What are the responsibilities and job description for the Systems Engineer position at Vanderbilt University?
Position Summary:
The Systems Engineer is the hands-on individual responsible for the design, security, and dayto- day operation of the Wicked Problems Lab's research computing environment — spanning AWS cloud, on-premises GPU/AI compute, databases, and systems security. This is a practitioner role for someone who provisions infrastructure, configures and hardens systems, and unblocks researchers directly, with a high degree of autonomy in a fastmoving national security research setting.
About the Work Unit:
The Wicked Problems Lab applies advanced computing, AI, and data science to highconsequence national security problems, with partnerships across the Five Eyes and Indo- Pacific communities. The environment is small, technically sophisticated, and fast-paced, and its systems must be secure, dependable, and built to handle sensitive research data.
Key Functions and Expected Performance:
- Cloud & on-prem infrastructure: Design, architect, and operate the Lab's hybrid environment — AWS (EC2, VPC, S3, IAM) under least-privilege and on-premises GPU/AI compute systems; scale storage and GPU capacity to meet workload demand; engineer for resilience through monitoring, backup, and disaster recovery; own workload placement across cloud and local systems for cost, performance, and data sensitivity.
- Systems configuration & administration: Administer Linux servers end to end; manageconfiguration as code (Terraform, Ansible, scripting) for reproducible, documentedenvironments; own SSH/key lifecycle and access across a distributed fleet.
- Data & database management: Stand up, secure, tune, and back up research databases (PostgreSQL, NoSQL, and comparable relational/vector stores); build and maintain reliable ETL and datatransfer/movement pipelines with attention to integrity, throughput, and reproducibility.
- Security & compliance: Harden systems against sophisticated threats — patch/vulnerability management, segmentation, secrets management, and endpoint detection and response; enforce access control and data-handling appropriate to sensitive research; comply with University and partner security requirements.
- Research enablement: Serve as first point of contact for researchers' systems needs and AI/developer tooling; advocate for Vanderbilt's core values; stay current with cloud, GPU/AI, and security technologies; other duties as needed.
- Networking & traffic analysis: Configure and troubleshoot network infrastructure (routers, switches, VPN, segmentation); capture and analyze network traffic at the packet level; deploy and tune intrusion detection/prevention systems to monitor for and investigate anomalous activity.
Supervisory Relationships:
This position has no supervisory responsibility and reports administratively and functionally to the Director of the Wicked Problems Lab.
Education and Certifications
- Bachelor's in Computer Science/Engineering or related field is necessary; equivalent experience may substitute. Relevant AWS/Linux/security certifications preferred.
Experience and Skills:
- 4 years hands-on systems/infrastructure administration is necessary, with demonstrated command of AWS and strong Linux administration.
- Experience operating GPU compute for AI/ML (CUDA stack, model serving/fine-tuning) is necessary; experience with enterprise-class NVIDIA GPU systems preferred.
- Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Ansible), scripting (Bash/Python), database administration (PostgreSQL, NoSQL, or comparable), ETL/data-movement pipelines, and working systems/network security knowledge are necessary.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain/maintain a U.S. security clearance are preferred.