Clarification from the agency

This position is open to the public. This position allows for situational and recurring telework, but does not qualify for fulltime or remote telework.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), Case Management Modernization (CMM) Program Office, is seeking an experienced IT Specialist (DevSecOps) to support secure cloud operations, automate security controls, and strengthen delivery pipelines and infrastructure across AWS-based environments. The incumbent is responsible for embedding security into continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) processes, infrastructure as code, cloud services, containerized environments, monitoring capabilities, and vulnerability management practices.
The incumbent must have strong technical, analytical, and problem-solving skills and the ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders; manage multiple priorities under demanding circumstances and time constraints; automate and improve security processes; and collaborate effectively across engineering, security, operations, and compliance teams.

The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

1. Implementing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with automated security checks, including static application security testing, dynamic application security testing, software composition analysis, and other security validation capabilities.
2. Developing and maintaining secure infrastructure as code using tools such as Terraform or related automation frameworks to support consistent, secure cloud deployments.
3. Configuring, hardening, and managing AWS services and cloud security controls, including identity and access management, network security, encryption, container registries, and Kubernetes environments.
4. Supporting secure container operations through the management and hardening of Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) environments.
5. Implementing and maintaining continuous monitoring, logging, audit, and compliance capabilities using cloud-native and related security tools.
6. Monitoring, assessing, patching, and remediating security vulnerabilities across applications, infrastructure, and cloud services.
7. Guiding secure cloud operations and sustainment by identifying and mitigating technical threat vectors, reducing attack surface, and implementing practical remediation strategies.
8. Advancing DevSecOps maturity through automated and manual application security testing, secure coding practices, hardened deployment standards, and continuous monitoring for cybersecurity events.
9. Supporting federal information security compliance activities, including vulnerability remediation, security documentation, control assessments, compliance monitoring, and related risk management efforts.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

1. All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
2. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
3. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check.
4. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
5. All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
6. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
7. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.

Qualifications

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience in each of the following:

1. Advancing DevSecOps maturity by implementing automated and manual application security testing, including static application security testing, dynamic application security testing, interactive application security testing, software composition analysis, and container scanning; implementing and enforcing secure coding practices and hardened deployment standards; and continuously monitoring environments for cybersecurity events.
2. Applying deep technical expertise in major cloud platforms, scripting and automation tools such as Python, Bash, or Golang, and cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST, OWASP, and CIS, including hands-on execution of Zero Trust concepts and secure AI practices.
3. Leading major information security initiatives by balancing workload across projects and incidents, keeping leadership informed, and facilitating, executing, or directing efforts involving governance, risk, and compliance; security operations center activities; FedRAMP activities; enterprise-level guidance; and adversarial exercises such as blue, red, or purple team activities.

• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
• GIAC Cloud Security Automation (GCSA)
• Certified DevSecOps Engineer (ECDE)
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional

Preferred qualifications include:

1. Experience with Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or other infrastructure as code tools.
2. Experience implementing security scanning tools within CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions.
3. Practical knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, and container security.
4. Proficiency in Python, Bash, or Go.
5. Familiarity with NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, FISMA, or similar federal security standards.
6. Hands-on experience with AWS security services such as Identity and Access Management (IAM), GuardDuty, Security Hub, Web Application Firewall (WAF), CloudTrail, CloudWatch, or Config.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.

You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.