Senior Platform Engineer

University of Chicago • Chicago, IL

1d • $80,000 - $120,000

About The Position

The Center for Translational Data Science (CTDS) at the University of Chicago is a research center whose mission is to develop the discipline of translational data science to impactful problems in biology, medicine, healthcare, and the environment. We envision a world in which researchers have ready access to the data needed and the tools required to make data driven discoveries that increase our scientific knowledge and improve the quality of life. We architect ecosystems of large-scale commons of research data, computing resources, applications, tools, and services for the broader research community to use data at scale to pursue scientific inquiry and accelerate discovery. Learn more at https://gdc.cancer.gov/, https://gen3.org/, https://stats.gen3.org/, and https://ctds.uchicago.edu/.

The job performs a variety of activities relating to software support and/or development. Provides analysis, design, development, debugging, and modification of computer code for end user applications, beta general releases, web pages, and production support. Troubleshoots problems using existing procedures to find a possible solution. The Senior Platform Engineer provides production support, production monitoring, CI/CD design & implementation, & security automation across the open-source software platforms CTDS develops and operates for translational data science. Production support includes triaging, researching, communicating, and addressing production incidents. For monitoring, the engineer will wrangle disparate system monitoring assets and develop common analytics to inform optimization, define benchmarks and confidence intervals, and to forecast, proactively mitigating production incidents. CI/CD pipelines are for hybrid cloud architecture on-premises and in commercial cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. This at-will position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract. Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.

Requirements

• Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in computer science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, or a relevant quantitative field strongly preferred.
• 3+ years experience developing infrastructure, configuration and/or deployment automation or demonstrated skills and qualifications through projects, initiatives, or outstanding performance.
• Hands-on scripting experience (Bash, Python, or other dynamic language).
• Unix/Linux programming or system administration experience.
• Experience with OpenStack and AWS p(EC2/S3) cloud technologies.
• Experience with configuration management utility (Chef, Puppet, Ansible).
• Experience with F5 or other load balancing technologies (Nginx, AWS ELB/ALB, etc.).
• Experience with source control and build systems (SVN, Git, Jenkins, etc.).
• Experience with container based deployment (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with log aggregation tools (ELK stack, Splunk).
• Experience with security frameworks (FISMA, NIST, FIPS).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Openstack), CI/CD, and Agile methodologies.
• Experience provisioning and managing GPU-enabled infrastructure (NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA, multi-GPU systems) in cloud and/or on-prem environments.
• Familiarity with GPU orchestration in Kubernetes (e.g., NVIDIA device plugin, GPU scheduling, MIG, node affinity).
• Experience optimizing GPU utilization, memory management, and cost efficiency for compute-intensive workloads.
• Ability to collaborate and interact effectively with team members, following guidelines and best practices and ensuring accountability for deliverables and outcomes.
• Ability to take and provide constructive and helpful input and feedback on technical issues.
• Ability to elaborate on technical solutions internally and externally when required.
• In-depth knowledge in core areas of DevOps technologies, including scripting languages, deployment/configuration frameworks, and/or cloud platforms, or having demonstrated the ability to achieve that level of proficiency in a short period of time.
• Ability to take multiple complex tasks and break them into smaller ones, estimating the effort needed to complete them, prioritizing them appropriately, and ensuring the completion of each task, meeting the required level of quality.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team and ensure accountability for deliverables and outcomes.
• Ability to prioritize and manage workload to meet project milestones and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for technical tasks and timely delivery of such tasks, meeting the required level of quality.
• Participation in complex and challenging activities, including design and implementation.
• Provide support and maintenance for existing applications.
• Provide technical mentorship to interns and onboarding staff and technical leadership in technical initiatives.
• Actively participate in the hiring process and provide fair and productive interview feedback.
• Elaborate on technical solutions internally and externally when required.
• Investigates, analyzes and resolves day-to-day technical problems using standard procedures.
• Works with stakeholders to gather and analyze requirements for developmental programs.
• Receives a moderate level of guidance to design applications to meet University and business requirements.
• Performs code testing on components and works to ensure that appropriate implementation standards are met.
• Evaluates design alternatives for development cost and solutions using various methods.
• Supports and maintains existing applications.
• Works with web developers and responds to requests from users.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Benefits

• The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees