Freelance Critical Infrastructure Engineer Jobs in Reston, VA

Location: Hybrid - Ashburn

Compensation: $125K - $150K

Join a lean, technical team building the critical infrastructure that delivers massive amounts of web data to companies training the world's most powerful AI models. The client operates a vast distributed crawler, granting unique access to high-quality public web data at a global scale. Their work involves building advanced pipelines for ingesting, segmenting, and annotating billions of videos, transcripts, and audio files, directly powering dataset creation for frontier AI labs.

The client is looking for a talented Network Infrastructure Engineer with significant experience in infrastructure and network architecture design. You will be responsible for building and maintaining the robust physical and cloud infrastructure that powers their AI-driven platform. Your work will directly impact the efficiency, security, and performance of our systems at massive scale.

This role requires deep expertise across network architecture, physical deployment, cloud services, and automation (Infrastructure as Code).

• Infrastructure Design and Implementation: Oversee the design, configuration, and deployment of networks, servers, network switches, firewalls, and applications. This includes deploying physical infrastructure at our data center.
• System Configuration & Virtualization: Oversee the configuration of servers with virtualization and troubleshoot complex application issues across the stack.
• Scalability & Security: Ensure all infrastructure solutions meet stringent business needs for high scalability and industry-leading security standards.
• Network Management: Ensure correct configuration of all network components, including routers, switches, firewalls, and VPNs.
• Maintenance and Support: Ensure regular maintenance of servers, networks, and other infrastructure components to guarantee maximum uptime and reliability.
• Performance Monitoring: Monitor system performance and proactively implement solutions to enhance reliability, security, and scalability.
• DevOps Integration: Collaborate closely with engineering teams to integrate DevOps best practices into the development and deployment lifecycle, promoting automation.

Requirements

• Networking Expertise: Proven experience designing networks and maintaining physical infrastructure. Deep understanding of routers/switches and establishing reliable connectivity between servers.
• Automation (IaC): Strong proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or similar.
• Cloud Experience: Experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including networking, security, and automation capabilities.
• Containerization: Proficiency in containerization technologies (e.g., Docker) and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
• Monitoring & Logging: Solid understanding of monitoring and logging tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or ELK stack.
• Problem-Solving: Strong problem-solving skills with a clear focus on performance optimization and automation to achieve high output.
• Work Style: A builder mentality: low ego, high output, and comfortable in a fast-moving, lean team environment.

Benefits

The client recognizes the critical nature of this role and offer a highly competitive total compensation package:

• Compensation: Competitive Base Salary ($125K - $150K)
• Incentives: Performance-based Tokens (as part of an equity package)
• Benefits: Comprehensive competitive benefits package (details provided upon offer).
• Flexibility: Ability to work remotely.

Due to the high volume of applications we anticipate, we regret that we are unable to provide individual feedback to all candidates. If you do not hear back from us within 4 weeks of your application, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion. We genuinely appreciate your interest and wish you the best in your job search.

Commitment to Equality and Accessibility:

At MLabs, we are committed to offer equal opportunities to all candidates. We ensure no discrimination, accessible job adverts, and providing information in accessible formats. Our goal is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace with equal opportunities for all. If you need any reasonable adjustments during any part of the hiring process or you would like to see the job-advert in an accessible format please let us know at the earliest opportunity by emailing human-resources@mlabs.city.

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