Senior Systems Administrator (Research) - University of Alberta, Edmonton

Position Summary

The Senior Systems Administrator (Research) at the University of Alberta plays a pivotal role in advancing the institution's digital research infrastructure. This hybrid position, based primarily at the North Campus in Edmonton, Alberta, focuses on designing and managing critical high-performance computing (HPC) systems, storage solutions, and specialized software services. The role is integral to supporting cutting-edge research across diverse disciplines, including medicine, biomedical sciences, agriculture, science, and engineering, ensuring the effective and secure utilization of HPC resources for projects involving sensitive and regulated data.

As part of Information Services & Technology (IST), this position contributes to the evolution and smooth operation of technology for teaching, learning, and research at the University of Alberta. The successful candidate will leverage their expert knowledge to empower researchers and drive institutional excellence through innovative IT solutions, shaping the future of the university through innovative IT solutions.

Responsibilities

The Senior Systems Administrator will be responsible for a range of critical tasks to ensure the robust and reliable operation of the university's research computing environment. Key responsibilities include:

• Participate in the deployment and administration of digital research infrastructure.
• Plan, design, deploy, and provision digital research infrastructure and associated services, ensuring security, reliability, and scalability for future growth.
• Take a leadership role in establishing policies, best practices, and procedures to address the needs of research communities.
• Address operational issues affecting systems and researchers, conducting in-depth root cause analysis.
• Monitor resources to maximize the utilization of infrastructure, collect metrics, and develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to provide regular reports to senior leadership.
• Assist researchers in resolving issues and effectively using the digital research infrastructure, including workload preparation, code optimization, training, and job submission procedure refinement, all aimed at ensuring successful utilization of high-performance computing resources to meet research goals.
• Participate in focus groups and committees, providing expert-level knowledge and gathering input.
• Participate in industry conferences and maintain relationships with vendors to stay informed about emerging technologies and improve service quality.
• Participate in a 24/7 on-call support rotation.

Qualifications

To excel in this Senior Systems Administrator role supporting university research, candidates should possess a strong blend of academic background and practical experience in advanced computing environments.

• Master’s Degree in Science with a focus on High Performance Computing, or a Bachelor of Science in Computing Science or a related field, with relevant work experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of extensive experience with Linux systems in roles such as system administrator or system analyst.
• Advanced working knowledge of administering large numbers of systems in an enterprise environment.
• Advanced working knowledge of automation technologies for provisioning, configuration management, infrastructure as code, and orchestration tools (Warewulf, Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.).
• Advanced working knowledge of programming and/or scripting with languages such as Bash, Python, and others.
• Working experience in supporting large-scale High Performance Computing environments.
• Working knowledge of scheduling software, such as Slurm, is a strong asset.
• Working knowledge of container deployment (Kubernetes or other) in the cloud or on-premises, as well as the administration of containerized applications.
• Demonstrated ability to participate in a 24/7 on-call support rotation.
• Effective communication and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrated ability in problem-solving and process optimization.

Benefits

The University of Alberta is committed to supporting its staff. This position offers a comprehensive benefits package. Employment is subject to all applicable terms and conditions of the collective agreement between the Governors of the University of Alberta and the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).