Research Computing Infrastructure Engineer

The Research Computing Infrastructure Engineer is responsible for designing, deploying, operating, maintaining and continuously improving research computing infrastructure services delivered by Research Computing as a Service (RCaaS) across the University of Glasgow. The role supports the delivery of secure, reliable, scalable and sustainable infrastructure that enables the University's research activities.

As a member of the RCaaS team, the postholder will provide technical expertise in the administration, operation and development of research computing infrastructure, including high-performance computing (HPC), research data storage and related services. Working collaboratively with researchers, colleagues across IT Services and external partners, they will contribute to infrastructure development, service improvement, automation, technical troubleshooting and effective researcher support.

Part of our Information Services directorate, RCaaS provides services that offer several benefits to the University's research communities: freeing up researchers' time to focus on their research; expanding research capabilities and expertise; providing equal access to critical tools and methods for research; and helping build career opportunities for those operating in software, data and infrastructure engineering roles.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

- Install, configure, administer and improve University research computing infrastructure, including HPC clusters, research data storage and related services
- Monitor service health, performance, capacity and availability; investigate incidents and deliver planned maintenance, patching and upgrades to improve service performance, reliability and security
- Administer and troubleshoot Linux-based servers and associated infrastructure, including access management, networking, scheduling, storage and software environments
- Develop and maintain scripting, automation and configuration management solutions to improve the repeatability, reliability and efficiency of infrastructure provisioning and operations
- Manage, resolve and document service requests and incidents using the University's approved service management processes and tools; communicate with researchers and escalate issues where appropriate
- Administer and support University research data storage services including the Central Active Research Data Storage (CARDS) service
- Support academic users in their access to and use of the University's research computing infrastructure, guiding them in their usage (including use of installed software) and supporting them to achieve their research goals
- Deploy, maintain and document centrally supported research software and environment modules, including shared licensed applications where approved, and advise users on appropriate self-managed software options
- Contribute to the design, evaluation, testing, commissioning, integration, capacity planning, replacement and decommissioning of research computing infrastructure and services
- Maintain clear technical documentation, configuration records, operational runbooks and knowledge-base materials, and contribute to service metrics, usage reporting and continuous improvement
- Collaborate with colleagues and participate in team/group meetings/seminars/workshops across the research Group/School/College/University and wider community
- Guide and contribute to the development of research computing infrastructure, carrying out capacity planning, software deployments and upgrades
- Collaborate with RCaaS colleagues, researchers, College IT, Cloud/Infrastructure, Cyber Security, Research Data Management, procurement and external suppliers to identify workable technical solutions and manage dependencies and risks
- Plan and communicate maintenance windows, service changes, incidents, service limitations and operational improvements to researchers and stakeholders to minimise disruption to ongoing research
- Consider risks to the integrity, security and availability of research computing infrastructure and escalate risks and issues through appropriate channels and where appropriate apply mitigations
- Contribute to training and capacity development activities to facilitate researchers' use of RCaaS infrastructure services

Knowledge and Qualifications (Essential):

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar or number of different roles OR SCQF level 9 in Computing Science, IT, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent, and experience of personal development in a similar or related role(s).
A2 Excellent technical knowledge across a range of IT areas with specialist in-depth knowledge of Linux/Unix enterprise server and storage technology.
A3 Awareness of the computing requirements of researchers with a high level of ability and broad range of data processing needs.
A4 Ability to demonstrate knowledge of administering HPC queue management systems such as Slurm.
A5 Knowledge of scientific computing packages, their installation and operation, e.g. LAPACK, OpenMPI, CUDA.

Knowledge and Qualifications (Desirable):

B1 Relevant professional certifications from recognised technical bodies, e.g. CompTIA Linux+ or RHCP.

Skills (Essential):

C1 Ability to develop, adapt and maintain scripts for infrastructure administration and automation, using appropriate languages such as Bash or Python, together with the ability to interpret and troubleshoot system configuration files.
C2 Strong problem-solving and fault-diagnosis skills across Linux systems, applications, infrastructure dependencies and multi-user services.
C3 Ability to plan and undertake system maintenance, deployment, upgrades and testing while managing risk and minimising disruption to researchers.
C4 Ability to communicate technical information clearly to researchers, technical colleagues and other stakeholders, verbally and in writing.
C5 Ability to produce and maintain accurate technical documentation, operational procedures and user-facing guidance.
C6 Ability to work collaboratively, manage competing priorities and take ownership of assigned tasks, escalating issues and risks when appropriate.
C7 Ability to apply established security, access management, incident management and change control processes in day-to-day operations.
C8 Ability to evaluate and adopt unfamiliar systems and tools, and to make evidence-based recommendations for service improvement.

Skills (Desirable):

D1 Able to demonstrate the application of orchestration skills such as Ansible.
D2 Able to demonstrate the deployment of containerisation technologies such as Apptainer.

Experience (Essential):

E1 Demonstrable practical experience administering and troubleshooting Linux/Unix systems or comparable complex, multi-user infrastructure, preferably within a research or Higher Education environment.
E2 Experience of supporting operational infrastructure services, including responding to incidents or user requests and coordinating with relevant colleagues.
E3 Experience of deploying, maintaining, updating or improving infrastructure platforms and services with attention to stability, security, documentation and change control.
E4 Experience of engaging with users or service stakeholders to understand requirements and communicate technical issues and solutions.
E5 Experience of prioritising work and exercising appropriate technical judgement in environments where changes can affect multiple users or services.
E6 Strong evidence of collaborative and transparent working, communication and engagement with colleagues and stakeholders.
E7 Experience supporting users with common research applications and compilers.
E8 Experience operating HPC clusters, workload scheduling or large-scale research computing environments.

Experience (Desirable):

F1 Experience with enterprise research data storage, shared file systems or large-scale data handling.
F2 Experience with research software environments, scientific computing tools, GPU platforms, modules or containerised workloads.
F3 Experience in Higher Education or research organisations and of working with multidisciplinary research groups.
F4 Experience applying privacy and information governance controls to infrastructure hosting research data, including sensitive data where authorised.
F5 Experience of physical server management, including experience of data centre management.
F6 Experience of GDPR and the processing of personal and medical data, including imaging data.

Benefits:

- 41 days of leave for full-time staff
- Generous pension package
- Benefits and discount packages
- Flexible approach to working
- Free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff
- Warm and engaging organisational culture with talent development and recognition

Please note this vacancy is open to current University of Glasgow employees only.