Senior HPC Systems Administrator – Large-Scale Clusters

King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz University Hospital; As Sudiyah; On-site; OMR 12,000 - 17,000; Full time

Job summary

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology is seeking a Senior HPC Systems Administrator to manage a 600-node HPC cluster, storage, InfiniBand/Ethernet networks, and day-to-day operations across computational science and AI workloads.

The role requires strong Linux administration, experience with Slurm, containerization (Singularity/Apptainer, Docker), and scripting in Bash/Python, plus collaboration with researchers and vendors to drive improvements and research support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science/engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent.
• Five years of experience supporting large-scale computing platforms.
• Experience with parallel storage systems (Lustre, GPFS, Weka, Vast, or similar).
• Experience administering workload managers/schedulers (Slurm, LSF, or PBS).
• Strong Linux system administration experience (RHEL, Rocky Linux, or CentOS).
• Experience with configuration management tools such as Ansible or Puppet.
• Ability to coordinate with researchers, application support teams, and vendors to resolve complex issues.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and container orchestration platforms would be desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide user support via telephone, walk-in, email, and ticketing system while maintaining high service standards.
• Install, configure, and manage HPC subsystems including compute nodes, high-performance storage systems, InfiniBand, Ethernet, and configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet).
• Deploy and manage cluster management software, monitoring tools, and supporting services for operating HPC clusters.
• Install and administer the Slurm workload manager, manage QoS policies, accounts, accounting, and related automation scripts (Python and C++).
• Develop and maintain automation scripts in Bash and Python to streamline system administration tasks.
• Deploy and manage container environments (Singularity/Apptainer, Docker) for HPC workloads.
• Benchmark HPC components to ensure optimal performance and identify tuning opportunities across hardware, driver, and application layers.
• Enforce security best practices including node hardening, kernel patching, and compliance across all systems.
• Manage parallel file systems such as Lustre, GPFS, Weka, or Vast, including performance tuning and capacity planning.
• Directly support research activities in computational science, engineering, data analysis, and AI/ML by working closely with faculty, researchers, collaboration partners, and industrial partners in collaboration with application support teams.
• Develop software tools and utilities as needed to support research projects on cluster systems and subsystems.
• Drive proof-of-concept projects and technology evaluations end-to-end and research industry best practices and advocate system enhancements.
• Coordinate with vendors and third-party service providers to report and resolve issues in a timely manner.
• Develop and maintain user documentation, SOPs, and training materials in the internal wiki.
• Stay at the forefront of HPC advancements through continuous learning, industry conferences, and professional collaboration, while driving benchmarking initiatives to inform future hardware procurement.
• Expertise in supporting users of computational science and engineering, data analysis, and AI/ML applications and libraries in different HPC environments.
• Strong expertise in Linux system administration (RHEL, Rocky Linux, or CentOS) in large-scale HPC environments.
• Proficiency with HPC applications and programming models (Fortran, C/C++, Python, MPI, OpenMP, CUDA, OpenACC).
• Demonstrated track record of managing complex HPC systems, including parallel file systems, job schedulers, InfiniBand/Ethernet networks, and monitoring systems.
• Experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with computational science, data analysis, and AI/ML applications and libraries used in HPC environments.
• Knowledge of project management principles and practices.
• Demonstrated ability to support research activities in a highly collaborative HPC environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Proactively identifies and implements system improvements; takes initiative and sees tasks through to closure.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and deliver high-quality results within deadlines.
• Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with researchers, application teams, and vendors.
• Effective in multi-cultural, international work environments.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, including the ability to prepare and deliver technical reports and presentations.

Skills

Linux administration

HPC workload management

HPC programming models (Fortran, C/C++

Scripting and automation (Bash, Python

Analytical problem solving

Research collaboration

Documentation & training

Security & compliance

Project management basics

Kubernetes familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/Engineering/IS

Tools

Ansible

Puppet

Slurm

Lustre/GPFS/Weka/Vast

Singularity/Apptainer

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology is seeking a Senior HPC Systems Administrator to manage a 600-node HPC cluster, storage, InfiniBand/Ethernet networks, and day-to-day operations across computational science and AI workloads.

The role requires strong Linux administration, experience with Slurm, containerization (Singularity/Apptainer, Docker), and scripting in Bash/Python, plus collaboration with researchers and vendors to drive improvements and research support.