Systems Administrator

Updated: over 2 years ago
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 30 Nov 2021

The Institute

The Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) is one of the largest Genome Sequencing Centers in Europe. CNAG-CRG researchers participate in major International Genomic Initiatives such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC), the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) and the European Infrastructure for life-science information (ELIXIR), as well as in several EU-funded projects.

It is integrated with the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), an international biomedical research institute of excellence, based in Barcelona, Spain, with more than 400 scientists from 44 countries. The CRG is composed by an interdisciplinary, motivated and creative scientific team which is supported both by a flexible and efficient administration and by high-end and innovative technologies.

In April 2021, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) received the renewal of the 'HR Excellence in Research ' logo from the European Commission. This is a recognition of the Institute's commitment to developing an HR Strategy for Researchers, designed to bring the practices and procedures in line with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Charter and Code).

Please, check out our Recruitment Policy

The role

CNAG-CRG is seeking an experienced Linux Systems Administrator to join the Scientific IT team.

The main responsibilities of the candidate will be to manage and improve our computational resources based around a linux compute cluster using slurm, lustre storage and an infiniband interconnect. Proactive involvement in day-to-day operations and troubleshooting are a large part of the remit. The candidate will become involved in projects which offer the opportunity to learn new skills, as the computer resources supported by the team are developed.

Core accountabilities [in approximate order of importance to role purpose]:

  • Develop effective relationships with, and a sound understanding of the needs of users to ensure that the IT infrastructure resource is effectively deployed to meet their scientific priorities
  • To develop and maintain effective monitoring and alerting solutions to ensure the reliability and health of the systems.
  • To investigate, analyse and solve issues with the systems as they arise, co-ordinating and collaborating with users and other team members to define, develop and implement effective solutions. 
  • Provide expert advice and guidance to the community within the Institute enabling other team members and users to work more independently and productively.
  • Discover, study and understand new technologies to assess their potential for developing the infrastructure in support of both IT and scientific strategies at the institute.
  • Define, design, source, develop or redevelop the most appropriate (scaleable, flexible)

    and cost effective hardware/software solutions to meet the needs of specific scientific user groups.

  • Contributing to documentation of the systems and to documentation for procurement of IT equipment required under public tender rules.
  • Project manage the development and introduction of specific solutions ensuring that user needs are fully identified and met within agreed timelines and that appropriate skills transference and training takes place
  • Build and develop relationships and collaborations with external organisations and

    suppliers to exchange technical expertise and awareness of new developments.

About the team

The team manages around 10PB of scientific data and Linux clusters of around 5000 cores in total. SIT provides support to researchers on site, and works closely with the CNAG-CRG labs to address their computational needs and build custom solutions. Most of the data is stored in Isilon and Lustre and is backed up by a large Tape Library. As well as maintaining and managing the existing systems we carry out research and development of new systems and approaches in order to keep our infrastructure at the cutting edge and make efficient use of the budget available. The most important mission of the team is to ensure that the scientists have access to high quality and reliable storage and compute resources and that we provide expert professional support to allow them to use the resources to their maximal potential.



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