Site Reliability Engineer

NU USA Northeastern University; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 88,000 - 124,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Tuition assistance

Wellness program

Job summary

Northeastern University’s National Deep Inference Fabric (NDIF) seeks an experienced Site Reliability Engineer to keep its AI research platform reliable and scalable. The role involves hands-on production operations, observability, and tooling automation, with emphasis on CI/CD and infrastructure as code.

Strong Python skills and experience with distributed systems are essential, as is an interest in AI safety and interpretability. Collaboration across teams and the NDIF initiative is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 3 years in site reliability engineering or related role.
• Experience operating distributed systems in production with end-to-end ownership.
• Strong Python skills and backend service experience.
• Experience with observability tooling such as Prometheus and Grafana.
• CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure as code.
• Judgment to debug and optimize with minimal guidance and good communication.
• Genuine interest in AI safety and interpretability.

Responsibilities

• Measure and improve reliability, availability, and performance of the platform used by research teams.
• Build and maintain observability systems so issues are detected early.
• Improve tooling and automation including CI/CD, automated testing, and IaC.
• Create workflows for debugging across the distributed stack including Ray, GPU, and resource scheduling.
• Partner with NDIF team to keep the system dependable and usable as needs evolve.
• Establish and advocate for operational best practices as the platform grows.

Skills

Python

SRE

Distributed systems

Observability

CI/CD pipelines

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

Infrastructure as code

Terraform

Job description

About the Opportunity

About Khoury College Khoury College is committed to building a community of belonging among students, faculty and staff. We strongly encourage applicants from individuals with disabilities, veterans, and those with varied experiences and backgrounds. We invite you to join a fast-moving, ambitious college with an underlying mission that is driven by our motto of “CS for Everyone.”

About the National Deep Inference Fabric

The National Deep Inference Fabric (NDIF) is an artificial intelligence (AI) research infrastructure project funded by $9 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and more than $4 million from private foundations. Its mission is to create an innovative, highly transparent, large-scale AI inference infrastructure that enables cutting-edge scientific research on the largest open AI models.

Job Summary

NDIF is seeking an experienced Site Reliability Engineer to advance the reliability and coordinate the day-to-day operations of its growing research platform. This role creates systems that keep distributed services healthy and available, makes clusters easier to debug and operate, and builds tooling that enables the platform to scale as demand and deployments grow. This is a hands-on role with significant latitude for assessing complex technical problems, determining priorities, and delivering innovations with minimal oversight. A research background is not required, but knowledge of machine learning operations (MLOps) is highly desirable. The successful candidate will have experience operating production systems, a commitment to operating them well, and motivation to contribute to AI safety and interpretability.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Measure and improve the reliability, availability, and performance of the platform used by research teams
• Build and maintain observability systems so issues are detected early and debugging is proactive rather than reactive
• Improve operational tooling and automation, including continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), automated testing, and infrastructure as code
• Create effective workflows for debugging and resolving issues across the distributed stack, including Ray connectivity, graphics processing unit (GPU) and resource allocation, and scheduling
• Partner with the broader NDIF team to keep the system dependable and usable as user needs evolve
• Establish and advocate for operational best practices as the platform grows

Minimum Qualifications Required

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• At least 3 years of experience or more in site reliability engineering (SRE) or a closely related role
• Experience operating distributed systems in production, with a track record of owning complex systems end to end
• Strong Python skills and comfort working with backend services
• Experience with observability tooling such as Prometheus and Grafana, or equivalent tools
• Working command of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure as code
• Judgment to debug and optimize systems with minimal guidance, along with communication skills that keep teams aligned
• Genuine interest in AI safety, interpretability, and supporting interdisciplinary research

Preferred Knowledge of MLOps

• Required Documents Resume
• Position Type Information Technology
• Additional Information

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer. Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Compensation Grade/Pay Type: 111S Expected Hiring Range: $87,785.00 - $123,998.75 With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change. Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experiential lifelong learning. Our approach of integrating real-world experience with education, research, and innovation empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create worldwide impact. Our global university system provides our community and academic, government, and industry partners with unique opportunities to think locally and act globally. The system—which includes 14 campuses across the U.S., U.K., and Canada, 300,000-plus alumni, and 3,000 partners worldwide—serves as a platform for scaling ideas, talent, and solutions. The university’s residential campuses for undergraduate and graduate degrees are located in Boston, London, and Oakland, California. Our research and graduate campuses are in the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant; Arlington, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami; Portland, Maine; Seattle; Silicon Valley, California; Toronto; and Vancouver. Northeastern’s personalized, experiential undergraduate and graduate programs lead to degrees through the doctorate in 10 colleges and schools across our campuses. Learning emphasizes the intersection of data, technology, and human literacies, uniquely preparing graduates for careers of the future and lives of fulfillment and accomplishment. Our research enterprise, with an R1 Carnegie classification, is solutions oriented and spans the world. Our faculty scholars and students work in teams that cross not just disciplines, but also sectors—aligned around solving today’s highly interconnected global challenges and focused on transformative impact for humankind.