Research Hpc Engineer

Overview

IFOM is an internationally recognized non-profit cancer research institute supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) based in Milan within a highly dynamic urban environment. IFOM continuous success is ensured by the recruitment of highly selected undergraduate, graduate, and post‑graduate researchers from over 24 countries worldwide. IFOM is hosted within a research campus shared with the European Institute of Oncology and the Italian Institute of Technology. IFOM is committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment, based on mutual respect and the enhancement of diversity, offering equal job opportunities to all qualified candidates.

About the Position

Research HPC Engineer

IFOM is seeking a Research HPC Engineer to support our growing Research Computing Infrastructure serving cutting‑edge cancer research programs. This position will work closely with faculty and research staff to manage and optimize scientific computing environments, including HPC clusters and specialized research servers supporting genomics, imaging analysis, and clinical data workflows, both on‑premises and in the cloud. The ideal candidate will bring strong experience and skills in HPC environments, particularly with Linux and containers solutions, and thrive in a dynamic research setting. You’ll join the Research Computing & Data Science unit with opportunities for professional growth and increasing responsibility as we expand our computational capabilities. This position plays a critical role in enabling world‑class cancer research through reliable and high‑performance computational infrastructures.

Responsibilities

• Administer and support on‑premises HPC SLURM clusters and research servers.
• Design and manage containerized environments (Kubernetes, Singularity / Apptainer, Docker) for applications, services, and scientific workflows.
• Optimize compute and storage configurations for scientific workloads.
• Support hybrid infrastructure including both local and cloud‑based environments.
• Develop automation using scripting and configuration management tools.
• Contribute to system lifecycle planning, capacity management, and resource optimization.
• Provide technical support for research computing projects and scientific applications.
• Experience with scientific workflow management tools (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake) and interest in AI‑driven computational environments will be considered an asset.
• Provide support, training, and documentation for researchers using HPC / cloud resources.
• Collaboration Interface: with IT department on infrastructure integration; with research teams on computational requirements; with computational biologists, data scientists, and bioinformaticians to support them for large‑scale data analyses.
• Maintain system security and compliance, including GDPR and regulated data types.
• Network Storage & Data Transfer: Manage research data storage systems and high‑speed data transfer solutions.

Qualifications

• Strong Linux system administration skills (RedHat / CentOS / Rocky Linux preferred).
• 3+ years public cloud experience (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Strong background in HPC resource management (SLURM preferred).
• Experience with GPU computing and NVIDIA / CUDA environments.
• Containerization tools (Docker, Singularity / Apptainer, Kubernetes).
• Scientific software building / packaging (Spack, Conda, Environment Modules).
• Automation tools (Ansible, Terraform, Puppet).
• Monitoring systems (Prometheus, Grafana).
• Familiarity with data governance and FAIR data principles for scientific research.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field—or equivalent combination of education, training, and at least five years of relevant experience.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in academic / research settings with life science workflows understanding.
• Bilingual capabilities (Italian / English).
• Learning and teamwork attitudes; problem solving; good interpersonal skills; empathy, ability to work in a fast‑paced, agile environment.

What We Offer

International work environment; continuous training; flextime; relocation cost support; Guest house inside the Campus; Agreements with discounts for Gym, Pharmacy, Psychology service and various shops around IFOM area; bar and canteen inside the campus & lunch benefit; Company Nursery; continuous support to candidates and their families (including homing, schooling, registration to the national health system, work permit etc.) thanks to the activities of the Welcome office; Medical Service; Laptop; Caf service - tax declaration; Lab G: it is a lab specifically designed for pregnant or breastfeeding women researchers.

Contract Type

• Permanent contract, full time.

Location

Milano - area Scalo di Porta Romana

Contact

If you are interested in this opportunity, please submit your CV and a letter of interest to :

This job advertisement is addressed to both genders in accordance with Laws 903 / 77 and 125 / 91 and to individuals of all ages and nationalities in accordance with Legislative Decrees 215 / 03 and 216 / 03.