Virtual Infrastructure Engineer - Advanced Cyber Training Environments

Job Title
Cyber Virtualization Engineer

Why IDS?

IDS believes in resolving conflict, building innovative approaches to do so. Combining operational expertise with an intimate understanding of today’s greatest challenges, we bring our customers the solutions required for success in a complex and multidimensional world. IDS tailors solutions for a diverse range of government, military, nonprofit, and public-sector clients.

Locations

Arlington, VA

Shifts Available

Please note, candidates must be flexible. Shift times are general hours; some projects may require earlier or later reporting based on customer requirements.

Job Description

SITE 525 is seeking a highly skilled Cyber Virtualization Engineer to support the development and sustainment of advanced cyber training environments. This role involves hands-on engineering of secure, scalable, and AI-enabled virtual ranges that emulate realistic, adversarial network conditions across IT and OT domains. These environments are used for cyber mission rehearsals, red/blue/gray team operations, and full-spectrum cybersecurity exercises. Must be willing to travel up to 25%. Responsible for designing, deploying, and maintaining advanced virtualized training environments that replicate realistic, large-scale, and adversarial network conditions. This position focuses on engineering and integrating dynamic, hypervisor-driven platforms and virtualization technologies to support cyber mission rehearsals, red/blue/gray team operations, and full-spectrum training exercises.

Key Duties

• Engineer and implement scalable virtualized environments leveraging hypervisors (KVM, VMware, Hyper-V), virtual machines, containers, and software-defined networking across hybrid, edge, and cloud infrastructures.
• Implement and manage virtualization stacks including private cloud platforms, hypervisor clusters, and orchestration frameworks for large-scale, multi-tenant environments.
• Develop automation and orchestration tooling for provisioning, snapshotting, and lifecycle management of virtualized assets using Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD pipelines.
• Integrate advanced traffic simulation capabilities (burst, steady-state, geo-distributed, AI/ML-driven) to emulate realistic user and system behaviors within virtual ranges.
• Build and maintain frameworks and tooling for user and NPC emulation across virtualized environments to enhance operational realism, including threat emulation and defensive toolsets for network monitoring, incident detection, and response.
• Implement observability pipelines for performance monitoring, traffic replay, autoscaling validation, and centralized logging in production-grade virtual infrastructures.
• Administer and secure hypervisor platforms and virtual networking components, ensuring isolation, resiliency, and compliance for mission-critical environments.
• Manage network and server infrastructure including Active Directory, identity management systems, and virtualized security controls.
• Integrate third-party virtualization and orchestration tools to improve fidelity and scalability of training environments.
• Support exercise operations including setup, execution, troubleshooting, and real-time scenario management for White Cell operations.
• Collaborate with technical working groups and stakeholders to validate and enhance virtualization strategies for cyber training environments.
• Apply knowledge of OT systems (SCADA, ICS, PLCs, IoT/IIoT) within virtualized contexts for realistic emulation.

Relevant Technologies & Tools:

• Virtualization & Hypervisors: VMware ESXi/vSphere, KVM/QEMU, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox, OpenStack
• Virtual Infrastructure Management: VM lifecycle management, snapshotting, cloning, orchestration frameworks
• Cloud & Containerization: Private cloud platforms, AWS, Azure, Kubernetes (K8s), Docker, Podman, hybrid and edge deployments
• Networking & SDN: Virtual switches (vSwitch, vDS), software-defined networking, network segmentation, VPNs, dynamic Network-as-Code tools
• Automation & IaC: Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Ansible, Packer, Helm, Nomad ), CI/CD integration for infrastructure
• Performance & Observability: Metrics collection, centralized logging, traffic replay, load simulation, autoscaling validation
• Security in Virtualized Environments: Identity management, Active Directory (GPOs, tiered admin scripts), secure isolation of virtual ranges
• Cyber Range Engineering: Virtualized cyber training environments, adversarial network simulation, AI/ML-driven traffic emulation
• Traffic Simulation & User Emulation: Lariat, CMU GHOSTS, MITRE Caldera, Red Canary, Atomic Red Team, TRex, BreakingPoint, Locust, k6, custom Python/TypeScript scripts, AI-enabled agents
• Compliance & Assurance: NIST 800-series, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, CUI-compliant controls
• Monitoring & Control Interfaces: Custom dashboards for exercise operations, centralized scenario orchestration

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in cyber engineering, network operations, or cyber range development.
• Top Secret security clearance.
• Proficiency in virtualization, containerization, and cloud technologies.
• Experience with offensive and defensive cybersecurity tools and frameworks.
• Familiarity with AI/ML integration in cyber environments.
• Strong scripting and automation skills (e.g., Python, Bash, PowerShell).
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
• Knowledge of OT systems and protocols.
• Security certifications (e.g., CISSP, CEH, OSCP) are a plus.

Compensation

• Competitive Hourly Pay
• Benefits

Questions?
Please reach out to [email protected] for additional questions or information.

Employee may be required to occasionally lift and/or move moderate amounts of weight, typically less than 20 pounds, but may vary depending on the position. Regular and predictable attendance is essential.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by federal, state, and local law.

If you are unable to apply through the portal and need to speak to someone about necessary accommodations to apply, please email [email protected] and we will follow up with you. Do not submit resumes and applications through this email.