DevOps / CI-CD Engineer

About the Project

You will be working on a next-generation emergency management response platform designed to coordinate disaster response across government entities, first responders, and community volunteers. The platform is being developed for state and local government clients in Texas and is targeting an MVP release in May 2026.

The project currently consists of three active repositories: a marketing website, the main web application (Next.js), and a backend API that is being architected and built in parallel by a dedicated API Lead. The GUI team is actively developing the frontend using AI-assisted workflows, while the API architecture and infrastructure standards are being defined simultaneously.

At this stage, none of the repositories have CI/CD pipelines in place. As development accelerates toward MVP, the project urgently requires automated, standardized build, test, and deployment workflows across all repositories. The goal is to establish a clean, scalable, AWS-native CI/CD foundation that aligns with the backend architecture decisions and can support staging approvals, environment separation (dev, staging, prod), and long-term maintainability by the core engineering team.

Role Overview

This is a focused contract engagement. You will come in, assess the current repo setup, and build the full CI/CD infrastructure from the ground up.

The goal is a clean, documented, hook-driven pipeline for all three repositories that the core dev team can own and maintain after you hand off.

Once setup is complete, you will transition to a part-time maintenance role, available for updates and changes as the project evolves.

What You Will Build

Marketing Website (Next.js on AWS Beanstalk)

• Automated pipeline: build, package, deploy to a staging environment on AWS Beanstalk
• Approval gate: deploy to staging, generate a preview URL, wait for manual approval before promoting to production
• Branch-based previews for the dev team to review changes before merge

Web Application (Next.js)

• Same pattern: build, lint, test, stage, approve, promote
• Evaluate and recommend the optimal AWS deployment approach for Next.js (non-Vercel), e.g., Beanstalk, ECS, SST, CDK
• Implement the chosen deployment strategy with documented rationale

API Repository

• Set up CI pipeline that runs lint, unit tests, and integration tests on every PR
• Configure deployment pipeline aligned to the stack chosen by the API Lead (EWX-001)
• Environment-aware deployments: dev, staging, prod with appropriate gates

Cross-Repo Standards

• Pre-commit hooks enforcing code style, linting, and type checks
• GitHub Actions workflows for all pipelines
• Secrets management via AWS Secrets Manager or Parameter Store
• Infrastructure as code using AWS CDK (preferred) or SST
• Clear, concise documentation so the dev team can maintain everything post-handoff

Technical Requirements

Must Have

• 3+ years of DevOps/platform engineering experience
• Hands-on experience with GitHub Actions: writing, optimizing, and troubleshooting workflows
• Strong AWS knowledge: Beanstalk, EC2, IAM, CDK, Secrets Manager, CodeBuild or equivalent
• Experience deploying Next.js applications to AWS without Vercel
• Familiarity with branch-based deployment strategies and approval gates
• Experience setting up pre-commit hooks and enforcing code quality in CI

Strong Plus

• Experience with SST (Serverless Stack Toolkit) as an alternative to raw CDK
• Familiarity with monorepo tooling (Turborepo, Nx) even though this project is multi-repo
• Background in government, compliance-sensitive, or regulated environments (TxRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA awareness)
• Experience with container-based deployments (ECS, Fargate) as a potential evolution path

Non-Technical Requirements

• Available to overlap with US Central Time (CST) for daily check-ins
• Fluent English, written and verbal
• Able to move fast with minimal hand-holding; project is already in motion
• Documentation-focused: every pipeline you build must be fully documented for handoff
• Proactive communicator: raises blockers immediately, does not go silent