HPC Engineer

University of Maryland • College Park, MD

2d • $143,680 - $172,416 • Hybrid

About The Position

The HPC Engineer works within the University of Maryland’s Division of Information Technology (DIT), participating in the design, deployment, maintenance, and operation of enterprise high-performance computing resources. The role includes installing, configuring, documenting, troubleshooting, and maintaining hardware, operating-system software, and application software across Linux platforms. Equipment is located in College Park, Maryland, and McLean, Virginia, requiring frequent travel between those locations.

The Engineer collaborates with the HPC team, campus constituents, the national HPC community, and industry solution providers. The role includes keeping current with emerging HPC technologies and best practices, understanding campus computing needs, and presenting with the team at national conferences such as SuperComputing and PEARC. The position also calls for familiarity with compliance frameworks, including CMMC, NIST 800-171, and CUI.

The position has an in-person component in College Park; telework is not guaranteed. It may occasionally require off-hours and weekend work for maintenance or problem resolution, and may require evening, night, weekend, or different shifts for extended periods. It is considered essential, and the employee may be required to work at the normal or an alternative location during catastrophic events, weather emergencies, or other operational emergencies to help maintain University services. The work is predominantly in an office, with some time in computer rooms and communications equipment spaces. Less than 5% of work involves moving and lifting heavy computing equipment. The role requires walking short distances and driving a state vehicle. A valid driver’s license is required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, or qualifying additional work experience substituted year for year for up to four years of the required education.
• Three years of professional experience in HPC engineering or systems design.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Knowledge of Unix/Linux operating-system internals, client/server computing techniques, distributed-systems management, and computer communications.
• Knowledge of current commercial HPC trends, including AI/ML architectures, accelerators, and federated authentication and authorization solutions such as Shibboleth and LDAP.
• Skill configuring and managing HPC software stacks, including network file systems such as NFS and Samba, and compiling open-source software.
• Skill in scripting languages such as Python, Perl, and shell for automation and system management.
• Ability to install, modify, integrate, and configure commercial and open-source HPC applications.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks, prioritize workload, meet deadlines, and demonstrate problem-solving and analytical reasoning.
• Ability to travel frequently between the hardware locations in College Park, Maryland, and McLean, Virginia.
• Ability to walk short distances, drive a state vehicle, and occasionally move and lift heavy computing equipment.
• Ability to work in person in College Park and, when required, evenings, nights, weekends, different shifts, or at an alternative location during emergencies.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated success in system administration and IT infrastructure design, implementation, and operations.
• Proficiency with parallel file systems, schedulers, Infiniband and Ethernet networking, cloud integration, automated configuration management, and large-scale software deployments.
• Strong understanding of network and security protocols, policies, and standards.
• Proficiency in creating and using software containers, such as Docker or Singularity, and/or creating workflows using these tools.
• Experience implementing or operating controls for NIST SP 800-171, HIPAA Security and Privacy rules, or similar levels of security and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the design, deployment, maintenance, and operation of the University’s enterprise HPC resources.
• Install, configure, document, troubleshoot, and maintain hardware, operating-system software, and application software on Linux platforms.
• Collaborate with the HPC team, campus constituents, the national HPC community, and industry solution providers.
• Keep abreast of emerging HPC technologies and implement best practices.
• Understand campus constituents’ computing needs and help identify HPC architectures suited to research across disciplines.
• Present with the HPC team at national conferences, including SuperComputing and PEARC.
• Support problem resolution and maintenance, including occasional off-hours and weekend work.
• Help maintain University services during major catastrophic events, weather emergencies, or other operational emergencies when required.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level