IT Operations Technical Lead

Axle Labs; Frederick (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision coverage for

401K match up to 5%

Educational benefits for career growth

Paid time off and holidays

Employee referral bonus

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA, PRK,-

DCAP, Transportation Reimbursement

Job summary

Axle is seeking an IT Operations Technical Lead to oversee hybrid cloud and on-prem infrastructure, balancing hands-on leadership with ITIL-based operations. You will guide incident response, design standard images, and drive automation for reliability and AI/ML workloads.

The role requires deep Linux experience, strong scripting, and expertise across cloud providers, CI/CD, and security practices to support mission‑critical systems.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5+ years of experience leading an operations team with hands-on process improvements.
• Proven experience with ITIL frameworks in production environments.
• Over 10 years of Unix/Linux experience, including CentOS/Red Hat in large-scale systems.
• Hands-on incident management, patching, hardening, and production support.
• Experience building golden images and standardized environments.
• Strong scripting/automation skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell).
• Experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, Chef).
• Strong networking fundamentals (DNS, TCP/IP, firewalls, load balancers).
• Experience with monitoring/logging tools (Nagios, Splunk, ELK, Prometheus, Grafana).
• Cloud Build-Out or migration experience in AWS, GCP, or Azure.

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 and maintain golden images, patching strategies, and hardening standards.
• Drive patch management and vulnerability remediation to ensure security.
• Develop automation for ops using modern approaches including AI-assisted development.
• Support AI/ML workloads with scalable infrastructure and GPU-enabled environments.
• Oversee monitoring, logging, and observability frameworks to improve reliability.
• Mentor and guide a team of systems engineers and ensure performance.

Skills

Leadership

ITIL

Unix/Linux

Scripting

Automation

Incident management

CI/CD

Networking fundamentals

Security best practices

Team mentoring

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Ansible

Terraform

Puppet

Chef

Jenkins

GitHub

Nagios/Splunk/ELK/Prometheus/Grafana

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:

• 100% Medical, Dental & Vision Coverage for Employees
• 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 seeking an 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—$170,000 USD