Lead DevOps Engineer

At the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, employees come first - that's why we offer a highly competitive compensation and bonus package, and access to a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the needs of our employees.

Collaborative, in-office operating model

Retirement program (401k and Pension)

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Lifestyle Spending Account

Competitive PTO plan

11 paid holidays per year

Who we are

Our mission at FHLBank Chicago : To partner with our members in Illinois and Wisconsin to provide them competitively priced funding, a reasonable return on their investment, and support for their community investment activities.

Simply said, we're a bank for banks and other financial institutions, focused on being a strategic partner for our members and working together to reinvest in our communities, from urban centers to rural areas. Created by Congress in 1932, FHLBank Chicago is one of 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, government sponsored in support of mortgage lending and community investment.

What it's like to work here

At FHLBank Chicago, we bring people together. We are committed to a high performing, engaged workforce, and to supporting the communities we serve across Illinois and Wisconsin. Our Buddy Program pairs new hires with tenured employees to guide their onboarding. Our professional development and training opportunities through upskilling, mentorship programs, and tuition reimbursement allow employees to grow their career with us. Our collaborative, in-office operating model brings teams together to foster innovation, connection, and shared success. To support balance and flexibility, employees are provided an allocation of remote days to use as needed throughout the year.

What You'll do

The Lead DevOps Engineer serves as a leader and hands-on technical expert, driving the implementation and scaling of DevSecOps practices across the Bank's technology landscape. This role partners closely with IT Delivery Teams to ensure that code, services, and products transition seamlessly from development through deployment and into production.

In addition to deep technical expertise in automation, scripting, and continuous integration, the Lead DevOps Engineer is responsible for building out the necessary processes, frameworks, and tools to support enterprise-wide DevSecOps adoption. This includes designing scalable CI / CD pipelines, embedding security into every phase of the software development lifecycle, and

fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong leadership in guiding cross-functional teams-including development, infrastructure, security, and architecture-toward modern engineering practices. They will proactively identify opportunities for innovation, standardization, and automation, while mentoring teams and championing the adoption of DevSecOps principles

How you'll make an impact :

Enhancing Automation and Efficiency : The Lead DevOps Engineer will significantly improve the bank's software development lifecycle by implementing and managing CI / CD pipelines, automating infrastructure provisioning, and ensuring seamless integration and deployment, thereby enhancing overall efficiency, and reducing time-to-market for new features and services.

Strengthening Security and Compliance : By implementing security best practices and ensuring compliance with performance, security, availability, and recoverability standards, the Lead DevOps Engineer will play a crucial role in safeguarding the bank's IT infrastructure and maintaining the integrity of its operations.

Fostering Innovation and Collaboration : The Lead DevOps Engineer will drive the adoption of DevSecOps culture and capabilities across Agile product delivery teams, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with various teams to design and deploy innovative solutions, ultimately contributing to the bank's technological advancement and competitive edge.

What you can expect :

Set up CI / CD pipelines to support automated deployment of resources to Cloud environments, all at medium to high level of complexity

This role is very strategic in nature with a focus on scaling DevOps practices within an enterprise.

Supervise design, implement, and manage CI / CD pipelines.

Automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration.

Collaborate with development teams to ensure seamless integration and deployment.

Implement security best practices and ensure compliance.

Proactively identifies system and process risks and recommend / implement process improvements

Develop, implement, and support test automation for continuous integration and continuous deployment.

Identify and develop metrics and dashboards to monitor adoption and maturity of DevSecOps practice for the Bank.

Expertise in conterization (Docker and Podman) and orchestration via AWS Elastic Kubernetes Services (EKS).

Develop, manage and mature the Bank's software development life-cycle (SDLC) ensuring alignment with Agile, DevSecOps, and platform standards.

Embed "shift-left" security practices leveraging tools like Checkmarx, SonarQube, PrismaCloud.

Identify and implement opportunities for automation, standardization, and process enhancements.

Provide technical guidance and mentoring to software deliver teams and junior engineers to promote cross-functional knowledge sharing.

Contribute to architecture discussions around technology controls and their implementation in a DevSecOps / Cloud environment.

Work collaboratively with architecture, security and delivery teams to estimate, design, code, deploy and support working software / technology components.

Foster the adoption of DevSecOps culture and capabilities across Agile product delivery teams.

Liaison with Delivery teams to support necessary configurations / setup in Azure DevOps (ADO) in support of Agile.

Participate in various technology Center of Excellence (CoE) and evenagelise DevSecOps methodologies.

Work with development and support teams to design improved deployment, provisioning and integration workflows, ensure environments stability and identify areas and plans for improvement.

Contribute to new technology, vendor package and tool road mapping, evaluation and introduction.

Ensure compliance with Performance, Security, Availability, Recoverability standards and policies and provide Monitoring recommendations.

What you'll bring :

7+ years of demonstrable software engineering and DevOps experience

7+ years working in SCRUM / Agile software development environment

Experience deploying and administering Continuous integration tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, TeamCity, Octopus or Bamboo

Expertise with Infrastructure cloud tools such as Terraform, Docker, Podman, Helm etc.

Experience administering and integrating SAST tools (Checkmarx) and code quality tools (SonarQube)

Expertise with integrating automated testing solutions for unit, system, integration, and performance testing within CI / CD

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience. Computer Science or related field preferred.

Strong cloud engineering experience primarily with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Expertise in working with Terraform, Ansible, and / or Chocolaty for infrastructure automation and configuration

Expertise with containerization via Docker and Podman with container orchestration leveraging Amazon EKS

Expertise with GitHub Co-pilot confirguation and administration

Expertise with programming languages such as Python, Powershell, and Bash is a must

Expertise with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools such as Datadog and Solarwinds.

Expertise with project management and workflow tools and concepts such, Agile, Scrum / Kanban, etc.

Proficiency in cross-platform scripting language and build tools (Python, Artifactory, MS Build, NuGet)

Proficiency in OOP software development using C# or similar languages

Ability to define scalable and secure CI / CD pipelines

Deep understanding of containerization strategies using Docker and Podman

Experience with pair programming using GitHub Copilot

Strong communication / presentation skills and ability to build and explain standards, processes, and cloud architecture with team and management.

The Perks

At FHLBank Chicago, we believe in rewarding our high performing workforce. We offer a highly competitive compensation and bonus package, and access to a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the needs of our employees. Our retirement program includes a 401(k) and pension plan. Our wellbeing program supports employees at work and in their personal lives : Our PTO plan provides five weeks of vacation for new employees and 11 paid holidays per year; our Lifestyle Spending Account provides an annual stipend for employees to support wellbeing activities; and our central downtown location at the Old Post Office provides easy access to public transportation and breathtaking views from our award-winning rooftop. Visit FHLBCbenefits.com for additional details about our benefits. Step into a brighter future with us.

Salary Range :

$108,450.00 - $180,825.00

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors. In addition to the base salary, we offer a comprehensive benefits package which can be found here :