Backend / Cloud Infrastructure Engineer - Washington D.C

About M.C. Dean

M.C. Dean is Building Intelligence. We design, build, operate, and maintain cyber-physical solutions for the nation's most mission-critical facilities, secure environments, complex infrastructure, and global enterprises. With over 9,000 employees, our capabilities span electrical, electronic security, telecommunications, life safety, automation and controls, audiovisual, and IT systems. Headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, M.C. Dean delivers resilient, secure, and innovative power and technology solutions through engineering expertise and smart systems integration.

Why Join Us?

Our people are passionate about engineering innovation that improves lives and drives impactful change. Guided by our core values-agility, expertise, and trust-we foster a collaborative and forward-thinking work environment. At M.C. Dean, we are committed to building the next generation of technical leaders in electrical, engineering, and cybersecurity industries.

We are seeking a Backend / Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to join our Security and Electronic Systems (SES) business Unit. As part of (SES) Strategic Business Unit you will be part of a team that designs, engineers, integrates, operates and maintains electronic security services inclusive of intrusion detection, access control, biometric authentication, video surveillance, audio visual, it systems, perimeter defense and command and control systems for federal, local and commercial customers across high-growth markets.

At M.C. Dean, we design, develop, deploy, and maintain large-scale, enterprise-level software and system architectures that extend, manage, and integrate mission-critical solutions for classified government and intelligence-community customers. The focus of this position is to support the end-to-end Software Development Life Cycle for applications written in Angular, Angular Material, Python and other customer-approved languages. This role is focused on backend development, cloud infrastructure (GCP), and data platform integration, supporting applications that manage and control IoT-enabled environments.

The Software Engineer / Systems Architect responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Support the design, implementation, and management of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) infrastructure, including compute, networking, storage, and managed services.
• Develop and maintain backend services and APIs that enable secure communication between front-end applications, databases, and IoT systems.
• Design, implement, and support relational and distributed data architectures, including database schema design, optimization, and lifecycle management.
• Work with PostgreSQL and BigQuery to support operational and analytical data workloads, including data modeling, query optimization, and performance tuning.
• Support integration between multiple databases and data sources, ensuring data consistency, integrity, and availability across systems.
• Develop and maintain data pipelines and ingestion frameworks to process and store data from IoT devices and external systems.
• Support integration of IoT devices and infrastructure with backend systems using messaging, orchestration, and event-driven architectures.
• Collaborate with front-end engineers to ensure seamless integration between UI applications and backend services.
• Implement and maintain cloud-native architectures, including containerization (Docker), orchestration (Kubernetes), and serverless services where appropriate.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to establish and maintain CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (IaC), and automated deployment processes.
• Monitor system performance, reliability, and scalability, and implement improvements to meet operational requirements.
• Ensure systems meet security and compliance requirements, including RMF, NIST, encryption, and secure communications.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation including architecture diagrams, API specifications, data models, and infrastructure configurations.
• Participate in Agile development processes including sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives.
• Position will be hybrid, including remote work and customer sites across the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline, with 5+ years of progressive experience in software architecture and enterprise application development.
• Master's degree with 3+ years of progressive experience preferred.

Certification:

• Google Cloud Professional (e.g., Cloud Engineer, Cloud Architect) preferred
• Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) preferred

Experience:

• Strong experience developing backend services and APIs using Python or other customer-approved languages
• Hands-on experience designing and managing cloud infrastructure in Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  Experience with PostgreSQL, BigQuery, and other database technologies, including schema design and performance tuning
• Experience integrating multiple data sources and databases in distributed systems
• Familiarity with IoT platforms, device integration, and data ingestion pipelines
• Experience with event-driven architectures, messaging systems (e.g., Pub/Sub), and orchestration tools
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes)
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform or equivalent)
• Understanding of secure software development and cloud security practices (RMF, NIST, encryption, PKI)
• Experience with DevSecOps tools and CI/CD pipelines (GitHub, Jenkins, etc.)
• Familiarity with Linux/UNIX environments
• Experience working in Agile development environments
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, VPN)
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills

What we offer:

• A collaborative team inspired by the way engineering and innovation enhance customer outcomes, improve lives, and change the world for the better. We are driven by our core values of agility, expertise, and trust.
• An opportunity to lead and build a business with the support of an industry-leading firm that has been in business for 75 years.
• Investment in your skills and expertise through a combination of professional and technical training programs, including leadership training and tuition reimbursement.
• Open and transparent communication with senior leadership as well as local office management.

• A competitive salary
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• Paid time off
• Tuition reimbursement
• 401k Retirement Plan
• Military Reserve pay offset
• Paid maternity leave

Abilities:

• Exposure to computer screens for an extended period of time.
• Sitting for extended periods of time.
• Reach by extending hands or arms in any direction.
• Have finger dexterity in order to manipulate objects with fingers rather than whole hands or arms, for example, using a keyboard.
• Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Identify and understand the speech of another person.