About the role

Role Overview

The DevOps Engineer will help build and operate Drexel URCF’s new shared computing platform for GPU-accelerated workloads, including AI model training. The platform is actively under development and is transitioning toward container-native tools and workflows from a traditional HPC environment.

Responsibilities

Automation & cluster operations: Develop and maintain automation for provisioning, configuring, and managing the cluster (e.g., Ansible, Warewulf, Kubernetes manifests, shell scripting).
Kubernetes platform layer: Contribute to Kubernetes networking, storage integration, security policies, and workload orchestration.
Storage infrastructure & integrations: Help build storage systems including iRODS and Globus/Globus Connect Server for data transfer, plus integrations between storage and compute.
End-to-end troubleshooting: Diagnose issues across the stack, from bare-metal boot problems to container orchestration bugs.
Documentation: Write and maintain operational and user-facing documentation.
Coordinate with IT: Work with Drexel IT on shared infrastructure topics such as networking, DNS, and firewall rules.
User-facing portal: Contribute to web application development for a portal supporting project management, permissions, and usage tracking.

Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related field (or equivalent education and work experience).
Experience: 1–3 years.
Skills:
- Linux systems administration and/or configuration management
- Containers and/or container orchestration
- Comfort working in a terminal with Git, SSH, and a text editor
- Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Python or Bash)
- Strong written communication
- 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 general infrastructure-as-code)
Web application development experience
Experience in an academic/research computing environment

Contract / Funding Notes

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

About Drexel University

Drexel University’s University Research Computing Facility (URCF) is building a new shared, GPU-accelerated research computing platform for AI and other workloads. The platform combines GPU/CPU compute nodes, Kubernetes-based orchestration, and large-scale storage/metadata and data-transfer systems to support research projects.

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