Systems Administrator

About Calico

Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet‑founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies and model systems to increase our understanding of the biology that controls human aging. Calico will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Calico’s highly innovative technology labs, its commitment to curiosity‑driven discovery science, and, with academic and industry partners, its vibrant drug‑development pipeline, together create an inspiring and exciting place to catalyze and enable medical breakthroughs.

Systems Administrator

San Francisco, CA

The Systems Administrator is a member of Calico’s Information Technology team and manages physical and virtual servers, data storage, compute clusters, and cloud infrastructure used by Calico scientists. This position works closely with scientists who are leaders in their fields, advising and assisting them with their data science and high‑performance computing needs. We are seeking a resourceful individual with expertise in a variety of system administration functional areas who enjoys delivering high performance computing and data solutions to a dynamic, creative research and development organization.

• Provision, monitor, and support Calico’s on‑premises and cloud‑based high‑performance computing clusters, storage, virtual machines, and projects
• Diagnose, isolate, and resolve complex application and system technical problems
• Implement and document system architectures, new capabilities, and operational standards
• Participate in the design and maintenance of Calico’s cloud environment for data science and research computing
• Support technology evaluations and assessments
• Work in cooperation with Calico technology partners, including Google Enterprise Network, Google Professional Services, sponsored research partners, and Contract Research Organizations

• 3+ years Linux system administration experience
• Familiarity with common computer hardware: DIMMs, disks, networking
• Shell scripting and basic utility programming (e.g., Python) expertise
• Ability to provision cloud resources using scripts, APIs, and deployment managers
• Passion for providing excellent customer service and enthusiasm to assist scientific software developers and data scientists
• Curiosity and interest to acquire knowledge in cloud computing and biotechnology topics, methods, and applications
• Self‑motivated and able to work without close supervision
• Must be willing to work onsite at least 4 days a week

• Expertise in two or more of the following areas:
  • Google Cloud Platform console, cloud services, security policies, and permissions
  • Deploying and managing virtual machines, managed databases, and services on a major cloud platform (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP)
  • Docker/Kubernetes cluster deployment and administration
  • CI/CD management, automation scripts experience with tools (e.g., bash scripting, Power Shell, Terraform, Ansible, Salt, Chef, Puppet, etc.)
  • Source repository administration (e.g., Git, SVN)
  • Compute cluster provisioning (e.g., Bright Cluster Manager) and resource management (e.g., SLURM)
  • Installation and configuration of system management, monitoring/alerting tools (e.g., Nagios, Prometheus, Zabbix)
  • Directory and naming services management (Active Directory, LDAP, DNS)
  • Complex performance analysis including system processes, I/O subsystems, networks and other related components
  • Bare metal server provisioning, lifecycle management, and hardware troubleshooting (e.g., PXE boot, automated OS installation, firmware/BIOS management, RAID configuration, out‑of‑band management such as iLO/iDRAC/BMC)
  • NFS (OpenZFS) and Samba network storage management
  • Cluster file systems (e.g., Ceph, Lustre)
  • Life cycle data management for business continuance, disaster recovery and archive
  • Common data science and machine learning algorithms in platforms such as Python or R
  • Biotechnology methods and applications
  • Securing and managing Protected Health Information, Personally Identifiable Information (e.g., dbGaP or PHI datasets)

The estimated base salary range for this role is $137,000 – $169,000. Actual pay will be based on a number of factors including experience and qualifications. This position is also eligible for two annual cash bonuses.