Senior AI Platform Engineer

Peraton; Oklahoma City (OK); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a Senior AI Platform Engineer to stand up a bare-metal container platform and operate it within a security-conscious DoD environment.

You will drive transitions to IaC provisioning with Terraform and Ansible, manage OpenShift clusters, and support LLM deployment, model inference tuning, and observability. Occasional telework is allowed within a 50-mile radius of specified U.S. locations.

Qualifications

• Minimum years/degree experience as listed in qualifications.
• Experience deploying and operating Kubernetes-based platforms.
• Hands-on OpenShift on bare metal or similar enterprise Kubernetes.
• Proven IaC provisioning with Terraform and Ansible.
• Security/compliance under DoD frameworks and STIGs.

Responsibilities

• Stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform.
• Transition provisioning to IaC using Terraform and Ansible.
• Deploy and manage OpenShift clusters and core services.
• Support AI model deployment, inference optimization, and monitoring.
• Document platform architecture, licensing, and operational procedures.
• Assist with OCONUS bootstrap activities and hardware installation.

Skills

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Terraform

Ansible

Linux (RHEL)

DISA SIPR access

Terraform IaC

Cloud orchestration

VMware/Spectro Cloud

Networking/storage (CNI/CSI)

Documentation of architecture

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher

Tools

OpenShift

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Spectro Cloud/VMware

GitOps (ArgoCD/Flux)

Job description

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of 12 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 10 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 7 years with Ph.D.
• Experience with platform/systems/integration engineering
• Hands-on Kubernetes-based container platform experience
• US Citizenship
• Active DoD Secret clearance
• DoD 8570/8140 compliant certification
• Practical experience deploying and operating AI models, with a foundational understanding of inference and performance tuning
• Hands-on experience deploying and administering OpenShift (or another enterprise Kubernetes distribution) on bare metal
• Infrastructure-as-code proficiency, specifically Terraform and Ansible, for provisioning and configuration management
• Working knowledge of virtualization/cloud orchestration platforms (Spectro Cloud, VMware, or equivalent)
• Understanding of container platform architecture: networking (CNI), storage (CSI), cluster security, and lifecycle management
• Ability to document platform architecture, licensing tradeoffs, and operational considerations
• Strong Linux administration skills (RHEL)
• Must have regular/recurring physical access to a DISA SIPR-accredited facility
• Working understanding of agentic platform modeling/hosting/services

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent writing and grammatical skills
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
• HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
• Experience with GitOps workflows (e.g., ArgoCD, Flux) for platform configuration management
• Experience bootstrapping platforms in disconnected or OCONUS environments including physical hardware installation

The Senior AI Platform Engineer will stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform, support a feasibility assessment of all platform technologies, and drive the transition towards infrastructure-as-code managed provisioning using Terraform and Ansible. This individual will work in a bare-metal-first environment while actively reducing reliance on manual installs over time, and will support core platform services and OCONUS bootstrap activities.

This role is flexible for occasional telework however, candidates must be within 50 miles to one of the following work locations: Oklahoma City, OK, Montgomery, AL, Ogden, UT, San Antonio, TX, Mechanicsburg, PA, Chambersburg, PA, Arlington, VA, Ft. Meade, MD, Columbus, OH.

Other Responsibilities Include:

• Deploy, configure, and operate large language models (LLMs), and integrate approved frontier AI models and services into enterprise environments
• Optimize model inference and deployment configurations to improve response times, throughput, and GPU/memory utilization while maintaining output quality
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and maintain model-serving environments, including model updates, API connectivity, and supporting infrastructure
• Transition platform provisioning from manual/bare-metal installs toward a fully IaC-managed model
• Install, configure, and operate bare-metal OpenShift (or equivalent enterprise Kubernetes distribution) clusters
• Design and implement infrastructure-as-code provisioning using Terraform and Ansible for platform and VM orchestration
• Support the objective feasibility assessment of OpenShift versus Spectro Cloud, documenting licensing tradeoffs, operability, and long-term sustainability considerations
• Deploy and support core platform services including authoritative DNS (e.g., PowerDNS)
• Implement and enforce STIGs and cybersecurity compliance requirements on platform infrastructure
• Monitor platform health, performance, and capacity using observability tools; manage platform logging and alerting
• Support OCONUS hardware bootstrap activities including physical hardware installation and configuration
• Document platform architecture, configuration decisions, and operational procedures