Principal Research Infrastructure Engineer & Team Lead

Society of Research Software Engineering; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Birmingham's Advanced Research Computing AIS group seeks a passionate leader to head the Systems Team. You will oversee design, configuration, security and uptime of large-scale research computing services, including the Baskerville NCR.

You will apply a DevOps mindset to automate and monitor operations and ensure services meet the needs of the research community. You will mentor researchers and engineers, collaborate with security teams and external vendors, and drive reliability,

Qualifications

• Deep experience in Linux system administration.
• Hands-on with Git, Terraform, Ansible or Salt and Grafana.
• Proficient with Bash and Python.
• Knowledge of HPC, storage, or private cloud technologies.
• Excellent stakeholder and vendor relationship management.
• Ability to lead and mentor a team of researchers.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of Research Infrastructure Engineers.
• Design, configure, secure, and ensure uptime of Baskerville NCR services.
• Apply DevOps practices using automation and observability tools.
• Collaborate with researchers, security teams and external vendors.
• Ensure robustness, security and responsiveness for the research community.

Skills

Linux system administration

Git

Terraform

Ansible

Salt

Grafana

Bash

Python

HPC

Storage

Private cloud

Team leadership

Stakeholder management

Tools

Git

Terraform

Ansible

Salt

Grafana

Job description

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to lead the Systems Team within our Architecture, Infrastructure and Systems (AIS) group. The AIS group is part of the University of Birmingham’sAdvanced Research Computing, one of the UK’s largest research computing teams, with around 50 FTEs. AIS designs and operates its own data centres, network, private cloud, storage, backup, archive and HPC services, including national services such as theBaskerville National Compute Resource (NCR)andCLIMB, a private cloud for microbial bioinformatics.

This position is funded by UKRI to support the Baskerville NCR Supercomputer and has a fixed end date of 31/3/2031.

What you will do

You will lead a small team of Research Infrastructure Engineers and be responsible for the design, configuration, security, uptime and availability of several large-scale research computing services, most notably the Baskerville NCR supercomputer.

You will take a DevOps-based approach to service design, using a range of automation, observability and configuration management tools. You will collaborate with researchers, security teams and external vendors to ensure our services are robust, secure and responsive to the needs of the research community.

Your skills and experience

• Deep experience in Linux system administration.
• Practical experience with tools such as Git, Terraform, Ansible or Salt, and Grafana or a similar observability stack.
• Hands-on experience with Bash and Python.
• Domain knowledge in one or more of the following areas: HPC, storage or private cloud technologies.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to effectively manage relationships with key stakeholders, including vendors, academics, senior leadership and peers across the sector.
• The ability to lead a team of Research Infrastructure Engineers, providing guidance, support and mentoring to both junior and senior team members

If you have any questions about this post, then please contact Jon Wakelin [e-mail]