Senior ML Infrastructure Engineer - AI

Ellison Institute of Technology; Oxford; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research institution in Oxford is seeking to expand its MLOps team. The ideal candidate will drive the design and optimization of high-performance ML compute clusters and collaborate across teams to enhance research capability. Strong experience in systems design and an understanding of GPU architecture are essential. Join us to make impactful scientific breakthroughs in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Benefits

Enhanced holiday pay

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Perk Box

Electric Car Scheme

Qualifications

• Proven experience in high-performance ML compute clusters.
• Proactive approach to systems design.
• Expert-level understanding of GPU architecture and performance profiling.

Responsibilities

• Build and optimize high-performance GPU training clusters.
• Design systems for high-throughput data paths.
• Resolve performance bottlenecks in distributed training.

Skills

Leadership in ML compute clusters

Systems design

Containerized systems experience

High-throughput storage systems knowledge

GPU architecture expertise

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Tools

Terraform

Argo CD

Job description

The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford’s purpose is to have a global impact by fundamentally reimagining the way science and technology translate into end-to-end solutions and delivering these solutions in programmes and platforms that respond to humanity’s most challenging problems.

EIT Oxford will ensure scientific discoveries and pioneering science are turned into products for the benefit of society that can have high‑impact worldwide and, over time, be commercialised to ensure long‑term sustainability.

Led by a world‑class faculty of scientists, technologists, policy makers, economists and entrepreneurs, the Ellison Institute of Technology aims to develop and deploy commercially sustainable solutions to solve some of humanity’s most enduring challenges. Our work is guided by four Humane Endeavours: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology, Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change & Managing Atmospheric CO₂ and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics.

Set for completion in 2027, the EIT Campus in Littlemore will include more than 300,000 sq ft of research laboratories, educational and gathering spaces. Fuelled by growing ambition and the strength of Oxford’s science ecosystem, EIT is now expanding its footprint to a 2 million sq ft Campus across the western part of The Oxford Science Park. Designed by Foster + Partners led by Lord Norman Foster, this will become a transformative workplace for up to 7,000 people, with autonomous laboratories, purpose‑built laboratories including a plant sciences building and dynamic spaces to spark interdisciplinary collaboration.

Our MLOps team

Join our MLOps team to build the cloud and compute foundation that enables scientific breakthroughs. Deliver reliable, secure platforms and self‑service guardrails that accelerate experimentation and turn ideas into results—faster, at scale, and with confidence.

Day‑to‑day, you might:

• Build, operate, and continuously optimise our high‑performance GPU training and inference clusters, focusing on robust, high‑availability scheduling, isolation, and automated lifecycle management.
• Drive systems design and implementation for high‑throughput data paths, optimising I/O, caching, and data locality across compute and storage (including our current Lustre implementation).
• Proactively benchmark, profile, and resolve performance bottlenecks across the compute, network, and orchestration layers to maximise efficiency for distributed training and inference.
• Establish comprehensive observability, resilience, and automated security controls to ensure compliance and robust operation of sensitive research environments.
• Partner with Research, Data, and Applied teams to forecast capacity and cost for GPU and storage needs, setting quotas and streamlining ML experimentation pipelines.

What makes you a great fit:

• Proven experience leading the design, build, and operation of high‑performance ML compute clusters at scale
• A proactive, autonomous approach to systems design and the proven ability and desire to ideate, co‑create and implement optimal solutions
• Exposure to migrating or transforming ML infrastructure from traditional schedulers to modern, containerised systems
• Expertise with high‑throughput storage systems for ML/HPC workloads
• Expert‑level understanding of GPU architecture, high‑speed networking for distributed training, and performance profiling to resolve bottlenecks
• A solid grasp of IaC and CI/CD practices (e.g., Terraform, Argo CD)

We offer the following salary and benefits:

Enhanced holiday pay

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Perk Box

Electric Car Scheme

Why work for EIT:

At the Ellison Institute, we believe a collaborative, inclusive team is key to our success. We are building a supportive environment where creative risks are encouraged, and everyone feels heard. We value emotional intelligence, empathy, respect, and resilience, and encourage people to be curious and to have a shared commitment to excellence. Join us and make an impact!