Hybrid Systems Administrator – Department of Physics and Astronomy

The Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for a (Hybrid) Systems Administrator.

The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center Systems Administrator will be primarily responsible for: developing and maintaining web-accessible data storage of NANOGrav and related pulsar search radio telescope observations; maintaining and innovating the NANOGrav cyber‑infrastructure (IE:
Jupyter Notebook Server, Google Workspace, Data Transfer and Processing Pipelines, Containerization of Science Software, Drupal Website, Self‑Hosted Wiki and Git Lab instances, etc); maintaining shared Linux‑based High Performance Compute resources (IE: software installation, security patches, hardware replacement, etc); and training undergraduate and graduate students across multiple institutions in the use of various software and development best practices.

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year or more based on years of service
• 18 sick days per year
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks
• Wellness programs

• Maintain and develop software systems to adapt to the changing scientific needs of the collaboration.
• Maintain enterprise‑grade, rack‑mounted computational hardware for data processing and storage.
• Respond to user requests and issues on the managed systems and with our software stack.
• Monitor, identify, and correct software and hardware defects.
• Problem‑solve and think laterally as part of a team, or individually, to meet the needs of the project.
• Manage user accounts on various computational platforms (IE: Active Directory and Google Workspace).
• Ensure that all cyber‑infrastructure adheres to university cyber‑security protocols.
• Provide quality assessment support for regulatory, contract, policy and/or program activities and matters.

• Bachelor’s degree in a computer related field required.
• A minimum of four (4) years of professional computing experience.
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

• Maintaining and administering Linux‑based servers.
• A knowledge of software containers, including Docker.
• A working knowledge of the Python programming language.
• A working knowledge of automation of software operations.
• Familiarity with NAS Software and enterprise‑grade JBoDs (IE: Lustre
  
  FS, ZFS, etc).
• Advanced skill in the design/development of new software and git‑powered version control.
• Skilled at analyzing needs and product requirements to fulfill the cyber‑infrastructure requirements of the collaboration.
• Skilled in determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
• Skilled at generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work with a diverse work group.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Advanced knowledge of consumer electronics, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong.
• Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.

• Master’s degree.

West Virginia University