Platform Engineer
Defense Unicorns · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $166,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Manage Kubernetes deployments for government vendors.
- Build custom software packages and modules.
- Train customers on UDS platform tools.
- Troubleshoot complex technical issues.
- Improve deployment efficiency through data analysis.
About the role
Platform Engineer - Customer Success
Defense Unicorns is seeking a dedicated and experienced Platform Engineer with strong Kubernetes proficiency to join our Customer Success team. This role involves managing Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS) deployments, generating training documentation, and training customers on our software tools. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in customer relationship management, technical expertise, demonstrating a strong understanding of system architecture, and a passion for helping customers achieve their goals with the UDS platform.
Responsibilities
What You'll Own:
- Deploy & Operate: Stand up and manage UDS environments across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and on-prem clusters for government-backed commercial vendors. You own uptime.
- Build & Ship: Create custom UDS packages and application-specific modules that streamline deployment. Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, OpenTofu) is your daily driver.
- Advise & Train: Serve as the primary technical interface for customers — run onboarding, develop training content, deliver remote and on-site sessions that make complex platforms feel approachable.
- Troubleshoot & Resolve: Dive into complex UDS issues, meet SLA commitments, and provide on-call support when the mission demands it.
- Listen & Improve: Gather customer and community feedback, translate it into actionable insights for product and engineering, and experiment with new tools and techniques to push deployment efficiency forward.
- Analyze & Optimize: Mine operational and usage data to spot trends, improve delivery strategies, and drive continuous process improvement.
Share What Comes Next
Our Commercial Delivery Engineering practice is growing fast — and we’re looking for engineers who want to help shape what it becomes. You won’t just execute; you’ll have real influence over the processes, tooling, delivery patterns, and customer engagement models as we scale.
What That Looks Like In Practice
- Define the playbook: Establish how we onboard customers, structure deployments, and scale support — there’s greenfield space to build the right way from day one.
- Influence the product: Your customer insights feed directly into product and engineering roadmaps. When you see a gap in UDS, you have a short path to getting it fixed or built.
- Grow the team: As the practice scales, early engineers set the technical bar, mentor new hires, and shape the culture of the group.
- Evolve the offerings: Help design new service packages, training programs, and delivery models that become part of how Defense Unicorns goes to market.
If you’ve ever wanted to join a team early enough to leave your fingerprints on everything — how it operates, what it ships, and who it becomes — this is that opportunity.
Travel Expectations/Requirements
Less than 25% expected. The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive, and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise.
Preferred Experience And Qualifications
- Proven experience as a Platform Engineer or similar role, with a focus on system architecture and development.
- Strong knowledge of hybrid cloud architectures, including networking, RBAC, and storage for cloud and on-prem clusters.
- Hands-on experience with Azure AKS, AWS EKS, or on-perm Kubernetes (e.g RKE2, K3s, OpenShift).
- Experience with Helm, GitOps, and Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, OpenTofu) for infrastructure, cluster provisioning and lifecycle management.
- Knowledgeable about DevSecOps/DevOps and CI/CD pipelines running on GitLab or GitHub.
- Comfortable serving as the primary technical interface for customers, providing architecture guidance, production support, and platform expertise.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex data for informed decision-making.
- Excellent communication skills and effectiveness in a remote team environment.
- Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Willingness to travel as needed for on-site training and support.
- DoD IAT Level II certification (such as Security+).
- A DoD Secret or higher clearance is not required but preferred.
Compensation and Benefits
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States. Remote - USA. $123,250—$166,750 USD.
Who We Are
Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
What We Do
We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Who We Serve
Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
What We Work On
- Kubernetes
- Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
- Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
- Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
- GitOps
- Containers
- CNCF projects and open source products and packages
- Helm/Kustomize
- Value Stream Mapping
- Building and improving security delivery
- Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications
Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy
- Health: Medical/Dental/Vision Premiums are 100% Company Paid, Health Savings Account, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance.
- Financial: 401k Retirement Plan, Company Stock Options, Home Office Budget.
- Leave: Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s, Paid Parental Leave.
- Learning: Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions, Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees).
Key skills/competency
- Platform Engineering
- Kubernetes
- Customer Success
- AWS EKS
- Azure AKS
- Infrastructure as Code
- Terraform
- DevSecOps
- CI/CD
- Technical Training
Skills & topics
- Platform Engineer
- Kubernetes
- AWS EKS
- Azure AKS
- On-Prem Kubernetes
- Infrastructure as Code
- Terraform
- OpenTofu
- DevSecOps
- CI/CD
- GitOps
- Customer Success
- Technical Trainer
- System Architecture
- Remote
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight Kubernetes, IaC, and customer-facing experience.
- Craft a compelling cover letter: Express your passion for customer success and UDS.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Review Kubernetes, cloud architectures, and CI/CD concepts.
- Showcase your communication skills: Be ready to explain complex topics clearly.
- Demonstrate problem-solving abilities: Prepare examples of troubleshooting complex issues.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the U.S. citizenship requirements for the Platform Engineer role at Defense Unicorns?
- Yes, U.S. citizenship is required for this Platform Engineer position as Defense Unicorns is a contractor for the U.S. government.
- What is the primary focus of the Platform Engineer role at Defense Unicorns?
- The primary focus is managing Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS) deployments, training customers, and ensuring customer success with the UDS platform.
- What cloud platforms does this Platform Engineer role involve?
- This role involves managing UDS environments across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and on-premise Kubernetes clusters.
- What is the expected travel for this Platform Engineer position?
- Travel is expected to be less than 25%, primarily for on-site training and support sessions.
- Does Defense Unicorns require specific certifications for the Platform Engineer role?
- A DoD IAT Level II certification, such as Security+, is preferred. A DoD Secret or higher clearance is also preferred but not required.
- What compensation range can Platform Engineer candidates expect at Defense Unicorns?
- The compensation range for this role is $123,250—$166,750 USD annually, based on candidate experience.
- Is the Platform Engineer role at Defense Unicorns remote?
- Yes, this Platform Engineer position is a remote role based in the USA.
- What tools are essential for the Platform Engineer role at Defense Unicorns?
- Key tools include Kubernetes, Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, OpenTofu), Helm, GitOps, and CI/CD pipelines (GitLab, GitHub).