Senior Platform Engineer at Defense Unicorns
$148,750–$201,250
Jul 15, 2026
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Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A platform engineering role on a federal team, focused on deploying and sustaining a Kubernetes-based defense software stack across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments. Day-to-day work spans infrastructure-as-code, storage and networking configuration, automated pipeline maintenance, and acting as the primary technical point of contact for system integrators and government customers. Suits engineers with hands-on hybrid cloud and Kubernetes experience who are comfortable working in a security-cleared federal context.
Senior level · Remote · Secret clearance
“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 $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762).
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 (7)
The entire posting is framed under a single 'Preferred Experience and Qualifications' heading — there is no separate hard-requirements block. All skills are therefore treated as preferred (not hard gates), with the exception of Kubernetes, Docker, cloud IaC, and AWS, which are stated with firm language ('Demonstrated experience', 'Proven experience') and appear as the core of the role's described responsibilities, justifying the required/preferred flag treatment.
Secret clearance is listed as preferred ('Active Secret Clearance or ability to obtain one'), but the opening line states the employer is a U.S. Government contractor requiring U.S. citizenship, and the ability-to-obtain framing is a practical gate for federal work — the clearance requirement is set to Secret accordingly.
The role sits between 15-1252 (Software Developers — builds IaC modules, automated pipelines, platform components) and 15-1244 (Systems Administrators — hybrid infra ops, storage management, on-call support). The emphasis on building IaC modules, automated pipelines, and platform components tips the primary classification to 15-1252, with 15-1244 as the runner-up.
No compensation range or employment type is stated in the posting.
5–10% travel is expected despite the remote classification.
Requires a Secret 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.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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