HPC Systems Administrator

Overview

Job Description:

Applicants should attach a resume and cover letter in PDF format to the Supporting Documents section of the application.

About Rice:
Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system that supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff, and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

We are seeking an HPC Systems Administrator to join our growing organization. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Research Computing, the HPC Systems Administrator works with the HPC team to perform specialized functions for systems installation, management, problem-solving, and solution design, and serves as the primary backup for the lead HPC Systems Engineer. Additional technical functions include the implementation and support of HPC research environments, including databases, containers, HPC and hybrid/cloud compute and storage services, and security and access controls.

The incumbent will participate on the HPC Systems and User-Facing team to proactively and reactively identify and solve operational and software problems running on our HPC systems and collaborate with Rice Information Security to properly secure the environment and any related information services, whether cloud-based or on-premise.

Additionally, while this is primarily a systems-facing role, the incumbent may participate in the training of scholars and students on campus in the use of the HPC and research computing facilities to support research, education, and outreach to industrial and governmental partners. The ideal candidate has experience managing HPC systems in research environments and the ability to collaborate with colleagues across the Rice IT organization to provide best-in-class HPC services.

This position is an on-site (in-person) role. A hybrid work arrangement may be considered after the probationary period. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible position, and the proposed salary range is $80,000 to $92,500 annually, depending on qualifications and experience. Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

• Bachelor’s degree
  • In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted
• 2+ years of hands-on Linux system administration building and operating HPC clusters.
  • In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted.

• Managing Linux clusters in production-oriented research/HPC environments (Slurm / Open OnDemand; RunAI)
• Managing container environments for HPC services/workflows (Docker/Kubernetes)
• Scripting and automation (Python, Bash, Ansible)
• Managing HPC networking (Infini Band, Omni-Path, NDR)
• Managing and monitoring shared HPC resources
• Working well independently and as a team member
• Supporting and documenting HPC environments

• Experience supporting accelerator (GPU) ecosystems for AI/ML and scientific workloads
• Experience with automated management of Linux HPC clusters (Warewulf, Terraform)
• Experience building and managing containers with Docker, Podman, and/or Kubernetes
• E…