DevOps Engineer

Role Overview

The University Research Computing Facility (URCF) at Drexel University is building a new shared, container-native GPU-accelerated computing platform. The DevOps Engineer will help develop and operate this platform, working with a Research Computing Specialist and collaborators in Drexel IT while the environment transitions from traditional HPC to modern container-native workflows.

Responsibilities

• Automation & cluster operations: develop and maintain automation for provisioning, configuring, and managing the cluster (e.g., Ansible, Warewulf, Kubernetes manifests, shell scripts).
• Kubernetes platform layer: contribute to networking, storage integration, security policies, and workload orchestration.
• Storage infrastructure: help build and integrate iRODS and Globus/Globus Connect Server for data transfer, including integrations with the compute cluster.
• End-to-end troubleshooting: debug issues across the stack, from bare-metal boot problems to Kubernetes/container orchestration bugs.
• Documentation: write and maintain operational and user-facing documentation.
• Coordinate with IT: work with Drexel IT teams on shared infrastructure needs (networking, DNS, firewall rules, etc.).
• User-facing portal development: contribute to a web portal for project management, permissions, and usage tracking.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related field (or equivalent education + work experience).
• 1–3 years of experience.
• Experience with Linux systems administration, configuration management, containers, or container orchestration.
• Comfortable using terminal workflows with Git, SSH, and a text editor.
• Proficiency in at least one scripting language: Python or Bash (or similar).
• Strong written communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage time in a fully remote role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Kubernetes experience.
• Bare-metal provisioning and/or HPC cluster management experience.
• Familiarity with one or more of: Ansible, Warewulf, RKE2, Cilium, Kubeflow, Weka, iRODS, Globus, and/or infrastructure-as-code tools.
• Web application development experience (any stack).
• Experience in academic/research computing environments.

Contract / Funding Notes

• Grant-funded position through September 1, 2027 (employment contingent on continued grant funding).

Compensation

• Exempt role; salary range $90,430–$135,640 per year (annual).