Wyatt Draggoo
@wyattdraggoo
Senior infrastructure architect building secure, reproducible HPC and cybersecurity platforms for AI research.
United StatesWhat I'm looking for
I’m a Staff Systems Engineer and Infrastructure Architect with 30+ years at the intersection of security engineering, Linux low-level debugging, and high-performance infrastructure. I specialize in architecting reproducible, secure, and performant build environments—so systems run reliably under real-world constraints.
In recent roles, I’ve led hardened, classified RHEL HPC cluster architecture and installation, tuned complex kernel/storage/network bottlenecks for mission-critical workloads, and advised stakeholders on system lifecycle management and deployment planning. I also manage compliance workflows end-to-end, including Tenable SecurityCenter/Nessus pipelines and automated STIG compliance scanning and remediation—keeping high availability while meeting security requirements.
I build automation that actually sticks: I engineered PXE/Kickstart-driven automated RHEL provisioning with Ansible, integrated Nessus scanning into NIST 800-53 compliance pipelines, and designed IAM/access control for enterprise Linux fleets. From my earlier work at Boeing and Northrop Grumman, I’ve carried a consistent ethos of “observability-as-code,” declarative compliance testing frameworks, and repeatable infrastructure—now applied through my DragLab R&D to support AI training and vulnerability discovery for autonomous cybersecurity.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
Principal Systems & Networking Architect
DragLab (Personal R&D Lab)
Aug 2025 - Present (11 months)
Architecting a SCIF-parity homelab as a high-performance sandbox for AI training and security benchmarking. Designed reproducible Linux-based environment pipelines using Docker, OpenTofu, Ansible, and GitOps, integrating security research tooling into automated infrastructure for AI vulnerability discovery workflows.
Senior Principal HPC Administrator
Apex Solutions
Sep 2024 - Mar 2026 (1 year 6 months)
Led architecture and installation of hardened RHEL HPC compute clusters and provided technical advisory for system lifecycle management and cluster debugging. Debugged kernel, storage, and networking performance bottlenecks for classified HPC workloads while managing Tenable SecurityCenter/Nessus compliance pipelines.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer
SecureStrux
Jan 2021 - Oct 2022 (1 year 9 months)
Performed customer-facing security control assessments across NIST 800-53, CMMC, and RMF frameworks and conducted vulnerability assessments and penetration testing in classified and unclassified environments. Produced security architecture recommendations and remediation roadmaps aligned to DoD DevSecOps reference architectures.
Built enterprise security monitoring to track compliance status and security posture across 100+ information systems, and managed RMF/NIST 800-53 control implementation through the ATO lifecycle for classified programs. Created a declarative compliance testing framework for automating security baseline validation across Unix infrastructure and authored Unix security configuration standards adopted
Architected and built an automated Solaris Jumpstart provisioning system using parameterized IaC patterns to replace large per-host configuration files with reusable templates. Automated full-stack system installations (including Oracle and the DII COE framework) and reduced full rack reinstallation time and error rates.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer
Broadleaf Consulting
Engineered automated RHEL 8 provisioning using PXE, Kickstart, and Ansible to reduce deployment time while maintaining a consistent compliance baseline. Implemented Nessus vulnerability scanning tied to NIST 800-53 compliance reporting and built an IAM integration/access control framework for an enterprise Linux fleet.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
National University
Master of Science, Cybersecurity (Penetration Testing)
Earned an M.S. in Cybersecurity with a penetration testing emphasis.
Arizona State University
Bachelor of Science, Software Engineering
Completed a B.S. in Software Engineering.
Community College of the Air Force
Associate of Applied Science, Information Systems Technology
Earned an A.A.S. in Information Systems Technology.
Availability
Location
United StatesAuthorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
Interested in hiring Wyatt?
You can contact Wyatt and 90k+ other talented remote workers on Himalayas.
Message WyattGet matched with your dream remote job
Sign up now and join over 250,000+ remote workers who receive personalized job alerts, curated job matches, and more for free!
