Back to jobs
New

DevOps Engineer Intern

New York, New York, United States · Washington, District of Columbia, United States

About MSF USA | Doctors Without Borders

 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international organization that provides medical care to the people who need it most. The organization cares for people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, disasters, and social exclusion in more than 70 countries. MSF offers medical humanitarian assistance solely based on need, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or politics. Our international project teams include medical, logistical, and administrative staff, most of them hired locally and working with their own communities. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence, impartiality, and neutrality. We also bear witness and speak out about the experiences of our colleagues and patients. 
 
MSF USA is one of 24 sections supporting the global movement, primarily through staff recruitment, fundraising, advocacy, and communications. We welcome candidates who bring a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to join us in working toward MSF’s social mission.  

Role Overview  

At MSF-USA, we are building a novel, modern engineering department dedicated to advancing humanitarian technology practices forward through innovation and building great products. 

The DevOps Engineer Intern will play a key role in supporting the development and maintenance of MSF-USA's technology infrastructure as part of the Systems Department. This position offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in designing, implementing, and optimizing scalable systems that drive humanitarian operations. Ideal candidates are passionate about leveraging technology for social impact, eager to learn, and excited to contribute to meaningful projects that directly support MSF's mission. 

Department Accountabilities   

Infrastructure, Sustainability and Maintenance 

Analyze the current system architecture to identify areas for improvement in sustainability and maintainability. Refactor existing codebase to enhance performance, reduce technical debt, and improve readability. Demonstrate strong communication on end-to-end program development to technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

Information Security 

Define and champion secure coding practices throughout the organization and be accountable for secure application development. 

Support MSF Movement  

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address and resolve technical issues promptly. Support technology operations on behalf of the movement in the US home society. Share expertise with the rest of the movement by participating in Communities of Practice and other collaborating initiatives.  

PMO 

Define and maintain the project management standards for MSF and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. Source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on project management and execution. 

Application Management  

Provide governance designed to ensure applications run at peak performance and as efficiently as possible, from the end-user experience to integrations. Implement and support new features as needed. Ensure access administration and support end-users. 

Behavioral Competencies   

THOUGHT: How MSF USA staff understand the organization, manage complexity, and contribute by creating new and different.  

People Focus  

Builds strong relationships and delivers solutions geared to aiding others. 

Manages Complexity  

Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems. Consistently looks at complex issues from many angles; obtains a rich and deep understanding; swiftly cuts to the core issue; skillfully separates root causes from symptoms.  

Global Perspective  

Takes a broad view when approaching issues using a global lens. Shows global thinking at work; adjusts organizational practices to meet different regions or countries' unique needs. Use a broad perspective when addressing issues and challenges.  

Cultivate Innovation  

Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful. Approaches professional work in unique or innovative ways. Offers original ideas. Appreciates others' creative ideas and solutions and provides helpful input to enhance them. 

Strategic Mindset  

Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.  

RESULTS: MSF USA staff achieve results by cultivating a forward-thinking environment that produces solutions for changing stakeholder needs.  

Drives Results 

Consistently achieves results, even under challenging circumstances. Regularly pushes self to achieve outstanding outcomes; consistently establishes bold goals for own performance; is passionate about excellent results and significant contributions. Shows great tenacity to complete goals/initiatives in a timely way.  

Ensures Accountability  

Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments.  

PEOPLE: MSF USA staff understand their impact on others through collaboration and inclusion of different perspectives to achieve common goals.  

Collaborates  

Build partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives. Readily involves others to accomplish goals; stays in touch and shares information; discourages "us versus them" thinking; shows appreciation for others' ideas and input.  

Communicates Effectively  

Develops and delivers multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences. Listens attentively and takes an interest. Keeps others well informed; conveys information concisely and professionally when speaking or writing. 

Values Differences  

Recognizes the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization. Confronts stereotyping and offensive comments promptly. Consistently behaves with great sensitivity toward differences in cultural norms, expectations, and communication methods. 

Builds Effective Teams  

Build strong identity teams applying diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.  

Manage Conflicts  

Manage conflict situations effectively, with a minimum of noise.  

Build Networks  

Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization.  

Drives Vision and Purpose  

Paints a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to action.  

SELF: MSF USA staff demonstrate self-awareness by having an open mindset and continuously seeking opportunities to gain experience, grow, and improve. 

Instills Trust

Gains the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity. Model honesty and authenticity and encourage others to be upfront with one another. Demonstrates reliability and places a strong emphasis on the team meeting its commitments. Fairly represents others' positions.  

Manages Ambiguity

Operate effectively, even when things are uncertain, or the way forward is unclear. Responds effectively to unclear situations, seeks to resolve ambiguity, and makes progress. Seeks guidance on how to adapt to changes and responds with appropriate composure and effectiveness.  

Situational Adaptability

Adapts approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations. Serves as an example of adaptability and provides guidance and support to help others adapt to new situations. Considering the needs of clients, constituents, and the organization, shifts priorities appropriately.  

Being Resilient

Rebounds from setbacks and adversity when facing demanding situations.  

Technical Competencies  

Plans and Aligns  

Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with MSF-USA goals.  

Financial Acumen  

Interprets and applies to understanding key financial indicators to make better business decisions.  

Tech Savvy  

Anticipating and adopting innovations in organizational digital and technology applications.  

Data Collection and Analysis  

The ability and skill to determine and analyze trends from data collected to assist in compiling reports that will help in decision-making.   

Project Management Skills  

The ability to plan and manage small project assignments within desired cost, time and quality parameters.  

Presentation and Written Communication Skills

Adapts approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations. Serves as an example of adaptability and provides guidance and support to help others adapt to new situations. Considering the needs of clients, constituents, and the organization, shifts priorities appropriately.  

Organizational Insight  

Applying knowledge of MSF-USA and industry to advance the organization’s goals. 

Supervisory Responsibility  

None.   

Desired Qualifications & Experience 

  • 2+ years of infrastructure engineering or software engineering experience. 
    • School, Work Experience, or Self-Learn is acceptable (GitHub, GitLab, or other version control system on resume is suggested)
  • Applicants should be able to debug a sample application, containerize it, and deploy it to a cloud provider via CLI or IaC. Specific experience in a technology is not required but willingness to self-learn is.
  • Expected to work in a hybrid work environment with the ability to come into either the NYC office or regional hub (Washington, DC or Oakland, California) a minimum of 2 times a week.
  • Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Comfort working in a collaborative, associative, and democratized team structure.
  • Passion for the mission and values of MSF. 
  • A commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  

Core Technical Skills: 

  • Server Administration:
    • Basic understanding of server operating systems (e.g., Linux/Unix, Windows Server) and their command-line tools. Basic Bash experience is required.
    • Knowledge of server administration concepts such as file systems, networking basics, and process management. 
    • Basic understanding of web servers (e.g., Apache, Nginx, etc.)
    • Familiarity with at least one popular cloud provider (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Digitial Ocean,) and their core services. 
  • DevOps:
    • Familiarity with the concept of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and its benefits
    • Exposure to some IaC tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, Cloud Formation, etc.)
    • Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git)
    • Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines
  • Applications:
    • Understanding of at least one programming or scripting language (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Go, etc.)
    • Basic knowledge of containerization concepts (e.g., Docker) 

Travel Requirements 

None. 

Compensation 

$20.00/hr 

MSF-USA is dedicated to creating a diverse, impartial, and inclusive workforce. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other differences as per applicable laws. We also provide reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs and practices. We encourage individuals from underrepresented communities in the Humanitarian Aid sector to apply.

 

If you have a disability and require accommodations to use our website to apply for a position, please contact Human Resources at employment.msfusa@newyork.msf.org. We consider reasonable accommodation requests on a case-by-case basis.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

U.S. Standard Demographic Questions

We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) - United States’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.