Unix Computing Manager

Unix Computing Manager

Location: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell, Oxfordshire

Together, our scientists, technologists, engineers, and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us. Whether it’s sending probes into space or finding new ways to treat cancer, everyone here plays a vital role in making a positive difference to society.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when you’re surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn, and empowered to explore your curiosity.

STFC is a world-leading, multi-disciplinary science organisation. Our goal is to deliver economic, societal, scientific and international benefits to the UK and its people – and more broadly to the world. We have large-scale scientific facilities in the UK and Europe used by thousands of scientists performing thousands of experiments every year. The facilities provide a range of research techniques to help scientists better understand our world and the universe!

As the RAL Space Linux/Unix computing manager your primary focus is to provide management for a varied and complex set of systems that underpin the scientific work undertaken by the department.

The main duties include the management, operation and maintenance of Linux/Unix based computing facilities. These should be cost-effective, reliable and above all else secure. This post will report to the Computing Group Leader and the key responsibilities are:

• Assist building compliance with processes and policies
• Build resilience into system design, ensuring high availability
• Reduce energy requirements, designing sustainable solutions
• Provide second and third level technical support on incidents and problems
• Monitor overall system performance and ensure smooth system functionality
• Create, maintain, and utilise documentation
• A desire to improve processes, looking for the root causes of problems
• A willingness to both share your knowledge and learn from others
• A proactive approach towards looking for risks and problems
• Working closely with other teams, sharing resources and knowledge
• Train and develop the skills of junior members of the team

Skills Requirement

• Excellent interpersonal/communication skills, and the ability to work as part of a team
• Strong working knowledge of Unix system fundamentals and common network protocols
• Experience managing Linux/UNIX systems in a heterogeneous environment.
• Ability to identify requirements and to define, plan, and implement requisite solutions
• Ability to plan, organise, prioritise tasks, and complete assigned projects with minimal supervision
• Excellent organisation and time management skills
• Experience deploying and maintaining virtualised environments
• Solid Linux system management on Red Hat/Centos/Ubuntu/Suse.
• Sound knowledge on cluster software on xCAT, KVM.

We ask some of the biggest questions in the universe, to answer some of the biggest challenges in the world. Whatever our role, we have the freedom to explore, learn and connect, as part of a community that loves to share knowledge and support one another.

As one of Europe’s largest research organisations, this is a place where there’s always something new to learn – about the world around us, about your career, but most of all, about yourself. Join us and discover what’s possible.

Employee Benefits:

We are offering a position that provides a whole host of benefits including 30 days holiday (in addition to bank holidays), an excellent defined average salary pension scheme, employee shopping/travel discounts, a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme, plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance.

Full details of offered benefits can be found on STFC’s careers pages.

UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.

To Apply

Applicants are required to include a CV and cover letter detailing their suitability for the role.

The closing date for applications is 26th February 2023.