Michael C. Smith II
Leidos – Defense Enclave Services (DISA)
Columbia
1
Certification
13
years of professional experience
Systems engineering lead with 10+ years supporting mission-critical federal infrastructure across DoD and civilian agencies. Proven track record owning enterprise-scale delivery, driving cross-functional alignment, and sustaining secure operations across complex, regulated environments. Deep hands-on experience in cloud migration, vulnerability infrastructure, virtualization, and endpoint modernization.
Professional systems engineer with comprehensive experience in designing, implementing, and optimizing complex IT infrastructures. Skilled in network architecture, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, with strong focus on team collaboration and achieving results. Known for adaptability, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication, ensuring reliable and innovative solutions in dynamic environments.
Work History
Senior Systems Engineer – Endpoints Workstream Lead
2 Years 3 Months- Owned the Endpoints Workstream for DISA’s 4th Estate network optimization initiative — a migration spanning 22 DoD agencies, 10 countries, 850+ locations, and 500,000+ users
- Led Application Rationalization (AppRat) across multiple Defense Activity Field Agencies (DAFAs), driving redundancy elimination and streamlining mission impact to DISA’s Approved Software List by reducing migration efforts to 30 days.
- Provided technical direction and task prioritization across a distributed engineering team, coordinating migration planning, endpoint modernization, and on-time delivery against program milestones
- Spearheaded data analysis to identify and triage mission-critical applications, ensuring operational continuity through migration in alignment with DISA standards
- Led cross-functional stakeholder engagements aligning engineering, security, and leadership to drive delivery decisions and manage risk
- Coordinated remediation and audit response, ensuring systems met enterprise security, performance, and availability standards
Systems Engineer
5 Years 7 Months- Supported the successful launch of the JPSS-2 satellite (Nov 2022) - maintained mission-critical server and workstation infrastructure across development and production environments
- Architected and deployed Tenable Security Center on RHEL, building an internal vulnerability scanning platform that delivered automated vulnerability intelligence across NASA’s enterprise systems
- Engineered and sustained endpoint protection via Trellix ePO — managed agent deployments, updates, and malware detection across the environment
- Maintained and secured Windows enterprise air-gapped environments through offline patching, COTS updates, and standardized system imaging using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) PowerShell, Active Directory, BigFix
- Configured, managed, and deployed VMware virtual server infrastructure; led HPE Synergy composer migration to improve server management and network orchestration
- Managed PKI, certificate authority, user accounts, and group policy; supported security verification activities and COOP tabletop/simulation exercises
Systems Administrator / Technical Support
5 Years- Supported enterprise systems across healthcare, research, academic, and corporate environments — performed system integrations, storage optimization, WAN file replication, and asset management in multi-site regulated organizations
Education
Master of Science - Cyber Security Technology
- Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society | Upsilon Pi Epsilon
- GPA: 4.0 GPA
Bachelor of Arts - Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness
Minor: Psychology
Skills
Leadership & Delivery: Technical team leadership
workstream ownership
task prioritization
stakeholder engagement
program delivery
Security & Compliance: DISA STIGs
NIST 800-53
Trellix ePO
Tenable.sc
OpenVAS
Splunk
Vulnerability remediation
Systems & Operations: System hardening
patch management
configuration management
lifecycle management
incident response
Infrastructure & Virtualization: VMware
Hyper-V
Docker
XCP-NG
HPE Synergy
Cloud & Automation: AWS
Azure
PowerShell
Terraform
Platforms & Tools: Windows
RHEL
Debian
Active Directory
PKI
Jira
ServiceDesk
Infrastructure management
Process optimization
Certification
- AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
- CompTIA Security+
- NASA – Electrostatic Discharge Operator
SECURITY CLEARANCE
Secret – Active
Timeline
Senior Systems Engineer – Endpoints Workstream Lead
Leidos – Defense Enclave Services (DISA)
10.2023 - 01.2026Read More
Systems Engineer
NASA – Joint Polar Satellite System (MCSG Technologies, ASRC Federal)
03.2018 - 10.2023Read More
Systems Administrator / Technical Support
Virginia Commonwealth University / Industrial Turnaround Corporation / Institute for Data Research
01.2013 - 01.2018Read More
Virginia Commonwealth University
Bachelor of Arts from Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness
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University of Maryland Global Campus
Master of Science from Cyber Security Technology
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