Platform Engineer, AI/ML Infrastructure
About this role
Engineers who thrive on solving architectural challenges in restricted or disconnected environments will find a natural home at OpenTeams. Founded by open-source leaders, the team constructs AI platforms that enterprises and governments own outright, covering everything from the underlying infrastructure to model serving and audit logging.
In this role, the platform engineer will build and run Kubernetes-based systems that schedule GPU workloads, manage multi-tenant isolation, and execute workflow orchestration. Because much of the software must operate where normal cloud resources or internet connections are absent, portability and reproducibility take center stage from the first commit. Candidates who enjoy working upstream on open-source projects like Nebari and taking ownership of distributed systems resilience will find deep alignment here.
The position exists to deliver reliable AI infrastructure that holds up under strict regulatory and connectivity constraints. A successful engineer brings strong background in distributed systems, a collaborative asynchronous mindset, and readiness to navigate security clearance requirements for deployment in sensitive environments.
What you will do
- Build and operate Kubernetes-based infrastructure to handle demanding AI and machine learning workloads, focusing on GPU scheduling and resource management.
- Design and implement platform services for orchestration, data ingest, model serving, and results management behind documented APIs.
- Write infrastructure as code and construct GitOps pipelines to ensure all environments remain reproducible from source.
- Own system reliability by handling capacity planning, failure-mode analysis, backup and recovery, and incident response.
- Implement comprehensive monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting while defining corresponding service level objectives.
- Deploy and validate the platform in restricted, disconnected, or limited-connectivity settings and verify release parity.
- Contribute upstream to Nebari and other open-source infrastructure, Kubernetes, and MLOps projects.
- Collaborate across a distributed team and work alongside security engineers and government stakeholders to turn requirements into resilient systems.
What you need
- U.S. citizenship, along with the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.
- Four or more years of hands-on experience building or operating production infrastructure, platforms, or distributed systems.
- Production-level experience managing Kubernetes and containerized workloads.
- Practical background with at least one major cloud platform such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Familiarity with infrastructure as code and CI/CD tools like Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, or Helm.
- Working proficiency in Python, Go, Bash, or a comparable programming language.
- Demonstrated experience implementing or operating production monitoring and observability.
- Ability to write clear documentation, runbooks, and deployment procedures for independent execution.
Nice to have
- An active U.S. security clearance, particularly TS/SCI with CI polygraph
- Experience deploying or operating software in air-gapped, disconnected, or restricted environments
- Familiarity with the Risk Management Framework, NIST 800-53 or 800-171, or similar frameworks
- Experience with GPU scheduling, distributed inference, or large-scale data and evaluation pipelines
- Contributions to open-source Kubernetes, infrastructure, MLOps, or observability projects
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What are the remote work options for this role?
Candidates can choose between two openings: a U.S.-remote position where you can work from anywhere in the United States, or a hybrid position based in Washington, DC, Denver, CO, or Colorado Springs, CO. The hybrid opening requires up to 15% travel.
What is the salary range for this position?
The salary range is $120,000 to $250,000 USD, which is dependent on your experience level and location.
What are the security clearance requirements?
U.S. citizenship is required for all candidates. The remote opening does not require an active clearance initially, but candidates must be willing to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance, while the hybrid opening prefers an active TS/SCI clearance.
What tools and technologies make up the tech stack?
The platform utilizes Kubernetes, Terraform, OpenTofu, Argo, Prometheus, Nebari, and major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, alongside languages such as Python, Go, and Bash.