HPC Engineer

We are seeking an HPC Engineer to join a Scientific Computing team supporting high-performance computing (HPC) and scientific research at NIAID. This role focuses on administration and support of HPC systems, scientific software, and user-facing services, with particular emphasis on installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting software and module environments used by scientific researchers.

Biomedical research activities for a major federal health agency depend on the technologies and services you’ll support in your role here at GDIT. Here, you’ll be empowered to turn obstacles into action. Join us on the frontlines of scientific computing services and make an impact on the health of our nation.

This position is located in Rockville, MD and requires 2-3 days a week onsite

Responsibilities:

• Administer, maintain, and troubleshoot Linux-based HPC infrastructure, including compute nodes, login nodes, storage systems, InfiniBand networking, and supporting services.
• Support the deployment, configuration, monitoring, and lifecycle management of HPC hardware, operating systems, and core infrastructure components.
• Assist with datacenter activities including hardware configuration, cabling, component replacement, and system validation during deployments and upgrades.
• Monitor system health, investigate performance issues, and help ensure the reliability, availability, and security of shared HPC resources.
• Support job scheduler operations, resource management, and troubleshooting of compute, storage, and networking issues affecting HPC users.
• Collaborate with engineering team members to plan, test, and implement infrastructure upgrades, maintenance activities, and new HPC technologies.
• Assist with the installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of scientific software, compilers, libraries, and module environments to support research workloads.
• Develop and maintain operational documentation, automation scripts, and standard procedures that improve the efficiency and reliability of HPC operations.
• Work closely with scientific support staff to resolve infrastructure-related issues impacting scientific workflows and user productivity.

Required Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, scientific computing, bioinformatics, or a related field and at least 5 years of related experience.
• Experience supporting Linux systems in HPC, research computing, or similar technical environments
• Familiarity with datacenter best practices, server hardware, and basic networking components is preferred. Experience with hardware installation and maintenance in HPC or enterprise environments is a plus.
• Experience installing and supporting scientific applications, compilers, libraries, and module systems
• Working knowledge of job schedulers such as Slurm and shared compute environments
• Experience troubleshooting user issues across software, environment, and workflow layers
• Strong scripting skills in Bash, Python, or similar
• Familiarity with software build and package management tools such as Spack, EasyBuild etc
• Exposure to containers such as Apptainer/Singularity
• Experience supporting scientific workflows in bioinformatics, computational biology, chemistry, physics, or related domains
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to manage multiple priorities