Systems Engineer, HPC/Storage

Columbia University Irving Medical Center; New York (NY); On-site; USD 107,000 - 117,000; Full time

Job summary

Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) seeks a Systems Engineer, HPC & Storage to modernize, operate, and support its research infrastructure. This role collaborates with researchers, faculty, and IT teams in a 24x7 environment and may require after-hours support for critical incidents.

The ideal candidate will bring deep technical expertise in HPC, storage, virtualization, and cloud integration, with a strong service orientation and excellent communication abilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, plus four years of related experience.
• Expert-level proficiency in systems automation and scripting.
• Strong TCP/IP, IB networking, and virtualization skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and customer-service orientation.
• Ability to lift equipment up to 50 lbs.

Responsibilities

• HPC modernization and infrastructure engineering.
• Server and cluster administration across Linux, SLURM, and databases.
• Enterprise storage management for large-scale systems.
• Maintain and optimize scientific software and tool chains.
• Virtualization and cloud integration support.
• Identity and access management and compliance enforcement.
• Resource accounting and collaboration in cross-functional teams.

Skills

Systems automation

Scripting

Networking

Virtualization

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Red Hat / Rocky Linux

SLURM

VAST / Weka / Isilon

Apptainer/Singularity

MATLAB / Python / CUDA

Job description

Grade 105

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $106,699 - $116,699

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Summary

Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), part of a premier Ivy League institution and home to nearly 100 Nobel laureates, advances world-class biomedical and computational research spanning cancer genetics, genomics, molecular biology, and AI-driven discovery. The CUIMC Central IT (CUIMCIT) High-Performance Computing (HPC) team supports this mission through a rapidly evolving research computing environment featuring advanced GPU platforms, large-scale parallel storage, hybrid cloud integration, and next-generation scientific software.

We are seeking an experienced Systems Engineer, HPC & Storage to help modernize, operate, and support this mission-critical research infrastructure. The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise, a strong service orientation, and the ability to collaborate effectively with faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and technical teams. This position participates in a 24x7 operational model and may require occasional off-hours support for critical incidents.

Responsibilities

• HPC Modernization & Infrastructure Engineering
  • Support the ongoing modernization of CUIMC’s HPC environment, including GPU-accelerated computing, high-speed interconnects, and next-generation clusters.
  • Contribute to lifecycle planning, hardware refreshes, and the integration of new compute and enterprise storage technologies.
  • Expand hybrid cloud capabilities and campus-wide research computing.
• Server & Cluster Administration
  • Manage and maintain high-performance research computing servers, including Enterprise Linux distributions (Red Hat / Rocky Linux), SLURM/HPC clusters, and database infrastructures.
  • Monitor system performance, reliability, and capacity across compute nodes and shared infrastructure.
• Enterprise Storage & Big Data Management
  • Administer large-scale parallel storage systems (such as VAST, Weka, or Isilon), including access control, quotas, advanced performance tuning, and backups.
  • Support the modernization of high-speed storage platforms to meet exponential data demands in genomics, high-resolution imaging, and AI workloads.
• Scientific Software & Research Applications
  • Maintain, optimize, and deploy high-performance environments for scientific applications and tool chains such as MATLAB, Python, R, CUDA, PyTorch, Jupyter, container runtimes (Apptainer/Singularity), Grafana, Open On Demand.
  • Collaborate directly with researchers to troubleshoot computational workflows, optimize parallel jobs, and support emerging computational methodologies.
• Virtualization & Cloud Integration
  • Manage KVM-based virtualization platforms and integrate on-premises infrastructure with campus and cloud resources.
  • Support containerization, and modern DevOps practices where applicable.
• Identity & Access Management & Compliance
  • Administer user accounts, multi-protocol permissions, and group policies within enterprise Active Directory environments.
  • Enforce security best practices to ensure system stability, data integrity, and adherence to institutional compliance standards (e.g., HIPAA, NIST 800-53/171).
• Resource Accounting & Collaboration
  • Manage computing resource allocations, usage tracking, and service metrics.
  • Represent CUIMCIT in technical committees, change-management processes, and cross-functional research computing initiatives.
• Additional Duties
  • Perform other responsibilities as assigned by the HPC Team Director.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in education and experience, plus four (4) years of related experience
• Expert-level proficiency in systems automation and scripting (e.g., Bash, Python, PowerShell).
• Strong command of TCP/IP and IB networking, and virtualization technologies.
• Excellent written/verbal communication skills and demonstrated customer-service orientation toward academic researchers.
• Ability to lift equipment up to 50 lbs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of 2-4 years of hands‑on experience supporting large-scale technical environments, preferably in HPC or research computing.
• Advanced degree in computer science, or related discipline.
• Professional certifications in Linux administration, enterprise storage, networking, or cloud technologies.
• Direct, hands‑on experience managing enterprise parallel filesystems (e.g., VAST, Weka, Quobyte, Isilon) and workload managers (e.g., SLURM).
• Background in academic medical centers or high-performance research computing environments supporting sensitive data (PHI).
• Knowledge of modern ML/AI technologies.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.