diff --git a/compute/nomad/backend.go b/compute/nomad/backend.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c57dd86a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compute/nomad/backend.go
@@ -0,0 +1,252 @@
+// Package nomad contains code for accessing compute resources via the Nomad Batch API.
+package nomad
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"text/template"
+	"time"
+
+
+	"github.com/ohsu-comp-bio/funnel/config"
+	"github.com/ohsu-comp-bio/funnel/events"
+	"github.com/ohsu-comp-bio/funnel/logger"
+	"github.com/ohsu-comp-bio/funnel/tes"
+)
+
+// NewBackend returns a new local Backend instance.
+func NewBackend(ctx context.Context, conf config.Nomad, reader tes.ReadOnlyServer, writer events.Writer, log *logger.Logger) (*Backend, error) {
+	if conf.TemplateFile != "" {
+		content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(conf.TemplateFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("reading template: %v", err)
+		}
+		conf.Template = string(content)
+	}
+	if conf.Template == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid configuration; must provide a Nomad job template")
+	}
+	if conf.Namespace == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid configuration; must provide a Nomad namespace")
+	}
+
+	var kubeconfig *rest.Config
+	var err error
+
+	if conf.ConfigFile != "" {
+		// use the current context in kubeconfig
+		kubeconfig, err = clientcmd.BuildConfigFromFlags("", conf.ConfigFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	} else {
+		// creates the in-cluster config
+		kubeconfig, err = rest.InClusterConfig()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	// creates the clientset
+	clientset, err := Nomad.NewForConfig(kubeconfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	b := &Backend{
+		client:    clientset.BatchV1().Jobs(conf.Namespace),
+		namespace: conf.Namespace,
+		template:  conf.Template,
+		event:     writer,
+		database:  reader,
+		log:       log,
+	}
+
+	if !conf.DisableReconciler {
+		rate := time.Duration(conf.ReconcileRate)
+		go b.reconcile(ctx, rate, conf.DisableJobCleanup)
+	}
+
+	return b, nil
+}
+
+// Backend represents the local backend.
+type Backend struct {
+	client    batchv1.JobInterface
+	namespace string
+	template  string
+	event     events.Writer
+	database  tes.ReadOnlyServer
+	log       *logger.Logger
+}
+
+// WriteEvent writes an event to the compute backend.
+// Currently, only TASK_CREATED is handled, which calls Submit.
+func (b *Backend) WriteEvent(ctx context.Context, ev *events.Event) error {
+	switch ev.Type {
+	case events.Type_TASK_CREATED:
+		return b.Submit(ev.GetTask())
+
+	case events.Type_TASK_STATE:
+		if ev.GetState() == tes.State_CANCELED {
+			return b.Cancel(ctx, ev.Id)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// createJob uses the configured template to create a Nomad batch job.
+func (b *Backend) createJob(task *tes.Task) (*v1.Job, error) {
+	submitTpl, err := template.New(task.Id).Parse(b.template)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing template: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	res := task.GetResources()
+	if res == nil {
+		res = &tes.Resources{}
+	}
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	err = submitTpl.Execute(&buf, map[string]interface{}{
+		"TaskId":    task.Id,
+		"Namespace": b.namespace,
+		"Cpus":      res.GetCpuCores(),
+		"RamGb":     res.GetRamGb(),
+		"DiskGb":    res.GetDiskGb(),
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("executing template: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	decode := scheme.Codecs.UniversalDeserializer().Decode
+	obj, _, err := decode(buf.Bytes(), nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("decoding job spec: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	job, ok := obj.(*v1.Job)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decode job spec")
+	}
+	return job, nil
+}
+
+// Submit submits a task to the as a Nomad v1/batch job.
+func (b *Backend) Submit(task *tes.Task) error {
+	job, err := b.createJob(task)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("creating job spec: %v", err)
+	}
+	_, err = b.client.Create(job)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("creating job: %v", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// deleteJob removes deletes a Nomad v1/batch job.
+func (b *Backend) deleteJob(taskID string) error {
+	var gracePeriod int64 = 0
+	var prop metav1.DeletionPropagation = metav1.DeletePropagationForeground
+	err := b.client.Delete(taskID, &metav1.DeleteOptions{
+		GracePeriodSeconds: &gracePeriod,
+		PropagationPolicy:  &prop,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("deleting job: %v", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Cancel removes tasks that are pending Nomad v1/batch jobs.
+func (b *Backend) Cancel(ctx context.Context, taskID string) error {
+	task, err := b.database.GetTask(
+		ctx, &tes.GetTaskRequest{Id: taskID, View: tes.TaskView_MINIMAL},
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// only cancel tasks in a QUEUED state
+	if task.State != tes.State_QUEUED {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return b.deleteJob(taskID)
+}
+
+// Reconcile loops through tasks and checks the status from Funnel's database
+// against the status reported by Kubernetes. This allows the backend to report
+// system error's that prevented the worker process from running.
+//
+// Currently this handles a narrow set of cases:
+//
+// |---------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
+// |    Funnel State     |  Backend State  |  Reconciled State  |
+// |---------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
+// |        QUEUED       |     FAILED      |    SYSTEM_ERROR    |
+// |  INITIALIZING       |     FAILED      |    SYSTEM_ERROR    |
+// |       RUNNING       |     FAILED      |    SYSTEM_ERROR    |
+//
+// In this context a "FAILED" state is being used as a generic term that captures
+// one or more terminal states for the backend.
+//
+// This loop is also used to cleanup successful jobs.
+func (b *Backend) reconcile(ctx context.Context, rate time.Duration, disableCleanup bool) {
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(rate)
+ReconcileLoop:
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			jobs, err := b.client.List(metav1.ListOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.log.Error("reconcile: listing jobs", err)
+				continue ReconcileLoop
+			}
+			for _, j := range jobs.Items {
+				s := j.Status
+				switch {
+				case s.Succeeded > 0:
+					if disableCleanup {
+						continue ReconcileLoop
+					}
+					b.log.Debug("reconcile: cleanuping up successful job", "taskID", j.Name)
+					err := b.deleteJob(j.Name)
+					if err != nil {
+						b.log.Error("reconcile: cleaning up successful job", "taskID", j.Name, "error", err)
+						continue ReconcileLoop
+					}
+				case s.Failed > 0:
+					b.log.Debug("reconcile: cleaning up failed job", "taskID", j.Name)
+					conds, err := json.Marshal(s.Conditions)
+					if err != nil {
+						b.log.Error("reconcile: marshal failed job conditions", "taskID", j.Name, "error", err)
+					}
+					b.event.WriteEvent(ctx, events.NewState(j.Name, tes.SystemError))
+					b.event.WriteEvent(
+						ctx,
+						events.NewSystemLog(
+							j.Name, 0, 0, "error",
+							"Kubernetes job in FAILED state",
+							map[string]string{"error": string(conds)},
+						),
+					)
+					if disableCleanup {
+						continue ReconcileLoop
+					}
+					err = b.deleteJob(j.Name)
+					if err != nil {
+						b.log.Error("reconcile: cleaning up failed job", "taskID", j.Name, "error", err)
+						continue ReconcileLoop
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index ff0b29c57..ab2e0b9dc 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ type Config struct {
 		Template string
 	}
 	AWSBatch AWSBatch
+	Nomad	Nomad
 	// storage
 	LocalStorage  LocalStorage
 	AmazonS3      AmazonS3Storage
@@ -249,6 +250,19 @@ type AWSBatch struct {
 	AWSConfig
 }
 
+// Nomad describes the configuration for the Nomad compute backend.
+type Nomad struct {
+	// Batch job template
+	Template string
+	// TemplateFile is the path to the job template.
+	TemplateFile string
+	// Path to the Kubernetes configuration file, otherwise assumes the Funnel server is running in a pod and
+	ConfigFile string
+	// Namespace to spawn jobs within
+	Namespace string
+
+}
+
 // Datastore configures access to a Google Cloud Datastore database backend.
 type Datastore struct {
 	Project string