Site Reliability Engineer (TS/SCI + Poly)
Insight Global · Sully, VA
$86.56–$100.23/hrfrom the description
Jul 14, 2026
Sully, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Tier 2/3 site reliability role supporting production Linux systems, Kubernetes clusters, and cloud infrastructure at a cleared facility in Chantilly, VA. Day-to-day work involves troubleshooting escalated issues, patching and hardening systems, and collaborating with engineering teams to improve platform stability and prevent recurring problems. The role includes an on-call rotation during overnight hours and suits candidates with an active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph and substantial Linux and Kubernetes production experience.
Senior level · 5+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · TS/SCI clearance · Contract
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $158,337 (middle half $126,441–$180,105). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
This role sits at the boundary between SRE/software engineering (15-1252) and systems/infrastructure operations (15-1244). The Tier 2/3 troubleshooting framing and on-call rotation lean operational, but the Kubernetes production support, IaC, and automation scope tip it toward software development work — classified as 15-1252 with 15-1244 as a meaningful runner-up.
The degree requirement (Bachelor's in Systems/Software/Electrical Engineering or equivalent field) is explicitly waivable with 4 additional years of experience, so the degree requirement is set to None.
The 5+ years of systems engineering experience is the stated role-level gate; the 5+ years of Linux experience is a separate, named-technology requirement captured on the Linux skill.
The tools list (Jenkins, Git, Docker, Kubernetes, Packer, Nessus, Jira, Confluence) is introduced with 'such as', indicating familiarity rather than hard gates — all marked preferred. Kubernetes is separately hard-required by the explicit production troubleshooting requirement earlier in the posting.
Cloud certifications and IaC/automation/configuration management experience, along with Kafka/MongoDB/ActiveMQ/NiFi, appear in the requirements section but read as secondary/nice-to-have context rather than firm rejection criteria; they are marked preferred accordingly.
Compensation is quoted as an hourly range ($86.56–$100.23/hr), consistent with a staffing/contract engagement through Insight Global.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): TS/SCI with Polygraph.
Requires a TS/SCI clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Read the full posting
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