System Administrator/Operations (HPC, Research IT)

About IT Services

IT Services at the University of Manchester is a vibrant and fast-moving department, we focus on delivering excellent customer service and quality services for our staff, students and researchers. 

The Team

Researchers at the University of Manchester carry out world-leading research in many areas — beacons include advanced materials, industrial biotechnology and cancer treatments. RIT is a fastgrowing, can-do group within IT Services which closely supports the research community by delivering specialist, e-research capabilities which are critical to the success of their research.  

The Role
This role is within the Research Platforms Team, over 20 technical IT specialists — often with a research background themselves. We develop and deliver computational and data storage services to the University research community. These include: high-performance computing (HPC) and high-throughput computing (HTC); resilient and high-performance storage; edge computing; custom Web stacks; and highly-secure platforms for hosting sensitive data. Provision is via both on-site hardware and use of off-site, commercial cloud resources including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive person who will join the Team to:

• help with the development and maintenance of our platforms (40%), with a focus on computation — HPC and HTC;

• provide in-depth technical support to our users (40%);

• help write and then deliver face-to-face training courses (10%);

• engage with the research community (10%).

The person

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

Essential skills and experience:

• Substantial experience of using or administering HPC and/or HTC platforms.
• An in-depth knowledge of the Linux operating system, including administration and support.
• A good working knowledge of IT storage and networking technologies.
• The ability to work as an effective part of a team and to establish productive relationships with a wide range of technical and non-technical people including academics, researchers, students, IT staff and research support staff.
• Enthusiasm and initiative: the capacity to anticipate problems and find solutions; the ability to see opportunities and take advantage of them; a desire to learn new skills — both technical and non-technical; and a can-do approach to work as it arises.
• Good face-to-face and written communication skills.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience working within an academic research environment (or a higher, preferably research, degree).
• Experience of cluster administration, including scheduling systems (e.g. SLURM and SGE), imaging, monitoring and HA.
• A good working knowledge of HPC technologies, for example, Lustre, GPFS or Infiniband
• A good understanding of the technologies used to deliver VM, container and Cloud-based platforms, in particular AWS.
• Experience installing scientific software packages using a variety of methods (e.g. compilation from source, EasyBuild, containers).
• Experience of using at least one high-level programming language such as BASH, Perl or Python.

What you can expect in return

• As well as a competitive salary, and working for an internationally recognised University
• A generous annual leave entitlement of 29 days plus bank holidays
• Closure between the Christmas and New Year periods – this is in addition to your annual leave entitlement
• Access to a comprehensive employee assistance programme, supporting your physical, mental, and financial health and legal advice
• Leading pensions schemes, travel season tickets loans, workplace nursery, staff networking groups discounts for all the family to enjoy and so much more.
• Did we mention training, career opportunities and career progression.
• In fact, there are so many benefits available you can see more of them by clicking HERE

Find out more about our organisation and values:

• IT Services: About us and ITS Practice Charter
• Benefits of working at The University of Manchester

The University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a truly global institution with a reputation for education and innovation that resonates across the world, offering a wide range of courses and boasting outstanding facilities in the centre of Manchester. With 25 Nobel Prize winners among its current and former staff and students, it has a history of world firsts and brilliant discoveries. Manchester’s industrial and cultural heritage is mirrored by the achievements of some of the University’s most celebrated names.  The computer revolution started here in June 1948 when a machine built by Tom Kilburn and Sir Freddie Williams, known affectionately as ‘The Baby’, ran its first stored program. The celebrated wartime codebreaker Alan Turing worked on this computer during his time at Manchester.

The University is committed to world-class research, an outstanding learning and student experience and social responsibility in everything it does.  It is making one of the largest investments in facilities ever seen at a UK university, with £750 million spent so far and a further £1 billion to follow by 2022. Its goal is to become one of the world’s leading Universities.

When completing the additional information section of your application, please ensure you make reference to the job description and person specification above, as this will form an integral part of the shortlisting process.

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status.  All appointments are made on merit.

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Blended working arrangements may be considered

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Simon Hood 

Email:  simon.hood@manchester.ac.uk 

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.​​​​​​​

Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria.