System administrator Operations

The University of Manchester

The University is a global institution known for innovation, world firsts and brilliant discoveries, with 25 Nobel Prize winners amongst current and former staff and students. The computer revolution started here in 1948 when a machine known affectionately as ‘The Baby’, ran its first stored program. The celebrated wartime codebreaker Alan Turing worked on this computer during his time at Manchester.

The University has committed to becoming one of the world’s leading research institutions through one of the largest investments in facilities ever seen at a UK university, with £750 million spent so far and another £1 billion to follow.

About Research IT (RIT)

Researchers at the University of Manchester carry out world-leading research in many areas — beacons include advanced materials, industrial biotechnology and cancer treatments. RIT is a fast-growing, can-do group within IT Services which closely supports the research community by delivering specialist, e-research capabilities which are critical to the success of their research.

About This Role

This role is within the Research Platforms Team, approx. 25 technical IT specialists — often with a research background themselves. We develop and support e-infrastructure platforms for the University research community including: computationally intensive (e.g., HPC) and data storage; edge computing; and highly-secure platforms for hosting/processing sensitive data. Provision is via both on-site hardware and use of off-site, commercial cloud resources including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive person who will join the Team to:

• help with the development and maintenance of our platforms;
• provide in-depth technical support to our users;
• engage with the research community.

For further detail and to ask questions, you are strongly encouraged to contact simon.hood@manchester.ac.uk or c.heeley@manchester.ac.uk.

Benefits of working at the university are outlined here: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/connect/jobs/benefits-working-here/.

You Will Have — Essential:

• A good working knowledge of either Linux or MS Windows — preferably both, including administration and support.
• A good understanding of the technologies used to deliver computational, storage and virtual machines (VMs).
• The ability to work as an effective part of a team and to establish productive relationships with a wide range of technical and non-technical people including academics, researchers, students, IT staff and research support staff.
• Enthusiasm and initiative: the capacity to anticipate problems and find solutions; the ability to see opportunities and take advantage of them; a desire to learn new skills — both technical and non-technical; and a can-do approach to work as it arises.
• Good face-to-face and written communication skills.

You may have — Desirable:

• Experience working within an academic research environment (or a higher, preferably research, degree).
• A good working knowledge of IT networking technologies (e.g., routing and firewalls).
• An understanding of the principles of cyber security.

Experience:

• using containers (e.g., Docker or Singularity) and/or Cloud-based platforms (e.g., AWS or Azure);
• installing and supporting scientific applications software;
• of using at least one high-level programming language such as BASH, Perl or Python;
• of the working principles of research data management.

When completing the additional information section of your application, please ensure you make reference to the job description and person specification above, as this will form an integral part of the shortlisting process.

As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Blended working arrangements may be considered

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Email: simon.hood@manchester.ac.uk or c.heeley@manchester.ac.uk.

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria.