutions Architect

-AWS DevOps Engineer

-AWS Security Specialty

-Additional relevant technical depth, certifications, or highly specialized hands-on experience may be considered based on contractual requirements.

Clearance

An active clearance is not required to be considered. Candidates must have the ability to obtain and maintain a clearance if required in the future. Uncleared through TS/SCI candidates are acceptable.

-US Citizenship Required

Salary

$195,000 - $275,000

This represents the typical salary range for this position but is not guaranteed. Salary is based on years of experience, technical depth, cloud platform mastery, seniority level, clearance level, location, and contractual requirements, which may fall outside of the listed range.

, About Tensley Consulting, Inc.
About TensleyTensley Consulting is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business focused on mission engineering in support of the United States Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense. Our team consists of System Engineers, Software Engineers, Test Engineers, and Signals Analysts performing work throughout the Continental United States (CONUS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS).
Equal Opportunity, Diversity InclusionWe aim to build a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We embrace inclusion and ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, national origin, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status, military or veteran status, or any other personal characteristic.
Benefits Include
100% paid medical coverage with HSA and company contribution
100% paid vision, dental, short-term, and long-term premium
12% 401(k) contribution (not a match)
Education and training budget
6 weeks and 3 days of PTO
And much more!
Come grow with us!