What We Do
At the SEI Artificial Intelligence Division, we conduct research in applied artificial intelligence and the engineering questions related to the practical design and implementation of AI technologies and systems. We currently lead a community-wide movement to mature the discipline of AI Engineering for Defense and National Security.
As our government customers adopt AI and machine learning to provide leap-ahead mission capabilities, we
- build real-world, mission-scale AI capabilities through solving practical engineering problems
- discover and define the processes, practices, and tools to support operationalizing AI for robust, secure, scalable, and human-centered mission capabilities
- prepare our customers to be ready for the unique challenges of adopting, deploying, using, and maintaining AI capabilities
- identify and investigate emerging AI and AI-adjacent technologies that are rapidly transforming the technology landscape
Are you creative, curious, energetic, collaborative, technology-focused, and hard-working? Are you interested in making a difference by bringing innovation to government organizations and beyond? Apply to join our team.
Position Summary
As an Associate Infrastructure Engineer on our team, you will maintain and develop a research-oriented lab environment, manage cloud environments, administer the systems to maintain these environments, and embed with researchers to ensure their needs are being met.
As a member of the AI Division team, you will work on leading edge technologies and apply them to important and challenging problems. The work environment is dynamic and flexible, with constant opportunities to develop new skills, learn about new software frameworks and techniques, work on emerging architectures and systems, and make a difference.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology field or a related field of study, with 3 years of applicable experience; or a Master's degree in Information Technology or related field, with 1 year of applicable experience.
- You must be willing to work onsite 5 days per week at our Pittsburgh facility.
- Experience tuning and measuring high performance systems - high-throughput networking, large disk arrays, etc.
- Strong Linux System Administration Experience - RHEL preferred.
- Familiarity with lights out management.
- Experience scripting and automating systems.
- Experience documenting issues and solutions and evaluating enterprise systems.
- Experience working with one or more host management tools (Puppet, Chef, Ansible, etc.).
- Experience with virtualization and containers (Docker, VMWare).
- Experience maintaining and evolving an enterprise or research-oriented computer network.
- Hands on experience with switches, firewalls routers, network storage, and virtualized environments.
- Experience supporting cloud compute environments is preferred.
- Experience as a network/system administrator for a networked Linux infrastructure in a professional environment is preferred.
- Experience with high-performance computing technologies is a plus.
- Experience developing policies and best practices is a plus.
- Experience with security auditing is a plus.
- Experience with DFARS compliance is a plus.
Duties
- Subject Matter Expertise: As an associate infrastructure engineer, you will support the AI Division’s mission by serving as a subject matter expert on developing, evaluating, and maintaining high-performance IT systems that support our efforts to transition and operationalize research concepts of significant value to the US Government.
- Design, Building, and Maintenance of IT Systems: You will take a hands-on role on teams of software developers, machine learning (ML) researchers, and ML engineers to design, build, and maintain enterprise IT systems. This infrastructure supports delivering capabilities to the US Government building on state-of-the-art research in analytics, data architectures, machine learning, security, and human information interaction. You will collaborate daily with the team to understand, plan, and implement infrastructure practices and changes. You will manage and evolve the heterogeneous high-performance computing cluster. You will deploy distributed computing frameworks. You will contribute technical knowledge and experience to projects that focus on big data, data-intensive scalable computing, and high-performance computing. You will define, implement, and communicate best practices and standards for staff that access AI Division hardware, and you will serve as the primary technical liaison to corporate IT.
- Issue Triage: You will be on the front lines of issues which impact the day-to-day operations of research in the AI space.
- Security Audits: You will collaborate with corporate IT annually to maintain security compliance.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Technical Expertise: You can deal with software and network systems integration at various levels. You have a working knowledge of distributed file systems and clustered frameworks and a deep understanding of networking and hardware support. You have strong hands-on knowledge in the configuration, securing, and troubleshooting of network devices, LAN switching technologies, firewalls, VPNs, routing protocols, Linux/UNIX based network services, network storage and monitoring/maintaining all of these to ensure their continued secure operation is required. You can write scripts in multiple interpreted languages (bash, Python, Perl, Ruby, Go). You can build software from source and create packages.
- Communication and Collaboration: You are an exceptional communicator and can interact collaboratively and diplomatically with immediate team members as well as corporate IT.
- Continuous Learning: You seek out and participate in continuous education, whether formal or informal to ensure leveraging best of breed technologies to meet research objectives.
- Dedication and Motivation: You can meet deadlines while multi-tasking–sometimes under pressure and with shifting priorities. You are self-motivated and can work toward a common vision with little oversight. You can track multiple projects with different requirements in a shared resource environment.
Other Requirements:
- Flexible to travel to various locations within the SEI and CMU community, sponsor sites, conferences, and offsite meetings on occasion. Travel outside of Pittsburgh limited to no more than 5 working days a month.
- You will be subject to a background investigation and must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance.
Joining the CMU team opens the door to an array of exceptional benefits.
Benefits eligible employees enjoy a wide array of benefits including comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance as well as a generous retirement savings program with employer contributions. Unlock your potential with tuition benefits, take well-deserved breaks with ample paid time off and observed holidays, and rest easy with life and accidental death and disability insurance.
Additional perks include a free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass, access to our Family Concierge Team to help navigate childcare needs, fitness center access, and much more!
For a comprehensive overview of the benefits available, explore our Benefits page.
At Carnegie Mellon, we value the whole package when extending offers of employment. Beyond credentials, we evaluate the role and responsibilities, your valuable work experience, and the knowledge gained through education and training. We appreciate your unique skills and the perspective you bring. Your journey with us is about more than just a job; it’s about finding the perfect fit for your professional growth and personal aspirations.
Are you interested in an exciting opportunity with an exceptional organization?! Apply today!
Location
Pittsburgh, PAJob Function
Software/Applications Development/EngineeringPosition Type
Staff – RegularFull Time/Part time
Full timePay Basis
SalaryMore Information:
Please visit “Why Carnegie Mellon” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world.
Click here to view a listing of employee benefits
Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran.
Statement of Assurance
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree with 3 years applicable experience or Master's with 1 year
- Willingness to work onsite 5 days per week in Pittsburgh
- Eligible to obtain and maintain Department of War security clearance (background investigation)
- Experience tuning and measuring high-performance systems (high-throughput networking, large disk arrays)
- Strong Linux system administration experience (RHEL preferred)
- Familiarity with lights out management
- Experience scripting and automating systems (bash, Python, Perl, Ruby, Go)
- Experience documenting issues and solutions and evaluating enterprise systems
- Experience with host management tools (Puppet, Chef, Ansible)
- Experience with virtualization and containers (Docker, VMWare)
- Experience maintaining and evolving enterprise or research-oriented computer networks
- Hands-on experience with switches, firewalls, routers, network storage, and virtualized environments
- Working knowledge of distributed file systems and clustered frameworks; experience with distributed computing frameworks and HPC
- Ability to build software from source and create packages
- Flexible to travel to SEI/CMU sites, sponsors, conferences; travel outside Pittsburgh limited to no more than 5 working days per month
- Experience supporting cloud compute environments
- Experience as a network/system administrator for a networked Linux infrastructure in a professional environment
- Experience with high-performance computing technologies
- Experience developing policies and best practices
- Experience with security auditing
- Experience with DFARS compliance
Carnegie Mellon University Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Carnegie Mellon University and has not been reviewed or approved by Carnegie Mellon University.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support is positioned as a standout, with automatic employer contributions to a TIAA-administered plan at 8% of base salary (and 9.78% for 9‑month academic appointments), plus optional employee deferrals. Vesting after three years is clearly specified, which helps set expectations for long-term value.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental and family support is strengthened by 100% paid parental leave for six weeks and 100% paid maternity leave for 6–8 weeks (delivery-type dependent), effective July 1, 2024. Childcare support is also referenced through a Cyert Center subsidy up to $5,000 per family, alongside no-cost EAP access.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing and lifestyle benefits include free Pittsburgh Regional Transit access and access to fitness classes and facilities, adding recurring non-cash value to the overall package. Pittsburgh’s relatively affordable cost of living can further increase the perceived adequacy of a given salary compared with higher-cost coastal hubs.
Carnegie Mellon University Insights
What We Do
Carnegie Mellon University founder Andrew Carnegie said: "My heart is in the work." No statement better captures the passion and drive of our people to make a real difference. At Carnegie Mellon, we're not afraid of the work. Our educational environment creates problem solvers, drivers of innovation and pioneers in technology and the arts. Employers in every field say our graduates are ready to hit the ground running the day they graduate. So, join us. Whether you're looking for a career or an education. Or both.





