Senior MQ Engineer

Title: Senior MQ Engineer

Location: Annapolis Junction, MD

Clearance: Active SECRET Required

Overview:

Our client is seeking an experienced Senior MQ Engineer to support a federal client in their mission-critical defense systems for Homeland Security. In this role, you will be responsible for the daily operations and administration of IBM MQ environments, ensuring secure, reliable message flow across applications. Key responsibilities include monitoring system performance, maintaining security protocols, and documenting processes to uphold high availability and compliance standards. If you have a detail-oriented approach and proven expertise in managing MQ systems, we invite you to be part of our dedicated team working to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable, secure, and high-performing IBM MQ and Liberty messaging infrastructure, including queue managers, channels, queues, clustering, and high-availability configurations.
• Monitor system health and performance metrics, identifying and resolving bottlenecks, tuning MQ settings, and optimizing configurations to ensure reliable and efficient operations.
• Lead enterprise messaging initiatives, including planning, execution, testing, and deployment, while ensuring alignment with business and IT strategies.
• Provide advanced troubleshooting and serve as the final escalation point for complex MQ and Liberty issues; support junior admins and application teams during integration and issue resolution.
• Implement and manage security controls, encryption, and auditing across MQ environments to maintain data integrity and meet compliance requirements.
• Perform capacity planning and resource forecasting to support growth and ensure scalability across enterprise environments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams—such as infrastructure, development, and operations—to ensure seamless messaging integration and support.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation including architecture, procedures, troubleshooting steps, and recovery strategies.
• Mentor junior MQ administrators, promote best practices, and contribute to standardization efforts across the team.
• Stay current on MQ technologies, patches, and best practices; recommend and implement enhancements to maintain a competitive and compliant messaging environment.

  Requirements:

• Active Secret clearance is required.
• Due to contract requirements, only U.S. citizens can be considered. Candidates with dual citizenship cannot be considered.
• 12 or more years of experience in an MQ Administrator role or in a related field.
  • Experience with WebSphere
• Candidates must reside within a commutable distance for daily onsite work and on-call requirements.
• This contract supports systems that require 24x7x365 uptime. Candidates must be willing and able to meet recall requirements, including participation in a rotational on-call schedule.
• This individual must be able to accommodate a rotational on-call schedule as needed.

  Preferred:

• IBM System Admin for MQ certification.
• Experience with Liberty Suite.