Cloud Developer

The Cloud Developer performs critical infrastructure and development functions for Vanderbilt’s growing initiatives in digital scholarship, cloud-based research computing, and generative AI (GenAI) deployment. Working closely with technologists across the Heard Libraries and other campus units, the Cloud Developer is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the scalable cloud infrastructure required to make research data scalable and accessible. Given the agile, collaborative nature of the work unit, this role demands a blend of deep technical execution, nimble project management, and mentorship capabilities. The Cloud Developer will serve as a “Principal Engineer” within our experiential learning programs, helping to manage student developers, architect “fail-fast” innovations, and scale computational solutions for wide impact.

About the Work Unit: The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University comprise nine libraries and multiple specialized service departments. The libraries are fundamental to the university’s goal of advancing scholarship and learning by collecting, preserving, and making accessible a wide variety of resources,and partnering with faculty and students to shape research. The Digital Lab advances the creation, development, and sustainability of faculty and student-driven digital projects. As an applied research and learning center, the Lab transforms unstructured library collections into machine-readable computational assets and builds cutting-edge software solutions leveraging generative AI. The AWS-sponsored Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab (VCIL), which provides immersive, hands-on software development experiences for student fellows, is a core focus of this work. By embedding students directly into professional engineering workflows as junior developers, the Digital Lab bridges advanced faculty research, technical mentorship, and scalable cloud infrastructure to broaden computational innovation across campus.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Cloud Architecture & Software Development Design, deploy, and maintain secure, scalable cloud infrastructure (primarily AWS) to host digital scholarship platforms and process massive library archives.

Implement and scale generative AI pipelines and machine-learning models to automate metadata enrichment and text extraction. Ensure faculty and institutional projects are built on modern, sustainable, and well-documented technical stacks that integrate efficiently with broader university infrastructure., Project Management & Operational Delivery Manage the full lifecycle of assigned digital projects, tracking timelines, deliverables, and resource allocation across partner units. Serve as an agile project manager for select faculty-driven R&D initiatives, ensuring transparent communication and consistent progress. Coordinate technical requirements and scope with key campus partners, including Research IT, the Advanced Computing Center for Research & Education (ACCRE), and the Data Science Institute.

Student Mentorship & Team Leadership Recruit, interview, and hire undergraduate and graduate student fellows and research assistants. Act as a “Principal Engineer” by embedding students into professional software development workflows, conducting code reviews, and providing technical mentorship. Guide student teams through real-world deployment challenges, balancing structured learning with hands-on software delivery.

Sustained Innovation & Grant Support In coordination with Digital Lab leadership, write staff technical expertise and infrastructure costs into external grant applications. Explore and implement “fail-fast” innovations using emerging technologies to maintain the Lab’s best-in-class standing in GenAI and research computing.

Undergraduate degree in computer science, cloud computing, data science, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience and industry certifications is required. Postgraduate degree preferred.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect, SysOps Administrator, or Developer certification is highly preferred.

Experience and Skills: Two to four years of relevant experience is necessary. Technical Skills & Experience Cloud Infrastructure: Proven experience provisioning and managing cloud environments, preferably AWS (including EC2, S3, Lambda, and IAM infrastructure), is required. Development & Frameworks: Proficiency in programming languages common to data processing and cloud back-ends (e.g., Python, Node.js) is required. Experience with modern web frameworks and frontend development is preferred. AI & Data Pipelines: Familiarity with deploying generative AI models, vector databases, or orchestration frameworks, as well as handling distributed data storage is required. Tooling: Experience with version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) is required.

Core Competencies Leadership & Collaboration: Evidence of strong interpersonal skills and translating complex technical requirements for non-technical faculty or students is required. Experience with mentoring novice developers is highly preferred. Organization: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple small-to-medium digital projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, collaborative environment is required.

At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of “America’s Best Large Employers” as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.