Senior HPC Storage Engineer - Classified Environment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory•Oak Ridge, TN

About The Position

The Field Intelligence Operations Division of the National Security Directorate at ORNL is seeking a senior engineer for a classified high-performance computing (HPC) storage and infrastructure role. The position helps shape secure, high-performance computing capabilities supporting national security and scientific missions. The role combines hands-on engineering with influence over architecture, technical strategy, and the future of classified HPC infrastructure. The engineer leads and supports initiatives to advance the security, performance, scalability, functionality, and reliability of storage and supporting systems across multiple classified HPC environments. As a senior technical advisor and subject matter expert, the engineer addresses complex infrastructure challenges, translates mission and scientific requirements into resilient technical solutions, and evaluates emerging technologies. The role works with scientists, researchers, HPC engineers, cybersecurity professionals, technical leaders, vendors, and mission partners. The position involves planned maintenance and participation in an on-call rotation. It requires eligibility for access to sensitive or special access program information and a current Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility. The successful candidate must be able to obtain and maintain an SCI clearance from the Department of Energy and participate in required pre-placement and ongoing random drug testing; random polygraph testing may also apply. Visa sponsorship is not available. Work may involve various physical requirements and working conditions.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a closely related field, plus at least 12 years of relevant systems engineering, HPC, storage infrastructure, or technical consulting experience; an equivalent combination of education, experience, and certifications may be considered.
At least five years of experience supporting Intelligence Community environments or missions.
Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex technical efforts and translate requirements into scalable infrastructure solutions.
Eligibility for access to Sensitive or Special Access Program information.
Current Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility.
Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance from the Department of Energy.
Ability to pass a pre-placement drug test and participate in an ongoing random drug testing program; random polygraph testing may also apply.
Ability to participate in planned maintenance and an on-call rotation.
Visa sponsorship is not available.

Nice To Haves

Advanced experience with HPC storage architectures and parallel file systems, including Lustre, IBM Storage Scale/GPFS, BeeGFS, or similar technologies.
Advanced Linux engineering experience within large-scale compute or storage environments.
Experience with high-performance networking and data movement technologies, including InfiniBand, TCP/IP, Fibre Channel, or related technologies.
Strong understanding of storage architecture, including parallel file systems, tiered storage, data lifecycle management, resiliency, and performance optimization.
Experience automating infrastructure using Python, Bash, Ansible, or similar technologies.
Experience with Git-based development workflows, CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, or modern DevOps practices.
Experience designing infrastructure supporting HPC, AI/ML, GPU computing, or other data-intensive workloads.
Demonstrated ability to influence technical architecture, lead complex initiatives, and solve difficult problems with minimal oversight.
Strong communication and consulting skills and ability to work effectively across scientific, engineering, cybersecurity, leadership, and mission communities.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, modernization, and optimization of high-performance storage and supporting systems across classified HPC environments.
Translate scientific and mission requirements into secure, scalable, resilient, high-performing infrastructure solutions.
Apply systems engineering and analysis to define hardware, software, storage, networking, and integration requirements.
Develop prototypes, automation, scripts, and engineering solutions using technologies such as Python, Bash, and configuration-management tools.
Establish technical standards, engineering best practices, performance objectives, and lifecycle strategies for HPC storage infrastructure.
Analyze and optimize storage performance, scalability, availability, and data movement across HPC environments.
Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of complex storage and systems issues in mission-critical production environments.
Develop and enhance monitoring, metrics, and observability using technologies such as Grafana, Nagios, and related platforms.
Support lifecycle planning and coordinate with vendors and internal engineering teams to resolve complex hardware and software challenges.
Participate in planned maintenance and an on-call rotation supporting mission-critical systems.
Architect and operate HPC infrastructure in accordance with applicable classified computing, cybersecurity, and regulatory requirements.
Partner with cybersecurity and Information Assurance teams to integrate security throughout system design, implementation, operation, and modernization.
Identify and remediate vulnerabilities while maintaining the performance and availability required by mission workloads.
Serve as a trusted technical advisor and subject matter expert for classified HPC storage and supporting infrastructure.
Collaborate with scientists, researchers, engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and mission partners to develop solutions for complex computational and data requirements.
Mentor technical staff, share expertise, and help develop engineering capabilities across the organization.
Evaluate emerging HPC, storage, AI/ML, data-management, and infrastructure technologies and identify opportunities to advance mission capabilities.
Help shape technical roadmaps and guide the evolution of classified HPC storage infrastructure.