About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, IT.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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Job Overview

Confidential Client is hiring a Junior Software Engineer (TS Clearance) to join a Splunk Engineering & Maintenance team supporting federal customers. This is an entry-level, growth-focused role for candidates with a software development or cybersecurity foundation who want to build hands-on experience with Splunk, SIEM operations, and automation. The position requires U.S. citizenship and an active Top Secret security clearance.

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What You’ll Do

• Contribute to Splunk platform engineering, maintenance, and monitoring (indexers, search heads, forwarders, deployment servers, apps).
• Onboard and normalize log sources: configure inputs, forwarders, props/transforms, sourcetypes, and index assignments.
• Develop and maintain searches, reports, dashboards, and alerts using Splunk SPL to support security and operational use cases.
• Write, test, and maintain scripts and small tools (Python, Bash, PowerShell) to automate recurring engineering and reporting tasks.
• Validate data quality: field extractions, timestamps, event breaking, and CIM normalization under senior guidance.
• Use Git-based workflows: branching, pull requests, peer code review, and automated deployments.
• Monitor platform health (ingest volume, license usage, search performance); identify anomalies and assist in remediation.
• Test changes in dev/test environments prior to production deployment and document results.
• Respond to tickets and support user requests for access, searches, or minor configuration updates.
• Participate in agile ceremonies (stand-ups, sprint planning) and follow established change management processes.
• Work toward Splunk certifications and technical specialization with mentorship from senior engineers.

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Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen with an active Top Secret security clearance (required).
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or equivalent technical training/certification/experience.
• 0–2 years of professional experience in software development, IT engineering, or cybersecurity (internships, co-ops, apprenticeships, or substantial project work apply).
• Working proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language (Python, Bash, PowerShell, Java, Go, JavaScript).
• Comfortable using the Linux command line and basic system administration concepts.
• Familiarity with Git and standard development workflows (branching, pull requests, code review).
• Ability to work with structured and semi-structured formats (JSON, XML, CSV, YAML, syslog) and basic regular expressions.
• Foundational networking and logging knowledge (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP, authentication events).
• Basic cybersecurity understanding: core principles, common attack patterns, and SIEM role in security operations.
• Strong written and verbal communication, documentation skills, attention to detail, and ability to follow established engineering processes.
• Ability to maintain required clearance and suitability for the contract.

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Preferred

• Hands-on exposure to Splunk (SPL, dashboards, universal forwarders, apps) or other SIEMs (Elastic, Microsoft Sentinel, QRadar).
• Splunk Core Certified User / Power User or willingness to obtain within the first year.
• CompTIA Security+, Network+, or comparable certification.
• Experience with REST APIs, data parsing/normalization, or data pipelines.
• Familiarity with cloud logging (AWS/Azure/GCP) and configuration management / IaC (Ansible, Terraform, Puppet).
• Exposure to CI/CD, automated testing, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Understanding of MITRE ATT&CK, detection engineering concepts, and SOC workflows.
• Prior experience supporting federal customers or accredited environments.
• Interest in specializing in Data, Platform, or Detection Engineering.

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Physical Requirements & Environment

• Office-based work environment.
• Work at a computer for extended periods.
• May involve long periods sitting at a desk.
• Fast-paced environment with occasional high-deadline pressure.

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Other Duties

This job description is not exhaustive. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

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