Senior/Staff DevOps Engineer (CDC) Save

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, DevOps engineers work with developers throughout the software development life cycle to ensure code can be reliably and repeatedly released on demand with a high degree of quality. They understand both software development and operations, with expertise in areas such as networking, security, test automation, and continuous integration/deployment.

In this role, you’ll work closely with leading public health experts and technologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help build a modern, response-ready public health data system. You'll be part of a dynamic initiative developing open-source, modular tools that empower public health agencies to enhance data collection, processing, and analysis — ultimately strengthening their ability to respond to public health threats. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a national effort that will shape the future of public health data infrastructure.

What you’ll do

• Serve as an implementation engineer, deploying solutions and collaborating with clients for successful outcomes
• Enhance developer experiences in web-based environments like Ruby, Python, Java, and Node.js through automation, virtualization, and process improvement
• Advocate for lean-agile engineering principles such as simple design and automated testing to maintain technical excellence
• Apply security and privacy best practices to protect sensitive data
• Conduct security audits, risk assessments, and implement remediations
• Select and use the best tools, frameworks, and technologies, with a focus on open-source solutions
• Communicate clearly with customer teams via email, phone, and video to ensure effective collaboration

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Expertise in cloud architectures, specifically AWS and Azure
• Proficiency in CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (Terraform preferred), and Docker containerization
• Experience managing cloud systems for availability, reliability, and resiliency
• Ability to work with engineers to configure infrastructures for monitoring, metrics, alerting, logging, and compliance
• Skilled in writing infrastructure as code and standardizing deployment processes
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, comfortable liaising with customer teams
• Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
• Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values
• Ability to travel for work from time to time

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Experience writing clean, reusable code in at least one programming language
• Experience with application development, particularly web development and testing frameworks
• Client support or helpdesk experience
• Experience with hypervisors (managing and orchestrating virtual machines)
• Active federal public trust (tier 2)
• Public health or CDC experience
• Prior experience working in the civic tech space
• Experience working in a remote-team environment

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• Ability to obtain and hold a federal public trust (tier 2).
• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• You may be required to complete a company background check successfully.
• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a DevOps Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate DevOps Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
• DevOps Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
• DevOps Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior DevOps Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff DevOps Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal DevOps Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 11 federal holidays, and flexible sick leave
• Up to 12 weeks paid time off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Access up to $1,000 before payday to cover emergency expenses
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

We want you to have a great interview experience with us! Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at [email protected].

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We're an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.