DevOps Engineer III

Allen Institute; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 137,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

The Allen Institute seeks an experienced DevOps Engineer, III, to join the Infrastructure Engineering group. The role focuses on building and maintaining the high-throughput data pipeline infrastructure powering multi-petabyte analyses, in a hybrid work arrangement within Washington State.

Responsibilities include defining IaC with Ansible/Terraform, managing cloud and on‑prem storage, and ensuring production stability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3 years’ experience administering substantial Linux deployments.
• Production experience with IaC frameworks (Ansible, pyinfra, Pulumi, or Terraform).

Responsibilities

• Define Linux system configuration in code using Ansible and test with Molecule.
• Create, deploy and maintain AWS Cloud infrastructure with Terraform.
• Review PRs and follow Allen Institute standards for deployments.
• Manage on-premises and cloud storage integrations.
• Ensure infrastructure stability and collaborate with developers.
• Support CI/CD, databases, logging and metrics infrastructure.
• Document work and communicate with stakeholders.
• Work with senior engineers to scope work and manage risks.
• Participate in on-hours support triage rotation.

Skills

Linux

Ansible

Terraform

AWS

Google Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Python

Bash

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

CI/CD

Ubuntu deployments

Education

Bachelor’s degree (education and experience)

Computer Science or related field

Tools

Molecule

pyinfra

Pulumi

Ansible

Terraform

Job description

DevOps Engineer, III - Infrastructure Engineer

The Allen Institute accelerates science for a healthier world through large-scale research designed to answer some of the most complex questions in biology. Our multi-disciplinary teams generate foundational knowledge, tools, and data to understand how our brain, cells, and immune system work. We share our work openly so others can build on it, move faster, and ask bigger questions. We drive discovery forward and create new possibilities for improving human health.

DevOps Engineer, III - Infrastructure Engineer

The Allen Institute accelerates science for a healthier world through large-scale research designed to answer some of the most complex questions in biology. Our multi-disciplinary teams generate foundational knowledge, tools, and data to understand how our brain, cells, and immune system work. We share our work openly so others can build on it, move faster, and ask bigger questions. We drive discovery forward and create new possibilities for improving human health.

The goal of Cellscapes is to create the first holistic framework to predict how cells self-organize into complex cell communities and tissues in order to program an entirely new kind of synthetic tissue that can be used to ask focused questions about how cells behave, including in response to drug interventions.

We are seeking a talented and enthusiastic individual to join the Software Engineering Team as an Infrastructure Engineer. This person will work in a collaborative environment to build and maintain the infrastructure that powers our high-throughput data pipeline and enables analysis of our multi-petabyte data set.

At the Allen Institute, we believe that science is for everyone – and should be open to everyone. We are dedicated to combating biases and reducing barriers to STEM careers more broadly.

We also believe that science is better when it includes different perspectives and voices. We strive to make the Allen Institute a place where everyone feels like they belong and are empowered to do their best work in a supportive environment.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for our open positions.

• We highly value the ability to communicate clearly in written form; applicants are strongly encouraged to include a brief cover letter explaining their interest in the role and elaborating on their experience.

Essential Functions

• Define Linux system configuration in code using Ansible; write automated tests to validate configuration-as-code using Molecule framework
• Create, deploy and maintain AWS Cloud infrastructure using Terraform
• Review systems and infrastructure pull requests; follow Allen Institute standards for software development and code deployments
• Manage and integrate on-premises and cloud storage systems
• Take primary responsibility for infrastructure stability and performance; collaborate with developers to investigate issues that arise with applications running in production and staging environments
• Support and maintain CI/CD, database, logging, and metrics infrastructure
• Communicate effectively through written documentation and presentations as well as informal interactions with co-workers
• Work together with stakeholders and senior engineers to scope work and set timelines; proactively identify and help mitigate risks to project scope and timeline when needed to ensure milestones and deadlines are achieved
• Participate in on-hours support triage rotation, approximately two weeks out of every ten

Note: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Required Education And Experience

• Bachelor’s degree (combination of education and experience)
• 3 years’ experience administering substantial Linux deployments
• Production experience with common infrastructure-as-code/configuration-as-code frameworks, such as Ansible, pyinfra, Pulumi, or Terraform
• Deep production experience using code to configure one of: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure
• Experience writing scripts and automating tasks in a common scripting language
• Experience with relational database management
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, or related field, and at least two years of experience in a DevOps, system administration, or similar role

Preferred Education And Experience

• Experience defining infrastructure with Ansible and Terraform
• Experience deploying complex infrastructure with multiple AWS products
• Experience developing scripts in Python and Bash
• Experience with large-scale Ubuntu deployments
• Experience managing PostgreSQL and MongoDB
• High-performance computing experience, ideally on a public cloud

Work Environment

• Open office seating
• Data center
• May enter laboratory environment, including potential possible chemical, biological, or other hazardous substances exposure

Physical Demands

• Fine motor movements in fingers/hands to operate computers and other office equipment
• Occasional lifting up to 30 pounds in a data center environment

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• This role is currently able to work both remotely and onsite in a hybrid work environment. We are a Washington State employer, and the primary work location for all Allen Institute employees is 615 Westlake Ave N.; any remote work must be performed in Washington State.

Annualized Salary Range

$137,050 - $171,250*

• Final salary depends on the required education for the role, experience, level of skills relevant to the role, and work location, where applicable.

Benefits

• Employees (and their families) are eligible to enroll in benefits per eligibility rules outlined in the Allen Institute’s Benefits Guide. These benefits include medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees are also eligible to enroll in the Allen Institute’s 401k plan. Paid time off is also available as outlined in the Allen Institutes Benefits Guide. Details on the Allen Institute’s benefits offering are located at the following link to the Benefits Guide: https://alleninstitute.org/careers/benefits .

It is the policy of the Allen Institute to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Allen Institute will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.