Senior Identity Engineer

About the role

Ignite IT is seeking an experienced Senior Identity and Access Management (IAM) Engineer to support enterprise identity and directory services for the U.S. Census Bureau.

This is a hands-on engineering position focused on administering, maintaining, troubleshooting, and upgrading NetIQ OpenText (formerly NetIQ/Novell) eDirectory and Identity Manager (IDM) environments running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience supporting production eDirectory environments, configuring and troubleshooting Identity Manager drivers, managing LDAP integrations and digital certificates, and resolving complex identity provisioning and authentication issues.

The engineer will also support ongoing modernization initiatives involving Okta, AWS GovCloud, and Terraform. However, direct hands-on experience with eDirectory and Identity Manager is required, as these technologies represent the primary responsibilities of the position.

Key Responsibilities

eDirectory Administration and Support

• Administer, maintain, and troubleshoot enterprise OpenText/NetIQ eDirectory environments across production, development, and testing systems.
• Manage eDirectory partitions, replicas, schema, auxiliary classes, LDAP server objects, and directory synchronization.
• Monitor directory health, investigate replication issues, and resolve authentication, connectivity, and performance problems.
• Utilize iManager, iMonitor, Identity Console, and eDirectory command-line utilities for administration and troubleshooting.
• Support eDirectory upgrades, migrations, and system maintenance, including testing, validation, and production implementation.

Identity Manager Engineering

• Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot OpenText/NetIQ Identity Manager drivers, driver sets, and provisioning workflows.
• Develop and modify DirXML Script policies, driver filters, associations, and attribute transformations.
• Support identity synchronization between HR systems, Active Directory, LDAP directories, databases, and enterprise applications.
• Troubleshoot provisioning and deprovisioning failures, identity data inconsistencies, account synchronization issues, and driver errors.
• Use Identity Manager Designer, driver traces, and diagnostic tools to identify and resolve integration issues.
• Support Identity Manager upgrades and configuration changes across development, testing, and production environments.

Security, Certificates, and Authentication

• Manage eDirectory certificates, key material objects, LDAP server certificates, and application keystores.
• Configure and troubleshoot LDAP over SSL/TLS (LDAPS), certificate chains, and authentication failures.
• Support certificate renewals, Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs), PKCS#12 files, and certificate management using OpenSSL.
• Troubleshoot TLS handshake failures and certificate-related application connectivity issues.
• Investigate account lockouts, authentication failures, missing accounts, and identity synchronization issues.
• Support Active Directory integrations, including account and group management, Kerberos authentication, and certificate-based authentication.

Linux Administration and Automation

• Administer and troubleshoot eDirectory and Identity Manager services running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
• Perform command-line troubleshooting, service management, log analysis, configuration updates, and system maintenance.
• Develop and maintain scripts using Bash and Python, with working knowledge of SQL, to automate recurring operational tasks.
• Support infrastructure upgrades, configuration management, and system troubleshooting.

Production Support and Modernization

• Investigate and resolve production incidents, service requests, and complex directory-related issues.
• Prepare and execute changes through formal change management processes, including Change Advisory Board (CAB) review and post-change validation.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, data-flow diagrams, operational procedures, and troubleshooting runbooks.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cybersecurity, application, and engineering teams to support system reliability and identity integrations.
• Contribute to modernization initiatives involving Okta, Terraform, AWS GovCloud, and containerized directory services.

Requirements & Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in identity management, directory services, systems engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with OpenText/NetIQ eDirectory and Identity Manager in enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated experience administering production eDirectory environments, including partitions, replicas, schema, auxiliary classes, LDAP server objects, and directory health.
• Strong hands-on experience configuring, supporting, and troubleshooting NetIQ Identity Manager drivers, driver sets, DirXML policies, filters, associations, and provisioning workflows.
• Experience with Identity Manager Designer, iManager, iMonitor, and related administration and troubleshooting tools.
• Strong knowledge of LDAP and LDAPS, including binds, search filters, directory schema, and troubleshooting using ldapsearch and ldapmodify.
• Experience administering Linux environments, particularly Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including shell operations, service management, permissions, logs, SSH, and SCP.
• Experience managing eDirectory certificates, SSL/TLS, certificate chains, keystores, CSRs, PKCS#12, and OpenSSL.
• Experience integrating identity management platforms with Microsoft Active Directory, including accounts, groups, Kerberos authentication, lockout investigations, and certificate mapping.
• Ability to develop and maintain automation using Bash and Python, with working knowledge of SQL.
• Experience troubleshooting complex production issues involving identity synchronization, authentication, provisioning, and directory services.
• Experience with formal change management, technical documentation, and architecture or data-flow diagrams.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to complete the background investigation and onboarding requirements for a U.S. Census Bureau contractor position, including Title 13 Special Sworn Status if required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with OpenText/NetIQ Identity Manager upgrades, migrations, and version transitions.
• Experience administering Okta or integrating Okta with on-premises identity systems.
• Experience with AWS, particularly AWS GovCloud, EC2, EBS, S3, and DynamoDB.
• Experience using Terraform, including the Okta provider and Git-based configuration management workflows.
• Familiarity with container technologies such as Podman or Docker.
• Experience with NetIQ Access Manager, SAML federation, or related identity and access management technologies.
• Experience troubleshooting enterprise load balancers, including F5.
• Familiarity with Oracle Internet Directory and JDBC-based identity integrations.
• Experience with security monitoring and log analysis tools such as Microsoft Sentinel, Azure Data Explorer, Splunk, or KQL.
• Familiarity with Personal Identity Verification (PIV), Common Access Card (CAC), and federal change management processes.
• Previous experience supporting federal government systems or other highly regulated enterprise environments.

Benefits & Perks

• 401(k) with matching and 100% Vested
• Health Insurance - 3 plans to select from
• Dental insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Short Term Disability
• Long Term Disability
• AD&D
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Training
• Tuition reimbursement
• Flexible schedule
• Flexible spending account
• Referral program
• Paid Legal Plan
• and more....

• Applicants selected must be able to obtain and maintain a federal government clearance.
• US CITIZENSHIP REQUIRED