Research Computing Software Engineer (Platform Observability)

Penn State University; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Penn State University’s Applied Research Laboratory in State College, PA seeks a Computing Software Specialist (Platform Observability) to design and operate secure, automated infrastructure for high-performance computing and cloud-native environments.

Role emphasizes observability across metrics, logging, and tracing, plus maintaining CI/CD pipelines and container orchestration. On-site with possible hybrid options; DoD SkillBridge friendly.

Qualifications

• Experience with DevSecOps tools and Linux-based infrastructure.
• Automation/Infrastructure as code via scripting tools.
• CI/CD pipeline development and maintenance.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement automated infrastructure for HPC environments.
• Build and operate observability infrastructure (metrics/logs/traces).
• Maintain CI/CD pipelines for frequent deployments in containerized environments.
• Support pull requests, tests, and documentation as needed.
• Demonstrate work to internal teams and customers.

Skills

DevSecOps

Linux admin

CI/CD

Container orchestration

Observability

Education

Associate Degree

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

POSITION SPECIFICS

We are seeking a motivated, self-starting Computing Software Specialist (Platform Observability) to join our Cloud Technology Advancement Department in the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State. In this role you will perform DevSecOps functions with a strong focus on observability and platform reliability - building and operating the monitoring, logging, and tracing backbone for our high-performance and cloud-native computing environments. This position would work out of our State College, PA, location.

ARL is an authorized DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply.

You will:

• Design and implement secure, automated infrastructure solutions for high-performance computing environments through Agile software development
• Build and operate observability infrastructure across the three pillars - metrics, logging, and tracing - including dashboards, actionable alerting, and health/performance monitoring
• Work to maintain and monitor our CI/CD pipelines to allow for frequent, trouble-free deployments of infrastructure code, and deploy/operate workloads in container orchestration environments across bare metal and cloud
• Assist in performing and reviewing pull requests, writing unit tests, and producing occasional documentation as needed
• Provide demonstrations of your work to the internal team and occasionally external customers
• Coordinate with the Agile team to identify risks, issues, requirements, and design solutions for project-level activity on a daily basis

Required Skills/Experience areas include:

• DevSecOps tools/practices and Linux-based infrastructure / system administration
• Infrastructure/automation via configuration management and scripting tools
• Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline development skills
• Container orchestration and interest in cloud-native technologies
• Observability concepts and tooling - collecting and analyzing metrics, logs, and traces

Preferred Skills/Experience areas include:

• One or more observability stacks - metrics/monitoring, log aggregation, distributed tracing, and dashboard/alerting platforms
• Service-level objectives (SLOs/SLIs) and supporting on-call/incident response practices
• Container orchestration at scale and familiarity with public, private, or hybrid cloud platforms
• Configuration management via distributed version control, and experience with containerization

Your working location will be fully on-site located in State College, PA but options exist for hybrid of on-site/work from home based on project-dependent ability . Questions related to flexible work should be directed to the hiring manager during the interview process.

MINIMUM EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE & REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS

If filled as Scientific Computing Engagement Specialist (ARL) - Intermediate Professional, this position requires:

Associate Degree

2+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted

Required Certifications: None

If filled as Scientific Computing Software Specialist (ARL) - Professional, this position requires:

Bachelor's Degree

No prior relevant work experience required; previous relevant work experience accepted in lieu of education.

Required Certifications: None

ARL's purpose is to research and develop innovative solutions to challenging scientific, engineering, and technology problems in support of the Navy, the Intel Community (IC), and other federal government customers.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION on ARL, visit our website at www.arl.psu.edu .

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

Notice regarding employment at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL): Employees must be eligible to obtain a government security clearance, participate in the ARL drug testing program, and comply with electronic and physical monitoring requirements applicable to federal contractors. ARL operates in a secure information environment involving Unclassified, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and Classified information. Personal electronic devices brought onsite must be regis