Junior Engineer - Tier 1 Helpdesk Support

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP.

Role Description

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Junior Engineer to serve as Tier 1 helpdesk support on the Shipmates team. You will be the dedicated first line of support for end users across a cloud-based platform environment, handling user access requests, device troubleshooting, application issues, ticket triage, and log investigation.

This role is designed with a deliberate growth trajectory. The helpdesk is your day-to-day foundation while you learn the platform environment, but the expectation is that you grow well beyond it. On slower days, you will pair with other engineers on the team to build technical depth in Kubernetes, AWS, containerized applications, CI/CD pipelines, and SRE practices. You should be someone who is curious, driven, and eager to expand your technical scope over time.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for Tier 1 end-user support across the platform environment, triaging issues and resolving or escalating as appropriate
• Handle user permissions and access requests for mission applications
• Troubleshoot device usage issues and general application access problems
• Triage development team tickets for broken pipelines, dashboard questions, and log investigation, routing to the correct team
• Manage day-to-day ticket flow using JIRA Service Management and participate in the on-call rotation
• Develop and maintain internal documentation, runbooks, playbooks, and triage procedures to formalize Tier 1 processes
• Contribute to platform homepage and user-facing documentation, including support contact information and links to guides
• Define and maintain clear Tier 1 scope boundaries and escalation criteria in coordination with Tier 2 engineering teams
• Pair with senior engineers during lower-volume periods to build technical depth in Kubernetes, AWS, CI/CD pipelines, and SRE practices with the platform.
• Support documentation efforts for platform User and Admin guides
• Defense Unicorns operates in a distributed remote environment, employee’s core hours will need to accommodate East Coast user/application team needs

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.

Travel Expectations/Requirements: None 

Minimum Experience and Qualifications

• Experience in an IT help desk, system administration, or IT operations role
• Familiarity with ticketing systems such as JIRA Service Management or similar
• Experience with macOS, Windows, or Linux administration
• Basic understanding of cloud environments (AWS preferred) and willingness to learn Kubernetes, containerized applications, and CI/CD pipelines
• US citizenship required; must be eligible for CUI access
• Ability to meet IAT Level II certification requirements (e.g., Security+ CE) within a defined timeline, or already certified at IAT II–III
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams in a remote, asynchronous environment
• Strong triage instincts – able to assess, categorize, and route issues efficiently even in an environment with limited existing documentation
• Proactive mindset with a willingness to build processes and documentation from the ground up

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Defense contractor or government IT experience
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, AWS, or containerized application environments
• Experience supporting CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
• Familiarity with NIST SP 800-171, NIST SP 800-53, or CMMC 2.0 framework and compliance requirements
• Experience supporting or administering SIEM platforms, MDM solutions, or similar security tooling
• IAT Level II or III certification (Security+, CASP+, CISSP, or equivalent) already obtained
• Experience writing technical documentation, runbooks, or standard operating procedures

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$102,000—$138,000 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:

• We offer all full-time Unicorns 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)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed. 

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns 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.

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