Linux HPC Specialist

MBDA; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 68,000 - 83,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus up to 21% of base salary

Pension up to 14%

Flexible working

Enhanced parental leave

Facilities

Healthcare Cash Plan

Job summary

MBDA in Bristol is seeking a forward-thinking HPC Architect to define the long-term roadmap for storage and compute infrastructure. You will design scalable HPC environments, manage compute nodes, storage and interconnects, and collaborate with multinational teams to meet evolving engineering needs.

The role offers hybrid working 2–3 days per week, a salary up to £75,000 depending on experience, and a benefits package including pension, flexible working, and a Healthcare Cash Plan.

Qualifications

• Forward-thinking HPC Architect with expertise in storage and infrastructure.
• Ability to define long-term HPC roadmap aligned with business goals.
• Experience leading large-scale HPC environments and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Define the long-term HPC architecture roadmap aligned with organisational goals.
• Evaluate and select technologies across compute, storage, networking, and cloud HPC.
• Establish standards, reference architectures, and best practices.
• Architect large-scale HPC clusters (CPU, GPU, accelerators).
• Design high-performance networking (InfiniBand, RDMA, high-speed Ethernet).
• Define storage architectures (parallel file systems, object storage, tiered storage).
• Provide technical leadership to HPC engineering and operations teams.
• Lead performance benchmarking, capacity planning, and workload modelling.

Skills

HPC architecture

Storage & infrastructure

Leadership

Tools

InfiniBand

RDMA

SLURM

Kubernetes (HPC)

MPI

CUDA

Job description

Bristol

An exciting opportunity for a passionate HPC Architect to join a unique, multi-national Information Management function. Ideal candidates should be committed to the future of software defined data centres and open source technologies and have the dedication in supporting our engineering community in a dynamic, fast paced development environment.

Salary: Up to £75,000 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: 2-3 days per week due to workload classification

Security Clearance This role will require DV Clearance. Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

What we can offer you:

• Company Bonus: Bonus of up to 21% of base salary
• Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
• Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
• Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more
• Healthcare Cash Plan: The Healthcare Cash Plan benefit provides the option to claim cash back on everyday healthcare expenses such as optical, dental, health and wellbeing and more

The opportunity:

We are seeking a forward thinking HPC Architect with expertise in storage and infrastructure to define the long-term future roadmap of HPC environments within MBDA. You will ensure alignment with business objectives in collaboration with our business areas. As a HPC Architect you will be responsible for building scalable and high-throughput infrastructure.

You will manage and maintain HPC environments including compute nodes, storage and interconnects. The role involves close collaboration within your team and wider stakeholders across the organisation. You will also engage with wider multi-national and multi-cultured teams to drive capability development cross functionally.

• Become part of a unique, well-respected team of dedicated people that have been recognised within our company for its professionalism, dedication and flexibility.
• Having the opportunity to work both nationally and internationally, broaden your horizons by embracing the rich cultural diversity of our company.
• Partner with both engineers within MBDA and HPC vendors to ensure HPC services are meeting evolving business needs.
• Be part of an organisation with a values-led culture that is committed to investing in its workforce with a personal development programme.

What we're looking for from you:

Key Responsibilities

• Architecture & Strategy
• Define the long-term HPC architecture roadmap aligned with organisational goals
• Evaluate and select technologies across compute, storage, networking, and cloud HPC
• Establish standards, reference architectures, and best practices

System Design & Engineering Oversight

• Architect large-scale HPC clusters, including CPU, GPU, and accelerator-based systems
• Design high-performance networking (InfiniBand, RDMA, high-speed Ethernet)
• Define storage architecture (parallel file systems, object storage, tiered storage)
• Provide technical leadership and oversight to HPC engineering and operations teams

Performance & Scalability

• Ensure systems are designed for optimal throughput, latency, and scalability
• Lead performance benchmarking, capacity planning, and workload modelling
• Identify and eliminate architectural bottlenecks

Workload & Software Ecosystem

• Define strategies for workload orchestration (SLURM, Kubernetes for HPC, etc.)
• Guide software stack design (MPI, CUDA, compilers, libraries, containers)
• Ensure reproducibility, portability, and performance of workloads

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

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