HPC Infrastructure Planning Lead

Autonomai Recruitment; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Autonomai Recruitment’s client, a leading quantitative trading firm in Chicago, seeks an Infrastructure Planning Lead to own a broad portfolio of HPC and data center projects from planning to handover. You will coordinate with engineers and vendors to deliver complex infrastructure at scale.

This role blends technical delivery with strategic planning, emphasizing capacity planning, high-density compute, and the use of AI to optimize workflows and deployment of compute, storage, and networking

Qualifications

• Experience planning large-scale compute capacity from planning through handover.
• Strong understanding of HPC storage, networking and data-center infrastructure.
• Ability to manage vendors, schedules and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Owning and prioritising a portfolio of HPC and data center infrastructure projects
• Planning new compute, storage and network deployments
• Driving capacity planning across rack space, power, cooling and structured cabling
• Managing vendors, contractors and implementation schedules
• Supporting new colocation and data center expansion projects
• Providing clear reporting on project status, risks and resource requirements
• Working closely with engineering teams to resolve technical and operational blockers
• Using AI and automation to improve planning, reporting and operational workflows

Skills

HPC infrastructure planning

Data center operations

Vendor management

AI automation in planning

Tools

Slurm

Lustre

GPFS

InfiniBand

Ethernet

Linux

Job description

I’m working with a leading quantitative trading firm that is continuing to scale its global HPC and data center infrastructure and is looking for an experienced Infrastructure Planning Lead to take ownership of a broad portfolio of critical projects.

This is not a traditional project management role.

They’re looking for someone who understands how large-scale compute environments are actually built, expanded and brought online, and who can operate across both the technical and planning sides of infrastructure delivery.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Owning and prioritising a portfolio of HPC and data center infrastructure projects
• Planning new compute, storage and network deployments
• Driving capacity planning across rack space, power, cooling and structured cabling
• Managing vendors, contractors and implementation schedules
• Supporting new colocation and data center expansion projects
• Providing clear reporting on project status, risks and resource requirements
• Working closely with engineering teams to resolve technical and operational blockers
• Using AI and automation to improve planning, reporting and operational workflows

We’re particularly interested in people coming from environments involving:

• HPC or research computing
• AI / GPU infrastructure
• Data center capacity engineering
• High-density compute environments

Experience around Linux, networking, InfiniBand/Ethernet, HPC storage, Slurm, Lustre or GPFS would be valuable, but the key requirement is a strong understanding of large-scale infrastructure planning and delivery.

Relevant backgrounds could include:

If you’ve been responsible for getting large amounts of compute capacity from initial planning through to operational handover, I’d be interested in speaking.