ENDPOINT ENGINEER - TIER III ESCALATION

Empower AI is AI for government. Empower AI gives federal agency leaders the tools to elevate the potential of their workforce with a direct path for meaningful transformation. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Empower AI leverages three decades of experience solving complex challenges in Health, Defense, and Civilian missions. Our proven Empower AI Platform provides a practical, sustainable path for clients to achieve transformation that is true to who they are, what they do, how they work, with the resources they have. The result is a government workforce that is exponentially more creative and productive. For more information, visit www.Empower.ai.

Empower AI is proud to be recognized as a 2024 Military Friendly Employer by Viqtory, the publisher of G.I. Jobs. This designation reflects the company's commitment to hiring and supporting active-duty and veteran employees.

Description

Empower AI is seeking an Endpoint Engineer - Tier III Escalation to serve as the final technical escalation point for complex, enterprise-wide endpoint incidents and security events for a Department of War agency across Pre-Production, NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS enclaves. When Tier I and Tier II cannot resolve an issue, this engineer performs deep diagnostic analysis of operating system, application, Group Policy, MECM client, encryption, VDI, and endpoint security behavior to identify root cause, engineers permanent fixes, and liaises with Microsoft and OEM vendors at Tier IV. The role leads endpoint After-Action Reviews and Root Cause Analyses, converts findings into Tier I/II enablement, and resolves PL1-PL4 escalations within PRS timeframes. This is a salaried, FLSA-exempt position in which you will independently analyze situations, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance to the program and its customers.

THIS IS AN ONSITE ROLE IN QUANTICO, VA (RKB) WITH UP TO 10% OF TRAVEL INVOLVED.

JOB DUTIES:

Serve as the Tier III escalation authority for complex, enterprise-wide endpoint incidents and security events, performing deep log, trace, crash-dump, and behavior analysis to identify root causes not documented in the knowledge base.
• Engineer and validate permanent fixes (image, GPO, package, script, or configuration changes) in pre-production and the Digital Twin environment and implement them through Change Management; manage Tier IV escalation to Microsoft and OEM vendors.
• Lead endpoint After-Action Reviews and Root Cause Analyses for PL1/PL2 and recurring problems, deliver Problem Resolution Action Plans, and convert findings into knowledge articles and Tier I/II enablement recommendations.
• Resolve escalated PL1-PL4 tickets within PRS timeframes following the Customer-Confirmed Ticket Closure process and analyze escalation trends to recommend automation and configuration improvements.
• Lead the engineering design, implementation, and lifecycle of the enterprise endpoint infrastructure: hardened image pipelines, automated provisioning, endpoint management platform architecture (MECM/SCCM, Intune), configuration baselines, and VDI integration across all enclaves.
• Lead the evaluation, cost-benefit analysis, and phased implementation of the Digital Twin capability for network and system modeling; author the Digital Twin Evaluation and Implementation Plan; and establish the practice that every significant change is tested in the digital replica before deployment.
• Lead engineering for AI, automation, and analytics initiatives approved by the Government, including predictive analytics on service data, intelligent automation across support tiers, and integrations with the ITSM platform, and deliver Proof of Concept Reports documenting feasibility, risks, and benefits.
• Conduct market research and produce Market Research Reports and Rough Orders of Magnitude (ROMs) for emerging technologies and proposed solutions to support Government planning and IT Capability Request analysis.

Qualifications

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 10 years of related experience (a Master's degree with 8 years of related experience, or an additional 4 years of related experience in lieu of a degree, may be substituted).
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must have an Active Top Secret Clearance with SCI eligibility (favorably adjudicated T5/T5R) to start.
• Must be within investigation scope and/or currently enrolled in Continuous Evaluation / Continuous Vetting.
• Must possess and maintain a current DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level III baseline certification (e.g., CASP+ CE, CISSP or Associate, CCNP Security, GCED, or GCIH).
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, analyze problems, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment with limited day-to-day supervision.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in systems or infrastructure engineering for enterprise Windows environments, including lead-engineer responsibility for endpoint or infrastructure programs at 10,000+ device scale.
• Expert knowledge of MECM/SCCM and/or Intune architecture, Windows Server, Active Directory, Group Policy, virtualization (VMware/Hyper-V), VDI, and PowerShell automation.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading implementation of lab, pre-production, or digital twin environments and formal test-before-deploy practices.
• Experience leading proof-of-concept evaluations, market research, and cost-benefit/ROM development for Government or enterprise decision-makers.
• Extensive experience with DISA STIGs, ACAS/Nessus, RMF control implementation, POA&Ms, and eMASS.
• Experience leading engineering teams, establishing standards, and executing changes through formal Change Management.
• Excellent technical writing, briefing, and stakeholder communication skills; ability to participate in after-hours emergency on-call response.

DESIRED SKILLS:

• CISSP, CASP+ CE, or GCED; Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert; VMware VCP/VCAP; AWS or Azure architect certification.
• Experience supporting Department of War (DoW), DoD, or Intelligence Community environments across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS enclaves.
• Experience applying AI/ML, RPA, or AIOps to IT service management and endpoint operations, including ServiceNow integrations.
• Familiarity with DoD Zero Trust Strategy and Reference Architecture, DoDAF 2.02, DoD ICAM Strategy, and Technology Business Management (TBM).
• ITIL 4 Foundation or Managing Professional; PMP.
• Experience supporting IT Capability Request (ITCR) analysis and governance briefings.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS The physical demands described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to do the following:

• If remote, maintain home workspace in a safe manner, free from safety hazards and in line with information security policies.
• Communicate verbally in person, over the phone or by video chat and clearly/succinctly in writing, primarily utilizing a keyboard.
• Appear on camera for meetings with co-workers and government partners via video chat and ensure the protection of proprietary company and customer information is consistent with the company's expectation of information security.
• Viewing computer screens and sitting for long periods of time.
• Travel minimally (10%), via car or plane, which requires ability to manage luggage, laptop, and briefing materials (up to 25 pounds).

All hiring and promotion decisions at Empower AI are based on merit to bring the best talent available to contribute to our firm's overall success. It is the policy of Empower AI not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or employee because of age, color, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. Empower AI is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.