Staff Platform Engineer

uchicago; Illinois; On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Chicago's Center for Translational Data Science seeks Platform Engineers to support production, monitoring, CI/CD, security automation, and AI/ML infrastructure across CTDS open-source platforms. Based in Chicago, IL, you will triage incidents, design pipelines, and optimize performance in hybrid cloud environments with AWS/Azure/GCP.

You will mentor interns, collaborate with faculty and IT teams, and help deploy research workloads while aligning with security standards and

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in computer science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, or a related quantitative field.
• 6+ years of professional DevOps/system engineering experience or equivalent project work.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement top-priority technical tasks and ensure timely delivery with quality.
• Participate in complex activities including design and implementation.
• Lead a scope critical to the team’s success and mentor junior staff.
• Contribute to hiring, interview feedback, and technical guidance.
• Advise on options and advocate for optimal DevOps solutions internally and externally.
• Utilize public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and CI/CD tools.
• Serve as a technical consultant for faculty research and administrative projects.
• Perform related work as needed.

Skills

Scripting

Unix/Linux

AWS

OpenStack

Azure

GCP

Docker

Kubernetes

Git/Jenkins

Config Mgmt

Load Balancers

ELK

Splunk

Security standards

ML Infrastructure

Leadership

Collaboration

Education

Advanced degree in CS/Math/Engineering

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenStack

Nginx

Jenkins

Git

Ansible

Puppet

Chef

ELK

Splunk

Job description

Department

BSD CTD - Platform Engineering - GDC

About the Department

The Center for Translational Data Science (CTDS) at the University of Chicago is a research center whose mission is to develop the discipline of translational data science to impactful problems in biology, medicine, healthcare, and the environment. We envision a world in which researchers have ready access to the data needed and the tools required to make data driven discoveries that increase our scientific knowledge and improve the quality of life. We architect ecosystems of large-scale commons of research data, computing resources, applications, tools, and services for the broader research community to use data at scale to pursue scientific inquiry and accelerate discovery. Learn more at https://gdc.cancer.gov/, https://gen3.org/, https://stats.gen3.org/, and https://ctds.uchicago.edu/.

Job Summary

Platform (aka DevOps) Engineers provide production support, production monitoring, CI/CD design & implementation, security automation, & AI/ML infrastructure management across the open-source software platforms CTDS develops and operates for translational data science. Production support includes triaging, researching, communicating, and addressing production incidents. For monitoring, staff wrangle disparate system monitoring assets and develop common analytics to inform optimization define benchmarks and confidence intervals and to forecast, proactively mitigating production incidents. CI/CD pipelines are for hybrid cloud architecture on-premises and in commercial cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Additionally, the position is responsible for AI/ML research infrastructure, including managing and optimizing on-premises GPU resources and AWS cloud services such as Bedrock and SageMaker. Responsibilities include deploying, monitoring, and maintaining machine learning models for inference, optimizing model and hardware performance, troubleshooting AI/ML solutions, and integrating them within the broader application environment to support research and production workflows.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for design and implementation of top priority technical tasks and timely delivery of such tasks, meeting and helping define the required level of quality.
• Participation in complex and challenging activities, including design and implementation.
• Responsible for a scope of significant size critical to the team’s success.
• Provide technical leadership and effectively mentor interns and less experienced members.
• Actively participate in the hiring process and provide fair and productive interview feedback.
• Negotiate complex decisions, present options and persuasively advocate for optimal technical solutions, internally and externally.
• Utilizes technical knowledge of existing and emerging technologies, including public cloud offerings from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Acts as a technical consultant and resource for faculty research, teaching, and/or administrative projects.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience: Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications: ---

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced degree in computer science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, or a relevant quantitative field strongly preferred.

Experience:

• 6+ years professional experience as a system or DevOps engineer or demonstrated skills and qualifications through projects, initiatives, or outstanding performance.
• Hands‑on scripting experience (Bash, Python, or other dynamic language).
• Unix/Linux programming or system administration experience.
• Experience with OpenStack and AWS (EC2/S3) cloud technologies.
• Experience with configuration management utility (Chef, Puppet, Ansible).
• Experience with F5 or other load balancing technologies (Nginx, AWS ELB/ALB, etc.).
• Experience with source control and build systems (SVN, Git, Jenkins, etc.).
• Experience with container based deployment (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with log aggregation tools (ELK stack, Splunk).
• Experience with security frameworks (FISMA, NIST, FIPS).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Openstack), CI/CD, and Agile methodologies.
• Experience leading DevOps initiatives and process improvement.
• Experience with deploying, maintaining, and monitoring AI/ML models and infrastructure.

Preferred Competencies

• Ability to collaborate with team members and help define guidelines and best practices and ensuring accountability for deliverables and outcomes.
• Ability to take and provide constructive and helpful input and feedback on technical issues.
• Ability to negotiate complex decisions, present options and persuasively advocate for optimal technical solutions, internally and externally.
• In-depth knowledge in most technical areas of major projects and the core DevOps technology scope.
• Considered a Subject Matter Expert of most DevOps technology and solutions.
• Ability to take multiple complex tasks and break them into smaller ones, estimating the effort needed to complete them, prioritizing them appropriately, and ensuring the completion of each task, meeting the required level of quality.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team and ensure accountability for deliverables and outcomes.
• Ability to prioritize and manage workload to meet project milestones and deadlines.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
• Cover Letter (preferred)

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Range

$100,000.00 - $140,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University’s Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case‑by‑case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago’s Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.