IT Operations Technical Lead

Axle; Frederick (MD); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays

401K match up to 5%

Educational Benefits for Career Growth

Employee Referral Bonus

Flexible Spending Accounts: Healthcare

Flexible Spending Accounts: Parking Re

Flexible Spending Accounts: Dependent–

Flexible Spending Accounts: Transport

Job summary

Axle, a bioscience and IT company, seeks an IT Operations Technical Lead to oversee hybrid cloud and on-prem infrastructure. Lead ITIL-aligned operations, drive automation, and manage incident response for critical systems, with focus on reliability and AI/ML workloads.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years leading ops teams, 10+ years Linux experience, and strong scripting and automation skills. The role supports hybrid environments, proactive security, and performance optimization.

Qualifications

• Must have 5+ years leading operations teams with hands-on improvements.
• Proven experience implementing ITIL in production.
• 10+ years Unix/Linux in large distributed environments (CentOS/Red Hat).
• Hands-on incident management, patching, system hardening, production support.
• Experience building and maintaining golden images and standardized environments.
• Strong scripting/automation (Python, Bash, PowerShell).
• Experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.).
• Cloud build-out or migration on AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience supporting AI/ML workloads or data-intensive platforms.
• Knowledge of security best practices and frameworks (NIST, FedRAMP, FISMA).

Responsibilities

• Lead IT operations aligned with ITIL processes (Incident, Problem, Change, Release).
• Provide hands-on leadership across Linux/Windows in cloud and on-prem environments.
• Own incident response, root cause analysis, and service restoration for critical systems.
• Design, build, and maintain golden images, patching strategies, and hardening standards.
• Drive patch management and vulnerability remediation programs for security and integrity.
• Develop automation using modern approaches including AI-assisted development to boost efficiency.
• Support AI/ML workloads with provisioning, scaling, and tuning.
• Manage GPU-enabled environments for high-performance computing and ML use cases.
• Oversee monitoring, logging, alerting, and observability frameworks.
• Mentor a team of systems engineers and provide technical guidance.
• Collaborate with architecture, security, and dev teams to improve reliability.
• Support hybrid environments including cloud and on-prem data centers.
• Ensure documentation, runbooks, SOPs, and operational readiness.
• Stay updated on technologies including NIST, cloud deployment, and SRE practices.

Skills

Linux expertise

ITIL processes

Incident management

Automation scripting

CI/CD tooling

Cloud platforms

GPU compute

AI/ML support

Tools

Ansible

Terraform

Puppet

Chef

Jenkins

GitHub

Nagios

Splunk

Prometheus

Grafana

Kubernetes

Job description

Axle is a bioscience and information technology company that offers advancements in translational research, biomedical informatics, and data science applications to research centers and healthcare organizations nationally and abroad. With experts in biomedical science, software engineering, and program management, we focus on developing and applying research tools and techniques to empower decision‑making and accelerate research discoveries. We work with some of the top research organizations and facilities in the country including multiple institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Benefits We Offer:

• Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• 401K match up to 5%
• Educational Benefits for Career Growth
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Flexible Spending Accounts:
  • Healthcare (FSA)
  • Parking Reimbursement Account (PRK)
  • Dependent Care Assistant Program (DCAP)
  • Transportation Reimbursement Account (TRN)

Axle is seekingan IT Operations Technical Lead to oversee and optimize hybrid cloud and on-premise infrastructure. This role combines hands‑on technical leadership with ITIL-based operations, automation, and incident management. The ideal candidate brings deep Linux expertise and a focus on reliability, scalability, and modern workloads like AI/ML.

Responsibilities:

Lead and manage IT operations aligned with ITIL processes including Incident, Problem, Change, and Release Management

Provide hands‑on leadership in managing Linux and Windows environments across cloud and on‑premises infrastructure

Own and drive incident response, root cause analysis, and service restoration for mission‑critical systems

Design, build, and maintain golden images, patching strategies, and system hardening standards

Lead patch management and vulnerability remediation programs ensuring compliance and system integrity

Develop and implement automation solutions using modern approaches including Vibe Coding (AI‑assisted development) to accelerate operational efficiency and reduce toil

Support and optimize infrastructure for AI/ML workloads, including provisioning, scaling, and performance tuning

Manage and maintain GPU‑enabled environments and instances for high‑performance computing and machine learning use cases

Oversee and optimize infrastructure monitoring, logging, alerting, and observability frameworks

Manage and mentor a team of systems engineers; provide technical guidance and performance oversight

Collaborate with architecture, security, and development teams to improve reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency

Support hybrid environments including cloud platforms and on‑premise data centers

Ensure proper documentation, runbooks, SOPs, and operational readiness

Stay abreast of new technologies in your areas but not limited to US Federal Standards, NIST Publications, cloud computing & deployment, site reliability engineering, security standards and compliance best practices etc.

Requirements:

Must have 5+ years of experience leading operations team with hands‑on experience in driving operational process improvements and technological advancements.

Proven experience implementing and operating within ITIL frameworks

Must have 10+ years of hands‑on Unix/Linux experience that includes specific technical experience with CentOS / Red Hat systems administration support for large scale distributed environments

Hands‑on experience with incident management, patching, system hardening, and production support

Experience building and maintaining golden images and standardized environments

Strong scripting/automation skills (e.g., Python, Bash, PowerShell or similar)

Experience with configuration management and automation tools (Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, Chef, or similar)

Strong understanding of networking fundamentals (DNS, TCP/IP, firewalls, load balancing)

Experience with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Nagios, Splunk, ELK, Prometheus, Grafana)

Must have Cloud Build-Out or Migration experience in at least one of the following providers Amazon AWS, Google GCP and Microsoft Azure

Must have 2+ years with CI/CD and automation tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Jenkins, GitHub

Experience supporting AI/ML workloads or data‑intensive platforms

Familiarity with GPU‑based compute environments (e.g., NVIDIA GPU instances)

Must be willing to learn new technologies, adopt and adapt to emerging technologies or needs from a project to a project

Knowledge of security best practices and compliance frameworks such as NIST 800‑53, FedRAMP, FISMA etc. are preferred

Certifications such as ITIL, Linux, AWS, Azure, or Kubernetes (CKA/CKAD) is preferred

Networking certifications (CCNA/CCNP) are a plus

Disclaimer: The above description is meant to illustrate the general nature of work and level of effort being performed by individuals assigned to this position or job description. This is not restricted as a complete list of all skills, responsibilities, duties, and/or assignments required. Individuals may be required to perform duties outside of their position, job description or responsibilities as needed.

The diversity of Axle’s employees is a tremendous asset. We are firmly committed to providing equal opportunity in all aspects of employment and will not tolerate any illegal discrimination or harassment based on age, race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, marital status, covered veteran status, sexual orientation, status with respect to public assistance, and other characteristics protected under state, federal, or local law and to deter those who aid, abet, or induce discrimination or coerce others to discriminate.

Accessibility: If you need an accommodation as part of the employment process please contact: [e-mail]

This role has a market-competitive salary with an anticipated base compensation range listed below. Actual salaries will vary depending on a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location.

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Salary Range: $150,000 USD - $170,000 USD