Systems Administrator - Splunk SME

Are you interested in using your skills to help shape the Cyber, Security, & Intel space? If so, look no further. Amentum is seeking a Systems Administrator - Splunk SME to join our team of passionate individuals at Fort Meade, MD. In this role you will support challenging, mission-critical projects that make a direct impact on the Nation’s security and intelligence mission.

In support of DISA, Amentum’s Intel and Cyber Division is expanding a proven team of highly skilled engineers and architects to support a program that provides critical IT capabilities to the Department of Defense. This team is committed to engineering, assembling, integrating, deploying, and sustaining an innovative IT enterprise solution.

Our team delivers secure, mission-critical capabilities where system integrity and rapid deployment are paramount. We are seeking a Systems Administrator - Splunk SME who combines meticulous technical discipline with strategic foresight. In this role, you will lead efforts to establish and maintain robust baselines in a rapidly evolving operational environment. Success requires the ability to navigate complex, unique technical challenges independently while fostering collaborative solutions across integrated teams. To excel, you must possess a proactive learning mindset and the agility to rapidly master and govern the integration of next-generation systems and services.

Work Schedule: 8 Hours per day, Monday thru Friday

Essential Responsibilities: The duties and responsibilities of the Systems Administrator - Splunk SME include but are not limited to the following:

The Senior Splunk Administrator is responsible for the design, deployment, operation, and sustainment of enterprise Splunk platforms supporting log management, security monitoring, mission systems health, and operational analytics across classified networks. This role serves as the technical authority for the Splunk environment, ensuring availability, data integrity, performance, and compliance with Intelligence Community (IC) security policy. The incumbent works closely with cybersecurity analysts, system owners, network engineers, and mission customers to deliver trusted, actionable data in support of the organization's mission.

Key Responsibilities:

• Install, configure, upgrade, patch, and maintain Splunk Enterprise and Enterprise Security (ES) components, including indexers, search heads, heavy and universal forwarders, deployment servers, cluster managers, license managers, and monitoring consoles.

• Administer indexer clustering and search head clustering to meet availability, retention, and disaster recovery requirements.

• Plan capacity, storage tiering, and data retention (hot/warm/cold/frozen) based on ingest volumes, search workloads, and mission needs.

• Tune platform performance, including search optimization, data model acceleration, and resource allocation.

• Operate in air-gapped and cross-domain environments, including offline software and content transfers via approved procedures.

• Develop and manage data ingestion pipelines from diverse sources (network devices, operating systems, applications, security tools, cloud services, and custom mission systems).

• Create and maintain props, transforms, field extractions, source types, and Common Information Model (CIM) mappings to normalize data.

• Manage data quality, forwarder health, and ingest anomalies; troubleshoot gaps and latency.

• Implement role-based access controls, index-level segregation, and need-to-know data compartmentation.

• Ensure the Splunk environment complies with applicable IC and DoD standards, such as ICD 503, NIST SP 800-53, RMF, and DISA STIGs.

• Support system authorization activities by producing and maintaining security documentation, configuration baselines, and evidence artifacts.

• Configure audit logging, authentication (e.g., PKI/CAC, SAML, LDAP/AD integration), and encryption of data in transit and at rest.

• Remediate vulnerabilities and implement findings from scans, inspections, and audits within required timelines.

• Build and maintain dashboards, reports, alerts, correlation searches, and Splunk apps/add-ons to support SOC, insider threat, system health, and mission analytics use cases.

• Partner with analysts to translate operational requirements into SPL searches and detection logic.

• Support incident response by providing rapid search, data retrieval, and forensic timeline support.

• Automate administration and deployment tasks using scripting and configuration management (e.g., Python, Bash, PowerShell, Ansible).

• Maintain operational runbooks, SOPs, architecture diagrams, and change management records.

• Provide Tier 3 escalation support and mentor junior administrators and analysts.

• Participate in change control boards, technical working groups, and design reviews; brief leadership on platform status, risks, and roadmap.

• Evaluate emerging Splunk capabilities and recommend improvements to the enterprise logging and analytics strategy.
• Demonstrated expertise in indexer and search head clustering, forwarder management, and distributed Splunk architectures.
• Strong proficiency in Search Processing Language (SPL), regular expressions, and data parsing/normalization.
• Experience working on classified or air-gapped networks.
• Solid Linux system administration skills (RHEL/CentOS preferred); working knowledge of Windows Server.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, syslog, DNS, TLS) and security concepts.
• Compliance with DoD 8140 / IC workforce certification requirements, such as Security+ CE or equivalent for the assigned work role, obtained within the required timeframe.
• Prior experience in an IC, DoD, or other government cyber environment.
• Expert-level knowledge of Splunk architecture, data lifecycle, and performance tuning.
• Ability to analyze complex technical problems and deliver reliable solutions under mission-driven timelines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical leaders.
• Sound judgment in handling classified information and adherence to security protocols.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team environment.
• Commitment to documentation, process discipline, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor junior engineers and share technical knowledge across the team

Work Environment, Physical Demands, and Mental Demands:

• Employee will work in a SCIF on a daily basis.

• Employee may also be required to work in a datacenter environment for specified periods of time.

Security Clearance Required: Must have active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility

• Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent experience (additional years of relevant experience may substitute for education) or equivalent professional experience (typically 4 additional years in lieu of degree).

Minimum Years of Experience:

• Experience: [8+] years of progressive IT experience, including [5+] years administering Splunk Enterprise in a large-scale production environment.
• Experience working in accredited, access-controlled, or air-gapped environments

Required Certifications: (One or more of the following)

• Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect
• DoD 8570.01-M IAT-II baseline certification requirements

Preferred Qualifications:

• Splunk Core Certified Consultant
• Experience with Splunk Enterprise Security, SOAR, or ITSI.

• Experience supporting SOC, cyber threat hunting, or insider threat programs.
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• Experience with configuration management and automation tools (Ansible, Git, CI/CD pipelines).

This position is designated as a safety sensitive position.

As part of our commitment to maintaining a safe and compliant work environment, Amentum is a drug-free workplace and requires all personnel to comply with company drug and alcohol policies as a condition of employment. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of the drug screening process. Please note that this may include pre-hire screening for marijuana, as well as other federally controlled substances due to Amentum’s role as a federal contractor and trusted partner to the US Government.

Other Responsibilities:

Safety - Amentum enforces a safety culture whereby all employees have the responsibility for continuously developing and maintaining a safe work environment. As appropriate, each employee is responsible for completing all training requirements and fulfilling all self-aid/buddy aid responsibilities, participating in emergency response tasks and serving on safety committees and teams.

Quality - Quality is the foundation for the management of our business and the keystone to our goal of customer satisfaction. It is our policy to consistently provide services that meet customer expectations. Accordingly, each employee must conform to the Amentum Quality Policy and carry out job activities in compliance with applicable Amentum Quality System documents and customer contracts. Each employee must read and understand his/her Quality Management and Customer Satisfaction responsibilities.

Procedure Compliance - Each employee must read, understand and implement the general and specific operational, safety, quality and environmental requirements of all plans, procedures and policies pertaining to his/her job. 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.

Compensation Details:

The compensation range or hourly rate listed for this position is provided as a good-faith estimate of what the company intends to offer for this role at the time this posting was issued. Actual compensation may vary based on factors such as job responsibilities, education, experience, skills, internal equity, market data, applicable collective bargaining agreements, and relevant laws.

Benefits Overview:

Our health and welfare benefits are designed to support you and your priorities. Offerings include:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance

• Paid time off and holidays

• Retirement benefits (including 401(k) matching)

• Educational reimbursement

• Parental leave

• Employee stock purchase plan

• Tax-saving options

• Disability and life insurance

• Pet insurance

Note: Benefits may vary based on employment type, location, and applicable agreements. Positions governed by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), or other employment contracts may include different provisions/benefits.

Original Posting:

Amentum anticipates this job requisition will remain open for at least three days, with a closing date no earlier than three days after the original posting. This timeline may change based on business needs.

Amentum is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our hiring practices provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), age, ancestry, United States military or veteran status, color, religion, creed, marital or domestic partner status, medical condition, genetic information, national origin, citizenship status, low-income status, or mental or physical disability so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about your rights under Federal laws and supplemental language at Labor Laws Posters.