AI/HPC System Engineer

Protingent; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 124,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Insurance plan options (HDHP/POS)

Pre-tax commuter benefits

401k plan

PTO and education reimbursement

Job summary

Protingent Staffing is seeking an AI/HPC System Engineer for a contract role in San Jose, CA. The position focuses on building GPU/HPC clusters, managing hybrid cloud environments, and enabling AI workflows across teams.

Responsibilities include automation, observability, and supporting AI platforms and compute-intensive workloads. Strong Linux, cloud, and HPC experience are required for successful delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years in IT infrastructure, cloud, or HPC.
• Experience with Linux-based infra and public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Responsibilities

• Build, configure, and operate GPU/HPC clusters across compute, storage, and networking.
• Deploy and maintain hybrid compute environments on-premises and public cloud.
• Implement infrastructure-as-code, provisioning automation, and monitoring with alerting.
• Deploy, integrate, and support AI/LLM APIs and AI platforms used by engineers.
• Troubleshoot, document standards/runbooks, and support day-to-day IT operations.

Skills

Linux infrastructure

Public cloud

Kubernetes/Slurm

Automation

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Monitoring tools

Job description

Job Title

AI/HPC System Engineer

Position Description

Protingent Staffing has an exciting contract AI/HPC System Engineer with our client located in San Jose, CA.

Job Responsibilities

• GPU/HPC infrastructure: Build, configure, and operate GPU and HPC clusters across compute, storage, and networking; support capacity planning, performance tuning, and optimization for AI training, inference, and compute-intensive workloads
• Hybrid cloud infrastructure: Deploy and maintain compute environments spanning on-premise and public cloud, and contribute to modernization and scaling initiatives for HPC/AI infrastructure
• Automation and observability: Implement infrastructure-as-code, provisioning automation, monitoring, and alerting, and drive improvements in resource utilization and efficiency
• AI platform support: Deploy, integrate, and support LLM APIs, coding assistants, and AI/agent platforms used by internal engineering teams
• Operations and collaboration: Troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure issues, document standards and runbooks, and work with relevant stakeholders to support day-to-day IT operations

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in IT infrastructure, cloud, platform engineering, or HPC
• Hands-on experience with Linux-based infrastructure and public cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
• Experience deploying or operating GPU/HPC environments, including workload scheduling or orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes or Slurm
• Experience with infrastructure automation, monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance optimization
• Solid understanding of compute, storage, networking, and container technologies; experience with AI/ML infrastructure or workloads is a plus
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across engineering and IT teams

Job Details

• Job Type: Contract
• Pay Range: $80-$90/hr.
• Location: San Jose, CA (Onsite).

Benefits Package

• Protingent offers competitive salaries, insurance plan options (HDHP plan or POS plan), education/certification reimbursement, pre-tax commuter benefits, Paid Time Off (PTO), and an administered 401k plan.

About Protingent

Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.