Platform Engineer, AI Infrastructure

Focused; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 145,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Focused in Chicago is seeking a Platform Engineer to help build an enterprise AI platform. You’ll work with a Senior Platform Engineer on Kubernetes and cloud foundations, wiring up model access, deploying agents, and getting LLM workloads into production.

This role requires 5+ years in platform/infrastructure, hands‑on Kubernetes, and Python scripting. You’ll be in the Chicago office 3 days a week with up to 20% travel in the U.S.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in platform, infrastructure, DevOps, or SRE roles.
• Hands‑on production experience with Kubernetes.
• Experience with Azure and/or GCP.
• Experience with Terraform or similar IaC tools.
• Experience supporting AI/ML platforms or ML workloads in production.
• Proficiency in Python plus solid scripting skills.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate Kubernetes clusters on Azure AKS and GCP GKE.
• Write and maintain Terraform modules for cloud resources and environments.
• Build CI/CD and GitOps pipelines for platform and application deployments.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and improve the reliability of AI/ML platform services.
• Deploy and operate supporting services for LLM applications: model gateways, vector databases, tracing, and evaluation.
• Support GPU workloads, including node pools, scheduling, and cost monitoring.
• Write runbooks and automate day‑two operations.
• Build reference agents and LLM application templates that client teams can start from.
• Help application teams integrate with the platform and debug their workloads.
• Prototype with agent frameworks and LLM APIs to test what the platform needs to support.

Skills

Platform engineering

DevOps

SRE

Python

Scripting

Tools

Kubernetes

Azure

GCP

Terraform

Job description

At Focused, we move quickly to deliver quality software that achieves client outcomes and meets their customer's needs. We strategically partner with our clients to leverage our expertise in design and software, while our clients bring their own domain expertise. We work with a variety of clients from different industries, collaborating as we get new products to market, modernizing legacy systems, or helping teams learn the skills they need to be successful.

Our values:

• Listen first We are experts in product practices but lifelong learners in the domain of our customers. We research, collaborate, and understand.
• Learn why We ask questions and talk to users to understand problem spaces, objectives, and goals, which allows us to deeply invest and drive towards the outcomes of our clients.
• Love your craft We love diving into a variety of domains and solving problems. We take pride in delivering value, in communicating progress, and guiding our clients to success.

We're looking for a Platform Engineer to help build an enterprise AI platform for a global enterprise client. You'll work alongside a Senior Platform Engineer on the Kubernetes and cloud foundation, and you'll also get hands-on with the AI side: wiring up model access, deploying agents, and helping application teams get their LLM workloads into production. If you like infrastructure but want to build with AI too, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities:

Platform & Infrastructure

• Build and operate Kubernetes clusters on Azure AKS and GCP GKE
• Write and maintain Terraform modules for cloud resources and environments
• Build CI/CD and GitOps pipelines for platform and application deployments
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and improve the reliability of AI/ML platform services

AI Platform Engineering & Operations

• Deploy and operate supporting services for LLM applications: model gateways, vector databases, tracing, and evaluation
• Support GPU workloads, including node pools, scheduling, and cost monitoring
• Write runbooks and automate day‑two operations
• Build reference agents and LLM application templates that client teams can start from
• Help application teams integrate with the platform and debug their workloads
• Prototype with agent frameworks and LLM APIs to test what the platform needs to support

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years in platform, infrastructure, DevOps, or SRE roles
• Hands‑on production experience with Kubernetes
• Experience with Azure and/or GCP
• Experience with Terraform or similar IaC tools
• Experience supporting AI/ML platforms or ML workloads in production
• Proficiency in Python plus solid scripting skills

Preferred Qualifications (Exceptional Candidates):

• Experience building LLM applications or agents (LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, or similar)
• Experience with Azure OpenAI or Vertex AI
• Familiarity with GPU infrastructure and model serving
• Consulting or client‑facing experience

What Sets Exceptional Candidates Apart:

• You've shipped an LLM feature or agent to real users, not just a demo
• You enjoy pairing and learn quickly from senior engineers
• You build documentation systems that auto‑update for the next person (and coding agent)

What to know before you apply:

• This role will require being in the Chicago office 3 days per week and up to 20% travel within the United States.
• Focused is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of the employment Visa process at this time.
• The Chicago base salary range for this role is $145,000 - $175,000.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Focused’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A \"disabled veteran\" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A \"recently separated veteran\" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An \"active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran\" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An \"Armed forces service medal veteran\" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which a Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.