Principal DevOps Engineer

Title:
Principal DevOps Engineer

Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR!

KBR’s National Security Solutions team provides high-end engineering and advanced technology solutions to our customers in the intelligence and national security communities.

Our KBR team in Colorado Springs, CO is seeking a Principal DevOps Engineer . This role is pivotal in integrating cloud technologies with DevOps practices, requiring a blend of technical skills and operational acumen.

As a Principal DevOps Engineer , your contributions will directly impact the success of our projects and the overall business outcomes we aim to achieve.

Why Join Us?

- Innovative Projects: Build the infrastructure that powers Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) prototypes — rapid-prototype cloud environments supporting warfighter capabilities across air, space, and cyber domains. This is a small team where engineers own decisions end-to-end; we value working code and face-to-face collaboration over process. AFRL leads the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force.
- Collaborative Environment: Our rapid prototyping environment requires that we empower and entrust our engineers to make high level decisions. We live the Agile values, prioritizing development team autonomy, face-to-face communication, and working code over processes and documentation.
- Impactful Work: Your work will directly support the Air Force in expanding national capabilities. As the Air Force's leader for National-to-Tactical capability development, AFRL collaborates with leading experts across the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, National Laboratories, industry, inter-agency, academia, and partner nations.

Key Responsibilities:

- Within your first year, you will: Own the CI/CD pipelines that deliver containerized applications to Azure Government clusters supporting AFRL rapid prototypes — from build to scan to deployment.
- Design and maintain deployments for air-gapped Kubernetes environments, establishing patterns other teams adopt.
- Containerize legacy applications and build the Helm charts that package them for production.
- Architect cloud-native networking and system designs for classified workloads.
- Diagnose and resolve pipeline and deployment issues — you are the team's go-to for Kubernetes troubleshooting.
- Build and deploy helm charts to Kubernetes clusters
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support a variety of tech stacks

- Technology Ownership: Containerization & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Helm, and Zarf
- Cloud Environments: Microsoft Azure Government, Air-Gapped Cloud Platforms
- CI/CD Platforms: GitLab CI
- Security: Anchore, Trivy, Grype, SAST tools

Work Environment:

- Location:  Colorado Springs, CO – Onsite
- Travel Requirements:  Minimal
- Working Hours:  Flexible

Qualifications:

Required:

- Security Clearance:  Must have an active U.S. government TS security clearance with SCI eligibility, which is something only a U.S. citizen can obtain
- Education: B.S. in Computer Science. Other degrees will be considered with relevant work experience or certification.
- 5+ years building and deploying Kubernetes microservices on cloud platforms (Azure Government preferred)
- Production Kubernetes experience (Helm, container orchestration)
- Proficiency with GitLab CI/CD
- Experience deploying to air-gapped networks
- DoD 8140 / Security+ or equivalent (must obtain within 90 days of start)
- On-site in Colorado Springs, CO (flexible schedule)
- Ability to research and solve complex technical problems independently

Desired:

- Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) certification or similar
- Azure cloud certification
- Familiar with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, PowerShell scripting, Ansible, etc.)
- OAuth2/OIDC/KeyCloak familiarity
- Cert Manager, OpenSSL, and PKI experience
- Experience with Kafka or similar event streaming platforms
- Cloud native application delivery experience
- Experience leading an engineering team

Basic Compensation: $142,000 - $175,000 (For Colorado Springs, CO Only)

The offered rate will be based on the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities and/or experience and in consideration of internal parity.

Additional Compensation:

KBR may offer bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation to certain job titles or levels, per internal policy or contractual designation. Additional compensation may be in the form of a sign on bonus, relocation benefits, short-term incentives, long-term incentives, or discretionary payments for exceptional performance.

Belong, Connect and Grow at KBR

At KBR, we are passionate about our people and our Zero Harm culture.  These inform all that we do and are at the heart of our commitment to, and ongoing journey toward being a People First company.  That commitment is central to our team of team’s philosophy and fosters an environment where everyone can Belong, Connect and Grow. We Deliver – Together.

KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.