Application Infrastructure Engineer
LLNL · Livermore
$175,530–$222,564from the description
Jul 9, 2026
Livermore
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on maintaining and operating the application infrastructure that underpins hundreds of enterprise systems at a national laboratory. Day-to-day work involves managing Kubernetes clusters, supporting PingFederate authentication, overseeing container security, and handling lifecycle tasks such as patching, capacity planning, and vulnerability remediation. It suits an experienced infrastructure engineer comfortable with cloud platforms, automation tooling, and cross-functional collaboration in a security-clearance-required environment.
Senior level · San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA · Top Secret clearance · Full-time
“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 $132,532 (middle half $103,068–$167,147). 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)
The role is titled 'Application Infrastructure Engineer' with no level modifier — advertised seniority is Unspecified. However, the requirements call for 'significant' and 'advanced' hands-on experience across Kubernetes, PingFederate, cloud platforms, and distributed systems, supporting a Senior classification.
The SOC classification is a close call. The role primarily OPERATES and manages application infrastructure (patching, lifecycle management, SLA compliance, security compliance) rather than building new software, which points to 15-1244. However, it also requires meaningful scripting/automation (Python, Bash, Go, Terraform, Ansible, Helm) and CI/CD work, which has overlap with 15-1252. 15-1244 was chosen as the primary because operational management and administration of existing systems is the dominant day-to-day activity.
The clearance required is a DOE Q-level clearance. Q-level is the DOE equivalent of a Top Secret clearance and is mapped to TopSecret accordingly.
The degree requirement lists 'Bachelor's degree … or the equivalent combination of education and related experience,' which means equivalent experience is accepted in lieu of a degree — the degree requirement is therefore None.
The automation/scripting requirement lists Python, Bash, and Go as interchangeable examples; Terraform, Ansible, and Helm are similarly listed as interchangeable examples within the same requirement. These are grouped accordingly.
The cloud platform requirement names AWS EKS, GCP GKE, and Azure AKS as interchangeable examples ('such as'), so AWS is the primary with GCP and Azure as alternatives.
The application server/middleware requirement lists Java Play, Oracle WebLogic, Apache, Tomcat, IIS, load balancers, API gateways, and Kubernetes across 2+ technologies — Apache is used as the primary name with the others as alternatives, since the JD requires proficiency in at least 2 of these.
Splunk (or equivalent SIEM) appears only under 'Qualifications We Desire' — the preferred/nice-to-have section.
Requires a Top 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.
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