Senior AI Platform Engineer — Bare-Metal Kubernetes & IaC

Peraton; Montgomery (AL); Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a Senior AI Platform Engineer to stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform, with a focus on IaC provisioning using Terraform and Ansible. You will manage OpenShift/k8s clusters, deploy LLMs, and optimize performance while maintaining security and compliance across multiple US locations.

This role requires US citizenship and a DoD clearance, with telework flexibility within commuting distance to specified bases.

Qualifications

• Minimum 12 years with BS/BA; 10 years with MS; 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
• Hands-on OpenShift on bare metal
• IaC provisioning with Terraform and Ansible
• Experience with virtualization/cloud orchestration (Spectro Cloud/VMware)
• Understanding of container platform architecture (CNI/CSI)
• Ability to document platform architecture and licensing
• Strong Linux administration (RHEL)
• Regular access to a DISA SIPR facility
• Agentic platform modeling/hosting/services

Responsibilities

• Stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform
• Support feasibility assessment of platform technologies
• Drive transition to IaC provisioning with Terraform and Ansible
• Work in a bare-metal-first environment and reduce manual installs
• Support core platform services and OCONUS bootstrap activities
• Deploy, configure, and operate LLMs and integrate frontier AI models
• Optimize inference and deployment configurations for performance
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and maintain model-serving environments
• Transition provisioning from manual installs to IaC
• Install and operate bare-metal OpenShift/Kubernetes clusters
• Design IaC provisioning for platform and VM orchestration
• Evaluate OpenShift vs Spectro Cloud with licensing tradeoffs
• Deploy and support core platform services (DNS, etc)
• Enforce cybersecurity requirements and monitor platform health
• Document platform architecture and procedures
• Support hardware bootstrap activities and configurations

Skills

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Terraform

Ansible

Cloud/VMware

Spectro Cloud

Linux

SIPR access

Education

BS/BA in related field

Tools

Docker

Job description

Peraton is seeking a Senior AI Platform Engineer to stand up and operate a bare-metal container platform, with a focus on IaC provisioning using Terraform and Ansible. You will manage OpenShift/k8s clusters, deploy LLMs, and optimize performance while maintaining security and compliance across multiple US locations.

This role requires US citizenship and a DoD clearance, with telework flexibility within commuting distance to specified bases.