HPC Software Engineer

Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Ridge (TN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and retirement plans

Flexible work hours

On-site fitness and amenities

Employee Discounts

Job summary

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is seeking an HPC Software Engineer to design, operate, and maintain clusters and servers that support scientific research. This role requires strong experience with UNIX/Linux systems and configuration management tools.

Ideal candidates will have a BS degree in computer science and experience with automation, scripting, and large data systems. Join us to enhance HPC solutions for ORNL’s research community!

Qualifications

• BS degree in computer science or related discipline and 5 years of experience.
• 3 or more years managing UNIX/Linux Systems.
• Moderate proficiency in at least one scripting language.

Responsibilities

• Advocate HPC and clustered computing solutions to researchers.
• Design, develop, optimize, and maintain scientific software.
• Collaborate with technical contacts to align software solutions.

Skills

UNIX/Linux Systems

Configuration management tools (Git, Jenkins, Ansible, Puppet)

Bash

Python

Advanced troubleshooting of Linux Servers

Experience with large data systems

Education

BS degree in computer science or related discipline

Tools

Grafana

Nagios

Ansible

Docker

Job description

Overview

We are hiring a HPC Software Engineer to design, operate and maintain clusters, servers, and workstations supporting services where science happens at ORNL! This position resides in the Emerging Technologies & Computing group in the Research Computing Division in the Information Technology Services Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

The Emerging Technology Computational Group facilitates ORNL goals through HPC systems engineering, integration, and support for the research community at ORNL. By providing design, deployment, optimization, monitoring, and tooling support across multiple clustered infrastructures, we facilitate Lab‑wide R&D projects. Our HPC clusters range in scope from just a handful of nodes to over fifty‑thousand cores.

We partner with ORNL research organizations to enable research excellence and delivery. We work with other clustered computing and HPC groups to help research programs identify the best solutions for their needs. When we build our customer's environments, our team collaborates to design, implement, and maintain the systems from inception to retirement.

Major Duties/Responsibilities

• Advocate and promote HPC and clustered computing software solutions to researchers who process large data sets, run simulations, and develop scientific code as part of their projects.
• Design, develop, optimize, and maintain scientific software, workflows, libraries, and tools for production HPC environments.
• Ensure the performance, scalability, portability, reliability, and maintainability of software running on production systems.
• Leverage automation, testing, and modern software engineering practices to minimize maintenance overhead and improve software quality and reproducibility.
• Collaborate with technical points of contact and research teams to install, port, optimize, benchmark, and tune scientific applications and toolsets.
• Support software environments for a wide range of computational workflows, including parallel and distributed applications, data‑intensive pipelines, and accelerator‑enabled workloads.
• Work closely with system administrators, infrastructure engineers, and researchers to align software solutions with available compute, storage, and networking resources.
• Contribute to CI/CD practices, software packaging, documentation, and sustainable development workflows for research computing environments.
• Deliver ORNL's mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote equal opportunity by fostering a respectful workplace— in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

Basic Qualifications

• BS degree in computer science, computer engineering, information technology, information systems, science, engineering, business, or a related discipline and a minimum of 5 years of aligned professional experience is required for consideration. An overall combination of equivalent education and experience may be considered.
• 3 or more years with managing UNIX/Linux Systems.
• 3 or more years of proven experience with configuration management and automation tools such as Git, Jenkins, Ansible, or Puppet.
• Moderate proficiency in at least one scripting language such as Bash, Python, or others.
• Experience performing advanced troubleshooting and system administration with Linux Servers.
• Experience supporting large data systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• A strong desire to innovate and identify new technologies and opportunities and be able to communicate the potential benefits of those choices to others within the team and our research partners.
• A collaborative and upbeat approach to thrive on the opportunity to build trust and credibility and ultimately become a trusted advisor to our research teams.
• Active DOE Q, active DOD Top Secret, or active DOD TS/SCI clearance is heavily preferred for consideration.
• Solid understanding of multiple operating systems and cluster technologies.
• Experience with Rocky/Centos/RHEL, Ubuntu, VMware.
• Understanding of HPC platforms to support users with SLURM job submissions and troubleshooting.
• Experience building and running containerized applications in an HPC environment.
• Experience with multiple deployment mechanisms like Diskless, Warewulf, and traditional deployment (cobbler, PXEboot, and/or Bright).
• Experience managing systems utilizing GPU (NVIDIA and AMD) clusters for AI/ML and/or image processing.
• Experience with performance and diagnostic tools for benchmarking, analysis and tuning of systems, networking, and storage.
• Experience with Grafana, CheckMK, Nagios, Zabbix, or other network and device monitoring systems.
• Experience with scientific software such as Matlab, R, Ansys, etc.
• Experience with cluster administrative tools as Spack, Ansible, Git, etc.
• Previous experience working in a government, scientific or other highly technical environment.
• Good documentation skills, including ability to prepare simple documentation web pages.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Motivated self‑starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative teams across the laboratory.
• Ability to function well in a fast‑paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and adapt to ever‑changing needs.

Special Requirements

• Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a clearance from the Department of Energy. As such, this position is a Workplace Substance Abuse (WSAP) testing designated position. WSAP positions require passing a pre‑placement drug test and participation in an ongoing random drug testing program.

About ORNL

As a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, ORNL has an impressive 80‑year legacy of addressing the nation's most pressing challenges. Our team is made up of over 7,000 dedicated and innovative individuals! Our goal is to create an environment where a variety of perspectives and backgrounds are valued, ensuring ORNL is known as a top choice for employment. These principles are essential for supporting our broader mission to drive scientific breakthroughs and translate them into solutions for energy, environmental, and security challenges facing the nation.

ORNL offers competitive pay and benefits programs to attract and retain individuals who demonstrate exceptional work behaviors. The laboratory provides a range of employee benefits, including medical and retirement plans and flexible work hours, to support the well‑being of you and your family. Employee amenities such as on‑site fitness, banking, and cafeteria facilities are also available for added convenience.

Other benefits include the following: Prescription Drug Plan, Dental Plan, Vision Plan, 401(k) Retirement Plan, Contributory Pension Plan, Life Insurance, Disability Benefits, Generous Vacation and Holidays, Parental Leave, Legal Insurance with Identity Theft Protection, Employee Assistance Plan, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Wellness Programs, Educational Assistance, Relocation Assistance, and Employee Discounts.

Equal Opportunity

ORNL is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, are encouraged to apply. UT‑Battelle is an E‑Verify employer.