High-Performance Computing (HPC) Security Engineer

iO Associates; England; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Part time

Job summary

A technology consultancy firm is seeking a High-Performance Computing (HPC) Security Engineer to secure and optimize sensitive workloads critical to national security. Candidates must have deep expertise in HPC, Cyber Security, and Linux, alongside the ability to work onsite in secure environments. This contract role offers a competitive freelance opportunity, focusing on cutting-edge technologies and national security initiatives.

Qualifications

• Active UK SC or DV Clearance required.
• Proven overlap of High‑Performance Computing + Cyber Security + Linux.
• Ability to work onsite 3–4 days/week.

Responsibilities

• Optimize GPU clusters for national security workloads.
• Design and enforce security controls for supercomputing scale.
• Automate secure DevSecOps pipelines.
• Lead incident response and forensic analysis.
• Influence future procurements and explain technical optimizations.

Skills

High‑Performance Computing

Cyber Security

Linux systems mastery

CUDA

Incident response

Tools

SLURM

PBS Pro

NVIDIA Base Command

RHEL 8/9

SELinux

Job description

High‑Performance Computing (HPC) Security Engineer

• Job Title: High Performance Computing (HPC) Security Engineer
• Employment Type: Contract (Freelance)
• Clearance Required: SC-Cleared OR DV-Cleared (preferred)
• Duration: 12 months initial → 2‑3‑year extensions already budgeted
• Start Date: ASAP
• Location: United Kingdom

Role Summary

This is a "Tier 1" National Security High‑Performance Computing (HPC) Contract. Build, optimise and performance‑tune exascale‑class GPU clusters that run the country’s most sensitive workloads (think cryptanalysis, nuclear stockpile modelling, real‑time ISR processing, and sovereign AI training). Lock those same systems down to the strictest UK government security standards so they survive and remain auditable in a full zero‑trust, high‑side environment, doing it all on hardened Linux at extreme scale.

IMPORTANT

This is not a "Linux admin with some CUDA experience" role.

This is not a "Cyber analyst who once logged into a cluster" role.

This role is for UK‑Cleared SMEs who have had experiences at the intersection of raw High‑Performance Computing (HPC), deep Linux systems mastery, and genuine National‑Security‑grade Cyber Defence.

Day‑to‑day you will:

• Profile and refactor classified codes to hit 85–95 % of roofline on H100/H200/B100 and MI300X/MI350 GPUs.
• Design and enforce security controls that survive NCSC penetration tests at supercomputing scale.
• Write or approve the actual SELinux policies, audit rules, and secure boot configurations that get deployed across thousands of nodes.
• Lead incident response and forensic analysis if (when) something anomalous appears on a high‑side cluster.
• Automate secure DevSecOps pipelines that work behind cross‑domain guards and data diodes.
• Brief 1–4‑star officers and SCS/SES civilians on performance gains, risk posture, and future roadmap.
• Influence multi‑billion‑pound future procurements (you will see the requirements documents before most of industry does).
• Explain (in plain English) why your latest kernel patch or CUDA kernel optimisation just delivered a 38 % real‑world speedup on a workload that directly affects national security outcomes.
• Prove that the system is still fully compliant with NCSC CPF and JSP 604.
• Active UK SC or DV Clearance (DV‑Cleared Preferred).
• Proven overlap of High‑Performance Computing + Cyber Security + Linux.
• Ability to work onsite 3–4 days/week in secure facilities.
• High‑Performance Computing (HPC):
  • Large‑scale GPU/CPU cluster optimisation (SLURM, PBS Pro, Bright Cluster Manager, NVIDIA Base Command).
  • Code tuning with CUDA, HIP/ROCm, SYCL, Kokkos, OpenMP 5.x+ offload, MPI.
  • Delivering >80–90 % of theoretical peak on classified workloads.
• Cyber Security:
  • Hardening HPC environments to NCSC CPF, JSP 604, HMG IA standards.
  • Zero‑trust implementation, STIGs, CIS benchmarks, secure boot, audit at supercomputing scale.
  • Vulnerability management and secure patching strategies in air‑gapped networks.
• Expert‑level RHEL 8/9, AlmaLinux, Rocky or hardened Ubuntu in restricted environments.
• Kernel tuning, filesystems (Lustre, GPFS, BeeGFS), security‑enhanced Linux (SELinux mandatory profiles).
• Secure containerisation with Apptainer/Singularity on high‑side networks.

Highly Desirable (fast‑tracks you to interview)

• Active DV Strap or Enhanced Developed Vetting.
• Recent/relevant experience at Raytheon, DSTL, GCHQ, NCSC, Porton Down, Boscombe Down or relevant programmes.
• Certifications: CISSP, CISM, CCP (any level), RHCE, CompTIA Security+.
• Background in cryptanalysis, hydrocodes, SAR processing or large‑scale secure AI training.

Next Steps

If interested, please send your most recent CV to my email so that we can speak in more detail.

I will put a 15‑minute meeting into our diaries as a reminder. Feel free to suggest a different time/day if the one I have selected does not suit you.

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