Senior Configuration Management Specialist

By joining the National Student Clearinghouse, you can be sure that the work you do now will help shape the future of education and the workforce in the U.S. As the trusted source for higher education data since 1993, the Clearinghouse is the leading provider of transcript and data exchange services, automated enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights and research, and compliance solutions for schools, businesses, and learners nationwide. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Clearinghouse works with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions to meet their compliance needs and with thousands of high schools and districts to provide continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics about their alumni. In addition, the Research Center publications inform policymakers and business leaders about student educational pathways. Using our unique combination of data, analytics, and software to drive our mission, security and privacy is paramount. Join us as we continue to invest in our talent and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data on behalf of all learners. ## About the Role: The Senior Specialist, Configuration Management (known externally as Senior Configuration Management Specialist) serves as the organization's subject matter expert and functional owner for configuration management practices, governance, and compliance. This role is responsible for establishing, governing, and continuously enhancing configuration management processes that ensure the integrity, security, consistency, traceability, and control of software, infrastructure, systems, environments, and associated technical documentation throughout the system development lifecycle. Working closely with DevSecOps, Engineering, Information Security, Quality Assurance, Operations, and other technology stakeholders, this role leads enterprise configuration management governance, establishes organizational standards and controls, identifies and mitigates configuration-related risk, and drives compliance with internal policies and external regulatory requirements. The Senior Specialist is accountable for the organization's configuration management control domain supporting CMMC, NIST 800-171, and related cybersecurity frameworks. This includes ownership of configuration management practices, supporting documentation, evidence management, audit readiness activities, remediation efforts, and ongoing compliance necessary to achieve and sustain regulatory and cybersecurity requirements. This role serves as a trusted advisor to technology leadership and governance teams, ensuring configuration management capabilities effectively support secure software delivery, operational resilience, audit readiness, and organizational cybersecurity objectives. Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required. ## How You Contribute: - Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's core competencies: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic. - Lead the organization's configuration management program and strategy, ensuring configuration management practices effectively support software development, infrastructure management, cybersecurity, operational resilience, and compliance objectives. - Serve as the organizational owner and primary subject matter expert for configuration management controls supporting CMMC, NIST 800-171, and related cybersecurity frameworks, accountable for establishing, maintaining, and continuously improving configuration management practices necessary to achieve and sustain compliance. - Lead assessment readiness, audit preparation, evidence management, remediation planning, control implementation, and ongoing compliance activities associated with configuration management requirements. - Develop, implement, govern, and continuously enhance enterprise configuration management standards, policies, procedures, governance processes, and control frameworks across software, infrastructure, systems, environments, and technical documentation. - Establish and maintain enterprise configuration baselines and governance processes to ensure configuration items remain secure, controlled, traceable, and aligned with organizational and regulatory requirements. - Evaluate existing configuration management practices, identify strategic risks, control weaknesses, process gaps, and compliance concerns, and lead cross-functional remediation efforts to strengthen control effectiveness and ensure ongoing compliance. - Lead configuration audits, assessments, and compliance reviews to validate baseline integrity, control effectiveness, audit readiness, and adherence to established standards and requirements. - Provide expert consultation and guidance to DevSecOps, Engineering, Information Security, Quality Assurance, Operations, and project teams regarding configuration management requirements, governance, risk management, and best practices. - Lead configuration governance activities, including participation in and support of Change Advisory Boards (CABs), Configuration Control Boards (CCBs), and other technical governance forums. - Develop and maintain configuration management plans, repositories, status accounting records, dashboards, metrics, reporting, and supporting documentation that provide visibility into compliance, control effectiveness, and overall program maturity. - Establish, monitor, and report configuration management compliance metrics, audit findings, remediation progress, and control effectiveness measures to technology leadership and governance stakeholders. - Analyze proposed changes to systems, applications, infrastructure, and environments to identify configuration-related risks and ensure impacts are appropriately assessed prior to implementation. - Partner with organizational leadership to establish long-term configuration management objectives, roadmaps, and improvement initiatives that strengthen cybersecurity posture, operational stability, and regulatory compliance. - Maintain ongoing audit readiness and compliance following assessments by proactively monitoring configuration management controls, documentation, baselines, evidence repositories, and corrective actions. - Mentor technical teams and stakeholders on configuration management principles, governance requirements, compliance expectations, and industry best practices. Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions. ## What You Bring to the Table: Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, or a related field. A combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered. 6 years of of direct and progressively responsible experience in configuration management, software configuration management, DevSecOps, systems engineering, software development lifecycle governance, infrastructure management, release management, information security, or a related technical discipline. Experience leading or administering enterprise config