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On Call Systems Engineer Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Senior HPC Systems Engineer

Chicago, IL ยท On-site +1

$107K - $147K/yr

... on call rotation. Requirements * 10 or more years operating production Linux systems across more ... * DevOps experience with infrastructure as code frameworks such as Ansible or Terraform.

S. Bank is seeking a z/OS Systems Programmer that has extensive experience in mainframe ... Provide 24x7 production support and on-call coverage as part of a rotating support model. Basic ...

Senior Edge Systems Engineer (CHI)

Chicago, IL ยท Remote

$107K - $146K/yr

We need a Senior Edge Systems Engineer to own the architecture of our kiosks, edge compute systems ... Participate in an on-call rotation. What You Can Expect: * Real ownership over the edge systems ...

The Cloud and Systems Engineer is a hands-on technical role responsible for designing, implementing ... Provide on-call or after-hours support as required. * Ensure consistent, reliable in-person ...

Field Systems Engineer Portage, Indiana We are a process automation solutions provider. We design ... Monday - Friday * On-Call * Other Experience Level: 4 years Requirements: * Engineering degree or ...

Mainframe CICS Systems Engineer

Chicago, IL ยท On-site

$50.50 - $65/hr

The Mainframe CICS Systems Programmer/Engineer is responsible for all phases of CICS engineering ... On-call support and maintenance outside of normal working hours are needed to support the CICS ...

New

CCSI Systems Senior Engineer

Chicago, IL ยท On-site

$107K - $147K/yr

The CCSI Systems Senior Engineer is a full-time role located in Southfield, MI, Chicago, IL, Dallas ... on-call or 24x7 support models. * Highly organized with excellent organizational skills with ...

Showing results 21-40

On Call Systems Engineer information

See Chicago, IL salary details

$55.1K

$131.1K

$172K

How much do on call systems engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 2, 2026, the average yearly pay for on call systems engineer in Chicago, IL is $131,050.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $101,000.00 and $161,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is an on call systems engineer?

On Call Systems Engineers are IT professionals responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting computer systems and networks outside regular business hours. They are typically available during nights, weekends, or holidays to respond to urgent technical issues, system outages, or security incidents. Their main goal is to ensure system reliability and minimize downtime by quickly addressing and resolving problems as they arise. On Call Systems Engineers often work as part of a rotating team and must be skilled in problem-solving, communication, and various technical domains.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an on call systems engineer?

To thrive as an On Call Systems Engineer, you need a solid background in computer science or IT, expertise in troubleshooting, and experience with system administration. Familiarity with monitoring tools, incident management platforms, and certifications like CompTIA Network+ or Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate are commonly required. Strong problem-solving abilities, effective communication, and the capacity to remain calm under pressure are crucial soft skills. These competencies ensure rapid resolution of critical issues and reliable system uptime, minimizing business disruptions.

What are some common challenges faced by on call systems engineers, and how can they be managed effectively?

On Call Systems Engineers often deal with unpredictable schedules and the pressure of resolving critical issues quickly, sometimes outside regular business hours. Managing these challenges involves strong time management, clear communication with team members, and thorough documentation to ensure smooth handovers. Many organizations provide tools and protocols to help engineers triage and prioritize incidents, and regular post-incident reviews can support continuous improvement. Building a supportive team culture and setting clear boundaries during off-call hours are also key to maintaining work-life balance.

Are on call systems engineers in high demand?

On call systems engineers are in high demand due to the need for 24/7 system reliability in industries like IT, telecommunications, and data centers. Employers seek candidates with strong troubleshooting skills, knowledge of networking, and experience with monitoring tools, often requiring certifications such as CompTIA or Cisco. The role's demand is expected to grow as technology reliance increases across sectors.

What are the most commonly searched types of Systems Engineer jobs in Chicago, IL?

The most popular types of Systems Engineer jobs in Chicago, IL are:

Infographic showing various On Call Systems Engineer job openings in Chicago, IL as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 81% Full Time, 14% Part Time, 4% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 86% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 12% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $131,050 per year, or $63 per hour.

Senior HPC Systems Engineer

Parallel Works

Chicago, IL โ€ข On-site, Remote

$107K - $147K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted 2 days ago


Job description

About Parallel Works
Parallel Works builds and operates ACTIVATE, a control plane for high performance computing and AI. Our customers run large scientific and AI workloads across their own on-premises clusters, Government and commercial cloud, and commercial GPU providers, and ACTIVATE gives them one way in to all of it. The high security boundary is authorized at Impact Level 5, with FIPS validated cryptography and STIG hardening throughout.
The work reaches most fields that depend on computing at scale: weather and climate forecasting, defense and intelligence programs, aerospace and structural analysis, molecular and materials science, energy, and AI research. A quarter here can include standing up a GPU cluster for one of those communities, federating a laboratory's existing on-premises system with burst capacity it did not have before, and getting a domain code written decades ago to run on current hardware.
Customer success sets our priorities. We are a small engineering company, so engineers here work directly with the people using the systems and carry a problem from the first report through to the fix. This is what we call mission engineering: understanding what a customer is trying to accomplish and why the computing matters to it.
About the role
Parallel Works is hiring a Senior HPC Systems Engineer to build and run the clusters behind our defense and research programs. The work covers GPU node bring-up, Slurm configuration, fabric and storage troubleshooting, security hardening, and Tier 3 escalation.
The computing environments are hybrid. Some clusters are customer owned hardware on site, some run in accredited Government cloud regions, and some are dedicated GPU clusters at commercial providers. On several programs the on-premises systems carry the primary load and cloud takes the overflow. The position is senior: it handles the escalations the rest of the team cannot resolve, and it trains the junior engineers.
What you will do
  • Cluster operations: build and operate production Slurm clusters. slurmctld and slurmdbd, partitions and QOS, accounts and fair share, GPU GRES, prolog and epilog, cgroup enforcement.
  • Hybrid federation: connect customer owned clusters to the control plane, reconciling their site scheduler, storage, and identity source so accounts and allocations behave the same in every venue.
  • On-premises hardware: bare metal provisioning, out of band management, firmware, rack networking, and fault coordination with site staff or vendors.
  • GPU and fabric: validate GPU nodes before users arrive. Driver and CUDA stack, DCGM health checks, XID triage, fabric manager and NVLink checks, InfiniBand verification, NCCL tuning.
  • Storage and automation: tune parallel and high throughput storage, and write the Ansible, Terraform, and image build pipelines that make a cluster reproducible.
  • Security and escalation: STIG hardening, scan remediation, FIPS validated cryptography, security package artifacts, Tier 3 escalations, and a share of the on call rotation.

Requirements
  • 10 or more years operating production Linux systems across more than one distribution family. RHEL, Rocky, or Alma on the Government side and Debian or Ubuntu on the commercial GPU side, since those clusters usually ship Ubuntu. Kernel and network tuning, systemd, cgroups, NUMA.
  • Production Slurm administration. You have configured, debugged, and upgraded a scheduler other people depended on.
  • At least one parallel or high throughput filesystem in production, plus InfiniBand or RoCE fabric operations.
  • NVIDIA GPU node operations at multi-node scale, including driver stack management and fault triage.
  • Experience on customer owned or on-premises clusters as well as public cloud, including bare metal provisioning and out of band management.
  • DevOps experience with infrastructure as code frameworks such as Ansible or Terraform.
  • Proficiency with common scripting languages such as Bash and Python.
  • United States citizenship and eligibility for a Secret clearance, since the work reaches export controlled Government environments. An active clearance is helpful but not required. We sponsor candidates who are eligible but not currently cleared.

You do not need every item on this list. If you have most of it and work well with other people, apply.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Time at a Government supercomputing center, national laboratory, or university research computing center.
  • Work with STIG, SCAP, Tenable, eMASS, or RMF, or time inside FedRAMP or Impact Level boundaries.
  • Running GPU workloads on Kubernetes or OpenShift with Helm and operators, and using HPC containers such as Apptainer, Enroot, or Pyxis.
  • Running PBS Pro, Slurm, and monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana, including utilization and chargeback reporting.

Benefits
Medical, vision, and dental coverage, a 401(k) with company match, short term disability, and generous paid vacation and sick time.
Equal employment opportunity
Parallel Works is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.