DevOps Engineer | Build AI Infrastructure from the Ground Up

The Cypress Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential, venture-backed AI startup in NYC is seeking a DevOps Engineer to design and scale cloud infrastructure powering an AI platform.

You'll build scalable AWS-based infrastructure, manage Kubernetes clusters, and own CI/CD pipelines, with strong ownership in a fast-paced, collaborative team.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in DevOps, SRE, Platform Engineering, or similar role.
• Strong hands-on AWS experience.
• Production experience deploying and managing Kubernetes.
• Proficiency with Terraform and infrastructure as code.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of Docker, Linux, networking, and cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with monitoring, observability, and production troubleshooting.
• A builder mentality and ability to own infra projects independently.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain scalable cloud infrastructure on AWS.
• Deploy, manage, and optimize Kubernetes clusters and containerized apps.
• Build and maintain infrastructure as code using Terraform.
• Develop and improve CI/CD pipelines for rapid deployments.
• Implement monitoring, logging, and observability across production environments.
• Improve infrastructure reliability, security, scalability, and performance.
• Automate operational processes and eliminate repetitive manual work.
• Partner with backend and AI engineers to support prod apps and growing infra.
• Help establish DevOps best practices as the org scales.

Skills

DevOps

Site Reliability Engineering

Platform Engineering

Cloud infrastructure

CI/CD

Observability

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

Terraform

CI/CD pipelines

Docker

Linux

Networking

Observability tools

Job description

DevOps Engineer | Build AI Infrastructure from the Ground Up

Location: New York City

Company: Confidential, venture-backed AI startup

Compensation: Competitive base salary + equity

The Opportunity

We're partnering with a fast-growing, venture-backed AI startup in NYC that's building a sophisticated enterprise platform powered by artificial intelligence.

They're looking for a DevOps Engineer who wants to do more than maintain existing infrastructure. This is an opportunity to help build, scale, and shape the cloud infrastructure supporting a rapidly evolving AI platform.

You’ll join a small, highly technical engineering team where you’ll have significant ownership, work directly with software engineers, and play a critical role in how the platform scales.

If you enjoy building infrastructure from the ground up, automating everything you can, and solving challenging engineering problems, this could be an exciting next step.

What You’ll Be Working On

• Design, build, and maintain scalable cloud infrastructure on AWS.
• Deploy, manage, and optimize Kubernetes clusters and containerized applications.
• Build and maintain infrastructure as code using Terraform.
• Develop and improve CI/CD pipelines to support rapid, reliable deployments.
• Implement monitoring, logging, and observability across production environments.
• Improve infrastructure reliability, security, scalability, and performance.
• Automate operational processes and eliminate repetitive manual work.
• Partner closely with backend and AI engineers to support production applications and growing infrastructure demands.
• Help establish DevOps best practices as the engineering organization scales.

What We’re Looking For

• 3+ years of experience in DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, or a similar infrastructure-focused role.
• Strong hands‑on experience with AWS.
• Production experience deploying and managing Kubernetes.
• Proficiency with Terraform and infrastructure as code.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of Docker, Linux, networking, and cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with monitoring, observability, and production troubleshooting.
• A builder mentality and the ability to take ownership of infrastructure projects independently.

Bonus Points

• Experience working at an early‑stage or high‑growth startup.
• Familiarity with Python or Go for scripting, automation, or backend development.
• Experience supporting AI/ML applications or data‑intensive platforms.
• Experience with distributed systems and microservices.
• Familiarity with Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or similar observability tools.
• Experience designing infrastructure with security and cost optimization in mind.

Why This Opportunity?

Build, don't just maintain. Help establish the infrastructure foundations of a growing AI company.

High ownership. Work in a small engineering organization where your technical decisions have a direct impact.

Interesting technical challenges. Solve complex problems involving cloud infrastructure, scalability, automation, and production AI systems.

Early‑stage upside. Join a venture‑backed startup with equity participation and the opportunity to grow alongside the company.

Work with talented engineers. Collaborate directly with the people building the product rather than operating in a siloed infrastructure team.

Interested?

If you're a DevOps or Platform Engineer who enjoys building scalable infrastructure and wants to play a meaningful role in an early‑stage AI company, we'd love to connect.