Senior AI Platform Engineer

Peraton • Fort Meade, MD

19h • $146,000 - $234,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior AI Platform Engineer will stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform, support feasibility assessments of platform technologies, and lead the transition toward infrastructure-as-code-managed provisioning using Terraform and Ansible. The role works in a bare-metal-first environment while reducing reliance on manual installations over time, supports core platform services, and contributes to OCONUS bootstrap activities. Occasional telework is possible, but candidates must be within 50 miles of the Ft. Meade, Maryland work location.

Requirements

• At least 12 years of experience with a BS/BA, 10 years with an MS/MA, 7 years with a Ph.D., or 16 years with no degree.
• Experience in platform, systems, or integration engineering.
• Hands-on Kubernetes-based container platform experience.
• U.S. citizenship.
• Active DoD Secret clearance.
• DoD 8570/8140-compliant certification.
• Practical experience deploying and operating AI models, with a foundational understanding of inference and performance tuning.
• Hands-on experience deploying and administering OpenShift or another enterprise Kubernetes distribution on bare metal.
• Proficiency with Terraform and Ansible for infrastructure-as-code provisioning and configuration management.
• Working knowledge of virtualization or cloud orchestration platforms such as Spectro Cloud, VMware, or equivalent.
• Understanding of container platform architecture, including networking (CNI), storage (CSI), cluster security, and lifecycle management.
• Ability to document platform architecture, licensing tradeoffs, and operational considerations.
• Strong Linux administration skills, particularly RHEL.
• Regular or recurring physical access to a DISA SIPR-accredited facility.
• Working understanding of agentic platform modeling, hosting, and services.

Nice To Haves

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent writing and grammatical skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD).
• HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate.
• Experience with GitOps workflows such as ArgoCD or Flux for platform configuration management.
• Experience bootstrapping platforms in disconnected or OCONUS environments, including physical hardware installation.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure, and operate large language models (LLMs), and integrate approved frontier AI models and services into enterprise environments.
• Optimize model inference and deployment configurations to improve response times, throughput, and GPU and memory utilization while maintaining output quality.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and maintain model-serving environments, including model updates, API connectivity, and supporting infrastructure.
• Transition platform provisioning from manual and bare-metal installations toward a fully infrastructure-as-code-managed model.
• Install, configure, and operate bare-metal OpenShift or an equivalent enterprise Kubernetes distribution.
• Design and implement infrastructure-as-code provisioning using Terraform and Ansible for platform and VM orchestration.
• Support an objective feasibility assessment of OpenShift versus Spectro Cloud, documenting licensing tradeoffs, operability, and long-term sustainability considerations.
• Deploy and support core platform services, including authoritative DNS such as PowerDNS.
• Implement and enforce STIGs and cybersecurity compliance requirements on platform infrastructure.
• Monitor platform health, performance, and capacity using observability tools, and manage platform logging and alerting.
• Support OCONUS hardware bootstrap activities, including physical hardware installation and configuration.
• Document platform architecture, configuration decisions, and operational procedures.

Benefits

• Medical benefits.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Health savings account.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Employee assistance program (EAP).
• Parental leave.
• 401(k).
• Paid time off (PTO) for vacation.
• Company-paid holidays.
• Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed