OPT Principal Devops Engineer Jobs
Principal DevOps Engineer roles on OPT require demonstrating senior-level ownership of CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and platform reliability. Most employers filing H-1B visa or O-1 visa sponsorship for this title expect hands-on expertise in Kubernetes, Terraform, or AWS. Your 12-month STEM OPT extension window is where hiring decisions get made.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Swingtech
Swingtech delivers innovative Information Technology and Professional Support services to a diverse range of clients across the federal and intelligence communities. With over 15 years of trusted experience as a systems integrator, we apply agile methodologies and deep industry insight to help our customers achieve greater efficiency, compliance, and cost savings. At Swingtech, we’re committed to excellence and long-term success for our clients and our team.
Location: Remote (with occasional travel to Baltimore, MD and Greenbelt, MD)
Swingtech Consulting, Inc. is seeking a skilled DevOps Engineer to support the operation, maintenance, enhancement, and secure delivery of web-based training and learning management systems supporting federal programs.
This role is focused on supporting reliable system operations, deployment processes, environment management, automation, monitoring, troubleshooting, and collaboration between development, security, and operations teams. The ideal candidate should have practical DevOps experience in an enterprise or federal environment and be comfortable supporting production systems, test/staging environments, release activities, and operational improvements.
Key Responsibilities
- Support DevOps activities for web-based applications, learning management platforms, and related enterprise systems
- Assist with deployment, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of development, test/staging, and production environments
- Support reliable operation of applications and systems through monitoring, troubleshooting, incident support, and performance analysis
- Collaborate with developers, system administrators, cybersecurity staff, and program teams to support system enhancements and releases
- Assist with automation of deployment, configuration, testing, reporting, and operational support processes
- Support release management activities, including build coordination, deployment planning, validation, rollback planning, and post-release monitoring
- Help maintain secure and stable application environments consistent with federal security, privacy, and operational requirements
- Support cloud-based or hybrid-cloud application operations, including environment readiness, connectivity, storage, and performance considerations
- Lead vulnerability remediation efforts, manage patch coordination, apply configuration updates, and develop/maintain technical documentation
- Drive synchronization and validation of data and functionality across development, staging, and production environments
- Participate in troubleshooting production issues, user-impacting system problems, and application performance concerns
- Maintain operational documentation, deployment notes, configuration records, and standard operating procedures
- Drive continuous improvement of DevOps workflows, system reliability, deployment quality, and operational efficiency
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered
- At least 4 years of experience supporting DevOps, systems operations, application deployment, cloud operations, or related technical environments
- Experience supporting web applications, enterprise platforms, or learning management systems in development, staging, and production environments
- Working knowledge of deployment processes, release coordination, configuration management, and operational monitoring
- Experienced in cloud-hosted or hybrid-cloud application environments
- Experience troubleshooting system, application, connectivity, performance, or deployment-related issues
- Experienced in secure operations, vulnerability remediation, patching, and configuration control
- Ability to collaborate with development, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and program teams
- Strong documentation, communication, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and support operational requirements in a remote environment
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting federal, healthcare, or regulated IT environments
- Experienced in AWS, cloud migration activities, or hybrid-cloud operations
- Experience with CI/CD concepts, automation tools, scripting, or infrastructure support practices
- Experience supporting application monitoring, log analysis, alerting, or performance management tools
- Familiarity with privacy, security, or compliance requirements in federal environments
- Experience supporting Agile, DevSecOps, or collaborative delivery environments
- Relevant certifications such as AWS, Azure, Security+, Linux, DevOps, or cloud-related certifications are a plus
Summary of Benefits
- 15 PTO days
- 11 paid holidays
- Medical Insurance with – 3 options (HSA with $600 Employer Contribution).
- Dental Insurance with no age limit orthodonture.
- Vision Insurance through EyeMed in and out of network coverage.
- Short Term and Long-Term Disability coverage with 100% premium support
- Life insurance and AD&D with 100% premium support
- Supplemental Life Insurance
- Critical Care and Accident Insurance availability
- Pet Insurance through Nationwide
- Employee Assistance Program
- 401k with enrollment from day one. 4% deferral by company.
- $1500 Annual Training Budget
- $1500 Referral bonus
- Eligibility for annual merit and discretionary bonus
- Flexible work arrangements
Equal Opportunity Employer Minority/Female/Veterans/Disabled
About Swingtech
Swingtech delivers innovative Information Technology and Professional Support services to a diverse range of clients across the federal and intelligence communities. With over 15 years of trusted experience as a systems integrator, we apply agile methodologies and deep industry insight to help our customers achieve greater efficiency, compliance, and cost savings. At Swingtech, we’re committed to excellence and long-term success for our clients and our team.
Location: Remote (with occasional travel to Baltimore, MD and Greenbelt, MD)
Swingtech Consulting, Inc. is seeking a skilled DevOps Engineer to support the operation, maintenance, enhancement, and secure delivery of web-based training and learning management systems supporting federal programs.
This role is focused on supporting reliable system operations, deployment processes, environment management, automation, monitoring, troubleshooting, and collaboration between development, security, and operations teams. The ideal candidate should have practical DevOps experience in an enterprise or federal environment and be comfortable supporting production systems, test/staging environments, release activities, and operational improvements.
Key Responsibilities
- Support DevOps activities for web-based applications, learning management platforms, and related enterprise systems
- Assist with deployment, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of development, test/staging, and production environments
- Support reliable operation of applications and systems through monitoring, troubleshooting, incident support, and performance analysis
- Collaborate with developers, system administrators, cybersecurity staff, and program teams to support system enhancements and releases
- Assist with automation of deployment, configuration, testing, reporting, and operational support processes
- Support release management activities, including build coordination, deployment planning, validation, rollback planning, and post-release monitoring
- Help maintain secure and stable application environments consistent with federal security, privacy, and operational requirements
- Support cloud-based or hybrid-cloud application operations, including environment readiness, connectivity, storage, and performance considerations
- Lead vulnerability remediation efforts, manage patch coordination, apply configuration updates, and develop/maintain technical documentation
- Drive synchronization and validation of data and functionality across development, staging, and production environments
- Participate in troubleshooting production issues, user-impacting system problems, and application performance concerns
- Maintain operational documentation, deployment notes, configuration records, and standard operating procedures
- Drive continuous improvement of DevOps workflows, system reliability, deployment quality, and operational efficiency
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered
- At least 4 years of experience supporting DevOps, systems operations, application deployment, cloud operations, or related technical environments
- Experience supporting web applications, enterprise platforms, or learning management systems in development, staging, and production environments
- Working knowledge of deployment processes, release coordination, configuration management, and operational monitoring
- Experienced in cloud-hosted or hybrid-cloud application environments
- Experience troubleshooting system, application, connectivity, performance, or deployment-related issues
- Experienced in secure operations, vulnerability remediation, patching, and configuration control
- Ability to collaborate with development, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and program teams
- Strong documentation, communication, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and support operational requirements in a remote environment
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting federal, healthcare, or regulated IT environments
- Experienced in AWS, cloud migration activities, or hybrid-cloud operations
- Experience with CI/CD concepts, automation tools, scripting, or infrastructure support practices
- Experience supporting application monitoring, log analysis, alerting, or performance management tools
- Familiarity with privacy, security, or compliance requirements in federal environments
- Experience supporting Agile, DevSecOps, or collaborative delivery environments
- Relevant certifications such as AWS, Azure, Security+, Linux, DevOps, or cloud-related certifications are a plus
Summary of Benefits
- 15 PTO days
- 11 paid holidays
- Medical Insurance with – 3 options (HSA with $600 Employer Contribution).
- Dental Insurance with no age limit orthodonture.
- Vision Insurance through EyeMed in and out of network coverage.
- Short Term and Long-Term Disability coverage with 100% premium support
- Life insurance and AD&D with 100% premium support
- Supplemental Life Insurance
- Critical Care and Accident Insurance availability
- Pet Insurance through Nationwide
- Employee Assistance Program
- 401k with enrollment from day one. 4% deferral by company.
- $1500 Annual Training Budget
- $1500 Referral bonus
- Eligibility for annual merit and discretionary bonus
- Flexible work arrangements
Equal Opportunity Employer Minority/Female/Veterans/Disabled
See all 97+ OPT Principal Devops Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Principal Devops Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Principal Devops Engineer
Lead with infrastructure ownership, not task execution
Principal-level DevOps roles require demonstrating that you have owned platforms end-to-end, not just contributed to them. Quantify uptime improvements, migration scope, or cost reductions you drove directly. Employers sponsoring at this level expect autonomous decision-making, not team participation.
Target companies with active STEM OPT hiring patterns
Large tech firms, cloud-native startups, and financial services companies file the most H-1B visa petitions for DevOps titles. Prioritize employers with a documented history of sponsoring senior engineers. Hiring patterns from prior years are a reliable signal of sponsorship willingness at this level.
Apply during your first OPT year, not the final months
Principal DevOps roles have longer hiring cycles due to multiple interview rounds and committee approvals. Starting your search early gives employers enough runway to complete the process before your OPT expires. Waiting until the final quarter significantly reduces your options.
Certifications accelerate credibility at the principal level
AWS Solutions Architect Professional, CKA, or HashiCorp Terraform Associate certifications signal depth that resumes alone cannot. For OPT candidates without a U.S. work history, certifications from recognized bodies reduce employer hesitation and strengthen your technical credibility during evaluation.
Address sponsorship directly and confidently in recruiter calls
Senior hiring managers at principal-level understand visa sponsorship better than most. State your OPT status and STEM extension eligibility upfront. Ambiguity wastes everyone's time. Confident, clear communication about your timeline positions you as organized and serious, not as a liability.
Build a portfolio of platform decisions, not just implementations
Principal engineers are hired for judgment, not just execution. Document architectural decisions you have made, trade-offs you evaluated, and outcomes that followed. A GitHub repository showing infrastructure-as-code projects alongside written decision rationale is far more compelling than a list of tools used.
Principal Devops Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can F-1 OPT students work as Principal DevOps Engineers without a visa sponsor on day one?
Yes. F-1 OPT authorization lets you work for any employer in a role directly related to your degree without employer sponsorship during the OPT period itself. Principal DevOps Engineer roles typically qualify under computer science, information systems, or engineering degrees. You will need sponsorship only if you intend to continue working after OPT and your STEM extension period expire.
Does the Principal DevOps Engineer title qualify for a STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your degree field, not the job title alone. If your degree is in computer science, electrical engineering, information technology, or a related STEM field, and the role involves applying that knowledge directly, it will generally qualify. Your DSO must authorize the extension, and your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify. Most tech employers hiring at this level already meet that requirement.
Where can OPT students find Principal DevOps Engineer roles at companies open to sponsorship?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for F-1 OPT and international students seeking roles at sponsorship-willing employers. The platform filters for companies with active OPT and H-1B hiring history, so you are not cold-applying to employers who will immediately screen you out. Principal DevOps Engineer listings on Migrate Mate are curated for international candidates navigating the sponsorship process.
Will the seniority of a Principal DevOps Engineer title affect my H-1B sponsorship chances?
Seniority generally helps. Principal-level roles carry higher prevailing wage requirements, which some employers find more straightforward to justify under LCA filings. More importantly, employers investing in H-1B sponsorship prefer candidates with demonstrated long-term value, and a principal designation signals that the employer sees you as a critical hire, not a replaceable resource.
What happens to my OPT authorization if my Principal DevOps Engineer employer does a layoff?
Your OPT authorization remains valid, but you enter a 60-day unemployment grace period. You must find a new qualifying employer within that window or risk falling out of status. At the principal level, a well-maintained professional network and documented infrastructure accomplishments significantly speed up re-employment. Start your search immediately and notify your DSO about the employment gap.