IT Technologist II- Cloud Operations

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is a multi-mission science operations center for NASA’s flagship observatories. Our world-class astronomical research center is based on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore, Maryland. (Click here to learn more about our missions).  

This position can support a hybrid work schedule from home and onsite.  Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to our local market. (MD, DE, VA, PA, DC & WV) and be able to work on-site when needed. This position requires US Citizenship or Permanent Residence in order to meet ITAR requirements.

The Space Telescope Science Institute Infrastructure and Cloud Services team is growing and searching for an energetic, self-starter to serve in a new AWS Cloud SysOps Specialist role. This position will play a primary role in the support and optimization of STScI's applications residing in AWS.

The Cloud Operations Specialist will provide oversight, operational support and maintenance of all the system components for workloads hosted in AWS. The ideal candidate will also assist in growing and developing AWS expertise within the Infrastructure Operations team. The ideal candidate will have significant AWS cloud expertise and prior experience in enterprise systems with an emphasis in configuration and optimization in AWS. The position requires a background rooted in customer service, extensive collaboration with cross functional teams, and excellent time management skills.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and implement solutions to drive improvements in Identity & Access Management (IAM), with emphasis on automation, efficiency, and scalability.
• Build and code review IAM assets including policies for application and DevOps teams across the Institute and enhance the capabilities in the existing IAM framework.
• Responsible for system performance analysis, tuning and capacity planning efforts across STScI's systems residing in AWS. Investigate, analyze, test and make recommendations regarding technology improvements, best practices, standardization, scaling, upgrades, cost optimizations and modifications to the infrastructure and cloud services to help realize cloud benefits. Perform complex analysis to acquire, install, modify and support operating systems, software, databases, scripts, utilities, tools and security standards. Must stay current on updates to AWS service offerings in order to recommend the best solutions.
• Lead the administration and systems management with automation including Amazon Machine Images (AMI)s and containers in the development, test and production cloud hosted environments.
• Proactively manage the development, and architecture of technology related to automating compute, AWS cloud, and IAM solutions.  
• Proactively monitor the health and utilization of AWS resources on a full-scale using Amazon CloudWatch, DataDog,  etc. and develop automated event-based response systems as needed.
• Build, deploy and support automation for cloud instances and container frameworks including automated regular maintenance, monitoring, patching, compliance management and ensuring the environment is secure.
• Build, deploy and manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with automation for infrastructure running on AWS cloud.
• Work directly with AWS support engineers to identify and resolve issues.

Specific job functions will be tailored to best suit the strengths and areas of experience of the successful candidate.

• Minimum three years of extensive experience in a related IT role with hand-on AWS cloud infrastructure management experience. Substitution of additional relevant education or experience for the stated qualifications may be considered. The starting salary is commensurate with education and experience.

Preferred Skills:

• Significant, hands-on experience and an understanding of best practices with AWS cloud services, including infrastructure, security, networking, database, code pipeline and cost optimization.
• Experience in using Identity Provider solutions like Active Directory, Okta or PingIdentity and SSO.
• Strong in Linux & AWS services like Compute, RDS, Container, VPC, Storage Services, Security Groups, High Availability, S3, CloudWatch, etc. including zero trust infrastructure management.
• Scripting skills required - shell scripts, Python preferred, familiarity with CloudFormation/Terraform, JSON, YAML.
• Experience with Ansible is a plus.
• Experience implementing/executing operational competencies.
• Proficient knowledge of containerization and container orchestration.
• Experience with Git, Jenkins, GitLab CI and/or AWS developer tools required.
• Experience with AWS infrastructure and automation required including VPCs, Security Groups, IAM etc.
• Experience with developing IaC modules for AWS multi-account framework & AWS organizations.
• Knowledge of CI/CD for DevOps is a plus.

Additional Skills:

• Minimum three years of extensive experience in a related IT role with hand-on AWS cloud infrastructure management experience.
• Release automation, system administration, system configuration, automated build/deploy and system debugging experience.
• Experience with application stack root cause analysis, incident response, change management and digital forensics.
• Solid knowledge of best practices in IT administration and system security.

Certifications Required:

• AWS Certification "AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate" or "AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate" or any Associate level AWS certification is a must.

Interested applicants are requested to complete an on-line application and attach one PDF document including a letter of interest and resume. Applications received by November 12, 2023, will receive full consideration. 

This role requires U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status.

Substitution of additional relevant education and/or experience for stated qualifications may be considered.

The salary range for this position is $85k - $125k and is commensurate with education and experience. Our excellent benefits include:

• Employer retirement contribution – direct STScI contribution of 10% of your salary from your first day
• 12 days sick leave, up to 24 days’ vacation, and 10 paid holidays
• Comprehensive medical/dental/vision/prescription plans, and more!

Direct Link: IT Technologist #0009219

STScI offers a flexible and welcoming workspace for all. STScI embraces the diversity of our staff as a strategic priority in creating a first-rate community. We strongly encourage women, ethnic minorities, veterans, and disabled individuals to apply for these opportunities. Veterans, disabled individuals, or wounded warriors needing assistance with the employment process can contact us at careers@stsci.edu EOE/AA/M/F/D/V.  #LIHYBRID

As a leader in the astronomical community, AURA is committed to diversity and inclusion. AURA develops and supports programs that advance our organizational commitment to diversity, broaden participation, and encourage the advancement of diversity throughout the workforce www.aura-astronomy.org/div