Senior Cloud Engineer I

Location: Reston, VA
Clearance Required: Active TS/SCI (CI Poly required)

Rapid Strategy is an award-winning, African-American-owned small business providing advanced cybersecurity, cloud engineering, and IT modernization services to federal and commercial clients. Our mission is to deliver secure, high-impact solutions that protect and enable mission success. We are currently seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer I to support a classified program, leading the design, automation, and optimization of secure cloud environments across multiple classification domains. This role focuses on architecting and deploying scalable cloud infrastructures that deliver performance, reliability, and compliance for mission-critical systems. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical expertise in AWS cloud environments, Infrastructure-as-Code, and automation frameworks, with a proven ability to operate within secure government cloud environments.

 Key Responsibilities

·       Analyze program requirements and translate them into secure, scalable, and resilient cloud architectures.

·       Lead the design and implementation of AWS-based solutions, ensuring compliance with security and performance standards across IL5–IL6+ environments.

·       Develop and enforce cloud governance frameworks that align with federal and DoD policies.

·       Automate deployment, monitoring, and configuration management using tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or Ansible.

·       Configure and secure Linux and Windows Server environments, ensuring high availability and operational consistency.

·       Integrate cloud-native services such as EC2, S3, Lambda, and EBS to support scalable mission workloads.

·       Implement advanced cloud security controls including encryption, least-privilege access, and auditing mechanisms.

·       Develop Python and Bash scripts to automate cloud management and maintenance activities.

·       Collaborate across engineering, cybersecurity, and DevSecOps teams to ensure optimized and secure delivery of cloud solutions.

Required Qualifications

·       Active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph.

·       4–7 years of experience in cloud engineering, designing and managing secure cloud infrastructures.

·       Demonstrated expertise implementing AWS solutions at scale across IL5–IL6+ classification domains.

·       Hands-on experience with AWS services including EC2, S3, Lambda, and EBS.

·       Proficiency with Infrastructure-as-Code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or Ansible.

·       Strong understanding of Linux and Windows Server administration and troubleshooting.

·       Proven experience in implementing cloud security controls and governance frameworks.

·       Scripting experience in Python and Bash focused on automation and orchestration.

·       Active CompTIA Security+ or equivalent DoD 8140/8570 certification with at least one year of validity remaining.

·       AWS certifications such as Solutions Architect Associate/Professional or SysOps Administrator.

 Preferred Qualifications

·       Experience supporting classified AWS, Azure, or GCP environments.

·       Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployments, and DevSecOps practices.

·       Experience applying DISA STIGs and RMF controls to cloud environments.

 Why Rapid Strategy

At Rapid Strategy, we combine mission experience with innovation to deliver secure, high-performance cloud solutions. Our engineers build the infrastructures that power national security and defense modernization. If you’re passionate about cloud architecture, automation, and secure mission delivery, we’d love to have you on our team.