DevOps Data Platform Developer

Job no: 534814
Work type: Administrative & Professional
Senior management: Vice President for Research
Department: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Categories: Information Systems / Technology, Research / Scientific, Transportation

The successful candidate will work as a member of the IT Development Team to deploy and maintain infrastructure and data platforms for use by research projects. They will be expected to apply a cross‑functional skillset to design, develop, and manage a variety of systems in production environments. Candidate will use Dev Ops best practices to ensure that systems can be created and maintained efficiently, continuously improved, and can incorporate changes quickly.

Applicant must be able to work independently and as part of a team to engineer on‑premise and cloud infrastructure and data platforms built around Kubernetes and its ecosystem of technologies. The successful candidate will be able to engage with developers and researchers at VTTI and external clients to understand requirements and architect and implement solutions. Documenting systems and cross‑training colleagues at VTTI to ensure that information is effectively shared will be a requirement.

Our team builds and operates large‑scale systems that power data‑driven transportation research and smart city innovation. As part of this work, we maintain the Smart Cities Data Exchange, a secure, cloud‑native platform for sharing transportation and environmental data across jurisdictions. You’ll work on Dev Ops and infrastructure automation supporting Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Automated Driving System (ADS) research, helping ensure the reliability, scalability, and observability of mission‑critical services that enable safer and smarter mobility.

Performance at this level requires significant experience in a professional position or equivalent graduate level education.

• Independently performs most assignments with instructions on global objectives and general results expected.
• May supervise/mentor/provide training and coordinate the work of graduate research assistants, technicians, and others who assist in specific assignments.

• M.S. degree in Computer Science or engineering comparable with exception for a lesser degree with significant related professional experience
• Proficient in Kubernetes and related technologies with multiple years of experience
• Experience with Kafka and related streaming data technologies
• Experience with basic Linux system administration
• Experience with authentication and authorization, particularly OAuth2 and OIDC
• Experience working with product owners to develop requirements
• Familiarity with relational database technologies and SQL
• Familiarity with data lake architecture

• Experience with Apache Ni Fi
• Experience with Apache Trino
• Experience with Apache Iceberg
• Experience using Git Lab and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with end‑to‑end testing
• Experience with Ceph
• Experience with Grafana’s monitoring stack
• Experience with Keycloak
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code
• Experience with GPU clustering technologies and frameworks
• Familiarity with networking in an on‑prem environment

Exempt:
Not eligible for overtime
Appointment Type:
Restricted

Starting rate of $75,000; commensurate with experience

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, ethnicity or national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status, or otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation of other employees or applicants, or on any other basis protected by law.

For individuals with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Natalie Jett …