Senior Architect - Secure Research Infrastructure, Technology Solutions

Hiring Department: Technology Solutions

Location: Chicago, IL USA

Requisition ID: 1040838

FTE: 1

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday / 8:30AM - 5:00PM

Shift: Days

# of Positions: 1

Workplace Type: Hybrid

Posting Close Date: July 2, 2026

Salary Range (commensurate with experience): $90,000.00 - 120,000.00 / Annual Salary

About the University of Illinois Chicago

UIC is among the nation’s preeminent urban public research universities, a Carnegie RU/VH research institution, and the largest university in Chicago. UIC serves over 34,000 students, comprising one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation and is designated as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPSI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Through its 16 colleges, UIC produces nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary academic programs in concert with civic, corporate and community partners worldwide, including a full complement of health sciences colleges. By emphasizing cutting-edge and transformational research along with a commitment to the success of all students, UIC embodies the dynamic, vibrant and engaged urban university. Recent “Best Colleges” rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, found UIC climbed up in its rankings among top public schools in the nation and among all national universities. UIC has nearly 260,000 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in the city of Chicago.

This position is intended to be eligible for benefits. This includes Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, a Retirement Plan, Paid time Off, and Tuition waivers for employees and dependents.

UIC is looking for a Senior Architect for Secure Research Infrastructure who will design,
build, and manage the next generation of computing environments tailored for
AI/ML workloads. This role sits at the critical intersection of raw
computational power and data governance. You will be responsible for automating
the deployment of secure enclaves that protect sensitive data (PHI/CUI) while
providing researchers with the GPU-accelerated performance needed for
cutting-edge innovation.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Architect AI/HPC Infrastructure: Design and scale GPU clusters and high-speed
interconnects to support large-scale model training and inference.
Engineered Secure Enclaves: Build isolated walled-garden
environments using hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments or
micro-segmentation to process sensitive datasets.
Compliance Engineering: Translate requirements from
compliance standards such as NIST, SPRS, HIPAA, and CMMC into technical
controls. You will build the technical infrastructure that serves as the source
of truth for audits.
DevSecOps & Automation: Lead the Infrastructure as Code
strategy using such as Terraform or Ansible to ensure that security patches and
configuration changes are audited, versioned, and immutable.
High-Performance Storage: Manage petabyte-scale, parallel
file systems (e.g., Lustre, VAST, GPFS) with integrated encryption-at-rest and
strict POSIX/ACL access controls.
Perform other related duties and participate in special
projects as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications Required:

Bachelor Degree within Computer Science or closely related
field of study.
Minimum of 10 years of professional level IT experience
within Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Research Computing including the design and
implementation of advanced high performance computing systems; data
(acquisition, storage, management and reporting); and networks in support of
research initiatives.
Demonstrated record of building systems with System Security
Plans that successfully passed audits for compliance standards such as HIPAA,
NIST 800-53/171, or CMMC level 2.
Demonstrated knowledge of Slurm/Kubernetes
orchestration and InfiniBand/NVLink/RoCE network topology.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience working with security, scanning, and auditing
platforms such as Splunk,
Experience with encrypting data at rest and in motion at
hybrid and federated systems
7+ years in Systems Engineering, with 3+ years specifically
in designing secure enclaves and HPC or AI infrastructure.
Experience working with IAM systems such as SailPoint,
InCommon, and CILogon
Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a
related field.
Experience with Secure Enclaves, identity management
(Entra/AD), and Zero Trust Architecture.
Proficiency in Python, bash, CI/CD pipelines (GitLab/GitHub
Actions), and Linux kernel hardening.

To Apply: For fullest consideration click on the Apply Now button, please fully complete all sections of the online
application including adding your full work history with specific details of your duties & responsibilities for each position held. Fully complete the education, licensure, certification and language sections. You may upload a resume, cover letter, certifications, licensures, transcripts and diplomas within the application.

Please note that once you have submitted your application you will not be able to make any changes. In order to revise your application you must withdraw and reapply. You will not be able to reapply after the posting close date. Please ensure the application is fully completed and all supporting documents have been uploaded before the posting close date.

Illinois Residency is required within 180 days of employment.

The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.

The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees. Request an Accommodation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position, however, all employment decisions will be made by a person.