Senior IT System Administrator

Location: South Kensington Campus 

Job Summary 

The Data Science Institute (DSI) maintains several critical services as part of the research infrastructure available to staff.

The DSI Cloud is a 100+ servers' OpenStack infrastructure available for various research projects. This infrastructure comprises the bulk of tasks for the candidate and will require to be able to work in autonomy at our remote Slough location periodically (~ once a month, with paid expenses). The setup is spread across equipment in our remote data centre and also on campus in South Kensington. 

You will be expected to support the maintenance of the DSI Cloud, working closely with the System and Infrastructure Operation Manager to ensure the smooth operation and running of the DSI infrastructure.

Practical experience working with Debian/Ubuntu-based system with Docker and LXC is required. Beginner knowledge of automation tooling such as Ansible is desired. Beginner knowledge of Windows Server and associated concepts (Active Directory, Group Policies) is necessary. 

Duties and responsibilities

On a day-to-day basis you be expected to:

• Plan and oversee the technical running of the DSI Cloud.
• Allocate resources and provide technical support for students and staff using the DSI Cloud.
• Set and monitor technical standards on the DSI equipment, including OS and hardware updates.
• Configure and maintain the Ubuntu and Windows Server installations in DSI Cloud.
• Show of initiative to solve problems at a moment’s notice particularly important due to the volume of visitors to the DO.
• Contribute to the development of new service health check infrastructure on the cloud.

Long term objectives for the role:

• Demonstrate depth of knowledge in technical expertise about DSI Cloud related technologies.
• Collaborate on the design of the next version of the DSI Cloud, which will allow new use-cases, faster infrastructure, and more reliable services.
• Experiment with latest hardware and software to improve the reliability and performance of the existing services.
• Project Management involving hardware and software acquisition, configuration, and deployment.
• Contribute to Open-Source Projects maintained by the Data Science Institute.

Essential requirements

• BSc in Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline (or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience
• OpenStack Cloud administration
• Light-weight administration of Windows Server Forest
• Deployment and commissioning of datacentre hardware
• OpenStack Services and architecture
• Ubuntu-based operating system management
• Excellent understanding of IT security practices
• Docker and LXD containerisation
• Network Equipment Management (Huawei CE Switch/FS/Cisco Stacks)
• Ceph Storage Management

Further Information

This position is full time and fixed-term for 1 year with a possibility of extension.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Arek Ciechacki – a.ciechacki@imeprial.ac.uk

The College is currently trialling a Work Location Framework until early 2023. Hybrid working may be considered for this role and the role holder may be expected to work 60% or more of their time onsite, with 40% the minimum time spent onsite. The opportunity for hybrid working will be discussed at interview.

Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment. We are an Athena SWAN Silver award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident Employer and work in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.

Closing date: 13/10/2023

To apply, visit www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs and search by the job reference ENG02723

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