Senior Automation Engineer

Job Overview

We are seeking a Senior Automation Engineer to lead infrastructure automation, application deployment, and release management initiatives for the NC FAST platform. This role will be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining automation solutions that improve the efficiency, reliability, and consistency of application build and deployment processes across multiple environments.

The ideal candidate will possess strong experience in AWS cloud infrastructure, Ansible automation, Linux administration, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices. This position requires close collaboration with development, DevOps, architecture, deployment, and database teams to drive automation and continuous improvement initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead automation efforts for infrastructure provisioning, application builds, and software deployments.
• Develop, maintain, and optimize Ansible playbooks and automation workflows.
• Manage and support Ansible Tower/AWX environments.
• Design and enhance CI/CD pipelines to streamline application delivery.
• Troubleshoot deployment, configuration, and automation-related issues.
• Validate infrastructure and application configurations across multiple environments.
• Collaborate with architects, developers, database administrators, and operations teams to improve release processes.
• Implement automation best practices and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) methodologies.
• Monitor deployment reliability and recommend process improvements.
• Support software release lifecycle activities and production deployments.
• Provide on-call support during evenings and weekends as required.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of overall IT experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Automation, DevOps, or Release Engineering roles.
• Strong experience with AWS cloud services and infrastructure management.
• Expertise in Ansible, Ansible Tower/AWX, and automation frameworks.
• Strong Linux/Unix administration experience.
• Proficiency in YAML and automation scripting.
• Experience building and managing CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of software development and release lifecycle processes.
• Experience troubleshooting deployments and production issues.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concepts and automation best practices.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Terraform or other IaC tools.
• Experience with Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or similar tools.
• Knowledge of containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Previous experience supporting large-scale government or enterprise applications.
• Experience improving deployment reliability, system stability, and operational efficiency.

Required Skills

• AWS
• Ansible
• Ansible Tower / AWX
• Linux Administration
• YAML
• CI/CD
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
• Release Management
• DevOps
• Deployment Automation
• Configuration Management

Troubleshooting & Debugging