Advanced Compute Systems Specialist (Job Req #2026-045)

Ross Video; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company in Ottawa is seeking an experienced Advanced Compute Systems Specialist to optimize compute environments that support FPGA development. The role involves administering a large Sun Grid Engine cluster, implementing performance benchmarks, and ensuring system reliability. Candidates should have at least 6 years of experience in Linux infrastructures, along with a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field. The position comes with competitive salaries and various perks including flexible hours and health plans.

Benefits

Flexible hours

Generous paid time off

Fitness/wellness allowance

Employee share ownership program

Social activities and events

Qualifications

• 6+ years managing and optimizing Linux-based compute infrastructures.
• Experience with build, simulation, or HPC workloads.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise storage architectures.

Responsibilities

• Lead and optimize a heterogeneous compute environment.
• Administer large Sun Grid Engine (SGE) cluster.
• Support FPGA build flows and integrate cloud workflows.

Skills

Linux internals

System performance profiling

FPGA build flows

Automation tools (Ansible, Puppet, Terraform)

Scripting (Python, Bash)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Sun Grid Engine

Xilinx Vivado

Intel Quartus

Synopsys

Cadence

Job description

Why Work at Ross Video? We have a great group of people working together to create and deliver cutting edge products that look amazing and are easy to use. We go all out so that our customers can have the best possible experience and achieve quality results. With a product focus, continual learning, results driven processes, and creative thinking, we constantly strive to improve our solutions and to deliver results. If you've ever watched live television, news, sports, or entertainment, you've seen our products in use. All of the major Hollywood award shows, most professional sports teams, and many of the largest broadcasters in the world use Ross Video technology. Get behind the scenes and learn about what it takes to make live events possible. If that resonates, and you’re someone with integrity, commitment, and a strong drive to deliver great products, we’d love to hear from you.

Job overview:

We are seeking an experienced Advanced Compute Systems Specialist to lead and optimize a heterogeneous compute environment supporting a large Sun Grid Engine (SGE) cluster and several smaller developer systems. This infrastructure underpins critical FPGA build and verification workflows, supporting engineering teams across multiple projects and toolchains. You will own the compute platform end-to-end—from evaluating new server architectures and storage technologies to ensure reliable daily production builds—establishing a cohesive, high-performing environment tailored to the needs of FPGA development. This role is central to ensuring that the compute ecosystem delivers consistent capability, reliability, and scalability, providing engineers with a dependable foundation for complex FPGA builds and verification. You will champion benchmarking, performance optimization, lifecycle management, and infrastructure administration, offloading these responsibilities from engineers and management. Through proactive measurement, reuse strategies, and long-term planning, you will drive sustained improvements in capability and reliability as FPGA build demands evolve.

Who you report to:

Senior Director, R&D Operations

What we offer:

Ross offers competitive salaries, comprehensive health plans, and several perks to help you perform at your best. Some of these perks include flexible hours, generous paid time off, fitness/wellness allowance, an employee share ownership program, development support, and a ton of fun social activities and events! Best of all, you will be part of the Ross Video family, and we've got an energizing environment here.

What the job is all about:

Performance Optimization & Benchmarking

• Serve as the performance and capability owner for the FPGA compute infrastructure.
• Develop and execute comprehensive benchmarking plans for new server architectures, CPUs, memory technologies, and storage systems.
• Establish and maintain standardized performance metrics and baselines across all compute assets.
• Develop reuse and progression plans for older hardware, balancing modernization with sustainability and cost efficiency.
• Present clear performance insights, recommendations, and projections to engineering and management leadership.

Cluster & System Administration

• Administer and maintain a large Sun Grid Engine (SGE) cluster and multiple smaller developer systems used for FPGA and software build workloads.
• Manage system configurations, software environments, and job scheduling to ensure predictable and repeatable build results.
• Monitor and maintain system health, uptime, and reliability across the entire compute estate.
• Ensure system and software consistency across developer and cluster systems.
• Perform deep diagnostics to identify root causes of complex build, runtime, or performance failures.

FPGA Build Flow Integration

• Support and optimize FPGA build flows using industry-standard toolchains (e.g., Xilinx Vivado, Intel Quartus, Synopsys, Cadence).
• Work closely with FPGA and EDA engineers to ensure the build environment meets evolving project requirements.

Cloud & Hybrid Compute Enablement

• Design and deploy hybrid compute workflows that extend FPGA build capabilities into cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Evaluate cloud compute options for cost, scalability, and integration with on-premises systems.

Enterprise Storage & I/O Optimization

• Manage and optimize enterprise disk arrays and high-performance storage systems for ultra-low-latency disk access and high data throughput.
• Benchmark I/O subsystems and integrate storage improvements that benefit FPGA build runtimes.

Who you are:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience: 6+ years managing and optimizing Linux-based compute infrastructures supporting build, simulation, or HPC workloads.

Technical Expertise:

• Deep understanding of Linux internals, kernel tuning, and system performance profiling.
• Proven experience administering Sun Grid Engine (SGE) or similar schedulers (Slurm, LSF, PBS).
• Experience supporting FPGA build flows and EDA tools such as Vivado, Quartus, Synopsys, or Cadence.
• Expertise in hardware benchmarking (CPU, memory, network, and I/O).
• Strong knowledge of enterprise storage architectures (NVMe, RAID, SAN/NAS, parallel file systems).
• Familiarity with cloud compute architectures and hybrid deployment models.
• Exceptional debugging, problem-solving, and system analysis skills.

Bonus points if you have the following:

• Experience with infrastructure automation tools (Ansible, Puppet, Terraform).
• Scripting proficiency in Python, Bash, or similar languages.
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitLab CI) and automated build pipelines.
• Understanding of network performance tuning and distributed computing optimization.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

At Ross, we embrace diversity, and we want you to bring your authentic self to work. We are committed to building a team that includes a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Inclusivity drives innovation and creativity, and that’s something we’re passionate about at Ross! We believe everyone should be able to enjoy a rewarding career at Ross, regardless of race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, veteran status, physical or mental disability. If a disability means that you need any additional support during the recruitment process, please contact Talent Acquisition and we will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.