Early-Career Platform Engineer - Cloud Engineering, DevOps, Systems Architecture

About the Hiring Group

RTI International's Platform Team serves as a strategic technology enablement group that helps RTI business units deliver secure, scalable, and cost-effective digital solutions. We provide reusable platform patterns through modern cloud & data engineering and operational support services for research computing, analytics, application development, and data-intensive work streams.

The Platform Team is currently expanding the shared environments, services, and operational capabilities it develops, operates, and maintains in support of RTI projects and strategic initiatives. These capabilities support a broad range of cloud, application, analytics, and research computing needs, including research computing and analytics environments, Kubernetes-based application and platform services, secure data enclave and lakehouse architectures, CI/CD, GitOps, and Infrastructure-as-Code automation, cloud cost modeling, observability, and platform operations, and integrated tools such as JupyterHub, RStudio/Posit, Airflow, REDCap, Stata, Databricks, and custom web applications.

We have an immediate opportunity for an Early-Career Platform Engineer to join our growing platform team. The successful candidate will work with multidisciplinary teams including platform engineers, software developers, data engineers, security and infrastructure teams, project leaders, and non-technical stakeholders to support, operate, maintain, and enhance existing platform capabilities as well as contribute to the development of new services that support RTI projects and initiatives.

This position is based at RTI International's headquarters in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, with the potential for a hybrid work arrangement.

What You'll Do

The Platform Engineer assists with designs, implements, automates, and supports enterprise platform services that enable scalable, secure, and compliant delivery of research, analytics, and business applications. Supports development and maintenance of cloud-native infrastructure, Kubernetes platforms, CI/CD pipelines, observability solutions, and platform automation capabilities supporting other strategic technology initiatives. Collaborates with application development teams, researchers, security teams, and infrastructure teams to improve platform reliability, operational efficiency, and service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Supports design, implementation, and operationalization of multi-tenant cloud-native platform services across AWS and Azure.
• Develops and modifies Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using OpenTofu, Terraform, or similar technologies with guidance.
• Utilizes platform security controls, secrets management, identity integration, and policy enforcement capabilities.
• Assists with platform performance, availability, scalability, resiliency, and cost optimization identification and implementation.
• Follows and assists with writing platform engineering standards, reference architectures, operational procedures, and technical documentation.
• Participates with security operations, governance, and application teams to collaborate on platforms infrastructure and security requirements.
• Uses continuous learning and on-hands training to develop skills and experience to perform job duties.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• Experience working with open-source frameworks, tools, and applications.
• Foundational knowledge of Kubernetes and container orchestration, gained through education or hands-on experience.
• Proficiency in managing software packages and dependencies.
• Working knowledge of cloud-based storage solutions, such as Amazon S3, EFS, and/or RDS.
• Understanding of Agile development methodologies, DevSecOps practices, and the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate challenges and identify practical solutions.
• Ability to understand and navigate complex technical systems and their interdependencies.
• Ability to support troubleshooting and issue resolution across infrastructure, platform, networking, and application layers.
• Collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize responsibilities and manage competing demands in a dynamic environment.
• Detail-oriented approach, commitment to quality and accuracy, and a willingness to continuously learn and develop new technical skills.
• To qualify, applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B visa status, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with cloud-native development and deployment practices, including GitOps, CI/CD pipelines, multi-environment deployments, and GitHub Actions or equivalent workflow automation tools.
• Foundational understanding of Layer 4 and Layer 7 cloud networking concepts, including how they support application connectivity and traffic management.
• Familiarity with authentication, authorization, and identity and access management systems, such as Microsoft Entra ID, Amazon Cognito, or Keycloak.