Application Engineer (SRE, DevOps), Aladdin Engineering, Vice President

About this role

About the Role

BlackRock is one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions, powered by Aladdin, our integrated investment and risk management technology platform. Aladdin unifies data, analytics, and workflows across public and private markets, enabling scale, insights, and transformation for BlackRock and our clients.

As part of Aladdin Engineering, you will join the AI Platform Engineering team, which is building the next-generation AI infrastructure and services that power Aladdin and other firm-wide applications. This team sits at the intersection of backend systems, AI engineering, AI infrastructure, and platform reliability, enabling advanced AI capabilities at scale.

We are looking for a senior leader who thrives on solving complex engineering challenges, shaping AI reliability and automation strategy, and building robust, scalable platforms. You will lead teams responsible for ensuring operational excellence, reliability, and automation across AI workloads, influencing the AI ecosystem across the firm.

What You’ll Do

• Define and execute the SRE and DevOps strategy for AI platforms, ensuring high availability, scalability, and security.
• Architect and oversee cloud-native infrastructure across AWS, GCP, and Azure for AI workloads.
• Drive Kubernetes-based orchestration for AI models, including GPU scheduling and resource optimization.
• Establish CI/CD pipelines for AI platform and AI model lifecycle management (training, testing, deployment) with enterprise-grade security and compliance.
• Implement observability frameworks and reliability standards (SLIs, SLOs, SLAs) for distributed AI systems.
• Lead incident management, root cause analysis, and performance optimization across compute, storage, and network layers.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to translate business and functional requirements into resilient technical designs.
• Stay ahead of trends in SRE, DevOps, MLOps, and AI infrastructure to drive innovation and operational excellence.

What We’re Looking For

• Education: B.S./M.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Experience: 8+ years in platform engineering, SRE, DevOps or AIOps roles.
• Technical Expertise:
  • Proficiency in Python, Bash/Shell for automation, orchestration, and AI workflows.
  • Proficiency in Rustbuild and dependency management frameworks.
  • Hands-on expertise with CI/CD tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions etc.).
  • Proven ability to design and scale fault-tolerant, cloud-native systems for AI workloads.
  • Deep proficiency in Kubernetes (Helm, Kustomize, CRDs) and containerization (Docker, containerd).
  • Hands-on experience with AWS, GCP, Azure, and IaC tools (Terraform, CloudFormation).
  • Strong knowledge of observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK) and performance tuning.
  • Familiarity withML frameworks (PyTorch, JAX) and MLOps concepts.
  • Leadership Skills: Ability to build and lead high-performing teams, drive cross-functional collaboration, and influence technical strategy.
  • Mindset: Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving skills, operational rigor, and adaptability.

Nice to Have

• Experience with GPU orchestration and performance optimization in Kubernetes clusters.
• Knowledge of event-driven systems (Kafka) and real-time data pipelines.
• Exposure to secure model deployment practices and compliance frameworks for regulated industries.
• Practical experience with end-to-end ML lifecycle management and automated pipelines for large models
• Also please add - Hands-on expertise with CI/CD tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions etc.).

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected attributes at law.