Linux Systems Administrator

About the role

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) seeks a dedicated and passionate Linux Systems Administrator to support the department’s academic courses and cutting-edge research initiatives. This role is ideal for someone with deep expertise in Linux server administration and software installation, who thrives in a collaborative research computing environment.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain approximately 100 Dell / Lenovo / HP servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu Linux in our server room, ensuring their stability, security, and performance.
• Install, configure, and maintain commercial and open source software on our NFS network file shares, ensuring accessibility for users via our Module implementation.
• Utilize container technologies such as Docker and Apptainer to provide alternative methods of software deployment to address research and course needs.
• Work with the campus Puppet and Ansible management systems to automate server configuration and deployment tasks, as well as baseline settings to meet security standards such as CIS or NIST.
• Educate users on the usage of conda, PIP, and Jupyter notebooks to manage Python environments and libraries for our growing AI/ML needs within our courses and research.
• Provide technical support to end-users regarding Linux-related issues, troubleshooting hardware and software problems, and resolving technical incidents in a timely manner.
• Create and maintain various new departmental Linux services – for example, a slurm cluster, JuptyerHub pilot, and Open OnDemand based remote access farms – to keep ECE’s research capabilities relevant.
• Collaborate with ECE researchers and students to provide support for their usage of the campus High-Performance Computing (HPC) service; install ECE specific software within the cluster when appropriate.
• Coordinate this effort with the reorganized campus Office of Research Computing to streamline ECE usage of central resources.
• Assist Linux Desktop Support position with the support of Linux workstations as needed.

Qualifications

• Minimum Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree from an appropriately accredited institution and two years of experience in operations analysis and design, systems programming or closely related area OR an equivalent combination of education, training and relevant experience.
• Other Required Qualifications: Proven experience as a Linux Systems Administrator, managing and maintaining Linux servers (physical and VMs) within an academic institution or national computing lab. Strong knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu Linux operating systems. Proficiency installing software through dnf/apt, compiling, and using application container technologies such as Docker or Singularity/Apptainer. Experience with configuration management tools like Puppet and Ansible. Strong understanding of Linux command-line tools as well as programming and version control concepts; in particular shell script, python and git. Ability to support the use of conda, PIP, and Jupyter notebooks. Detailed understanding of remote access, clustering, backup, auditing, and virtualization technologies within a Linux environment. General hardware troubleshooting and repair skills. Experience supporting the installation, configuration, and monitoring of Nvidia GPU cards and required drivers and software within Linux. Experience supporting researchers in utilizing High-Performance Computing (HPC). Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to quickly learn new complex systems. Excellent communication and teamwork skills to collaborate with researchers and other team members effectively.
• Preferred Qualifications: Previous support of Open OnDemand service. Previous support of Slurm based cluster. Previous support of JupyterHub service. Experience with Modules or Lmod systems. Experience configuring Linux systems to meet security baselines such as CIS or NIST. Certifications such as Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) or CompTIA Linux+ are a plus. Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or closely related degree from an appropriately accredited institution.