System Administrator (Linux)

Date Posted: 03/20/2024
Req ID: 36602
Faculty/Division: Faculty of Arts & Science
Department: Can. Inst for Theoretical Astrophysics
Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)
Position Number: 00025759

Description:

About us:

The Faculty of Arts & Science is the heart of Canada’s leading university and one of the most comprehensive and diverse academic divisions in the world. The strength of Arts & Science derives from our combined teaching and research excellence in the humanities, sciences and social sciences across 29 departments, seven colleges and 46 interdisciplinary centres, institutes and programs.

We can only realize our mission with the dedication and excellence of engaged staff and faculty. The diversity of opportunities and perspectives within the Faculty reflect the local and global landscape and the need for curiosity, innovative thinking and collaboration. At Arts & Science, we take pride in our legacy of innovation and discovery that has changed the way we think about the world.

Your opportunity:

The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) is a nationally supported research institute and a non-profit corporation (CITA Inc.). Our mission is to foster interaction within the Canadian astrophysics community and to serve as an international centre of excellence for theoretical studies in astrophysics. We educate and develop the next generation of scientific leaders with national postdoctoral fellowships as well as postdoctoral and senior research associate fellowships, and through the supervision of undergraduate and graduate students. We are devoted to studying the origin and evolution ofthe universe and the many phenomena revealed by modern astronomy.

Under the general direction of the Computing Facilities Manager, the System Administrator (Linux) maintains the smooth operation of general CITA hardware and software infrastructure, administers CITA’s key High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems (currently includes a 1,600-core Linux cluster), and ensures a reliable and efficient environment for scientific researchers.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Troubleshooting complex computer system problems
• Analyzing server and/or desktop performance data
• Documenting network-related activities or tasks
• Creating complex and technical documentation and user support guides
• Executing security measures for network devices and introducing variations as required
• Analyzing, recommending and documenting parallelization strategies
• Providing orientation to others on work procedures and practices, including onboarding technicial support to post-doctoral students
• Performing preventive maintenance on audio-visual equipment

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Physics,Engineering, or an acceptable equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of four years of recent and related programming experience in an UNIX-like environment, providing IT support; ideally providing IT support to administrative staff, faculty, post-doctoral students and/or scientific researchers in a post-secondary or research institute
• Proven experience as a Linux system administrator in a production environment
• Experience and deep understanding of Linux operating systems (e.g., CentOS, Red Hat, Debian)
• Experience and proficiency in shell scripting (Bash, Python, Perl) for automation and system tasks
• Experience and strong knowledge of networking concepts and protocols (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, etc.)
• Experience with configuration management tools and version control systems
• Experience with RAID Storage configuration
• Experience in configuring and deploying detection and prevention technologies (anti-spam, anti-virus, malware prevention, network scanning tools); Experience with complex network and firewall management
• Experience writing technical documentation and user support guides
• Experience troubleshooting and providing preventive maintenance to desktop equipment and audio-visual equipment
• Ability and willingness to learn and upgrade technical skills
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to troubleshoot and improve systems
• Ability to solve complex technical problems, and the ability to explain solutions to a wide variety of users
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work cohesively in teams, and independently
• Excellent organization, time management and multi-tasking skills

Assets (Nonessential):

• Programming skills and experience with Fortran, C, C++, Python
• Experience of web development (wordpress, django)
• Experience with virtualization and containerization technologies (e.g., VMware, Docker, Kubernetes)
• Interest in astrophysics, parallel programming, and high performance computing

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Adaptable
• Motivated self-learner
• Multi-tasker
• Problem solver
• Resourceful
• Team player

This role is not currently eligible for a hybrid work arrangement, pursuant to University policies and guidelines, including but not limited to the  University of Toronto’s Alternative Work Arrangements Guideline .

Closing Date: 03/29/2024, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW
Appointment Type: Budget - Continuing
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 12 -- $78,308 with an annual step progression to a maximum of $100,144. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Information Technology (IT)

Lived Experience Statement
Candidates who are members of Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, persons with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups are encouraged to apply, and their lived experience shall be taken into consideration as applicable to the posted position.