System Administrator (Operations)

Job reference: PSX-029152
Salary: £46,735 to £57,422 per annum, dependent on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Professional Services
Location: Oxford Road
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: IT Services Research IT
Hours Per Week: Full Time (1 FTE)
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/07/2025
Contract Duration: 12 months
School/Directorate: Directorate of IT Services

Overall purpose of the job

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

This role will support the Edge Compute and Satellite Storage Service, within the Research Platforms Team, within RIT. It is primary focusing on supporting the National X-Ray Computed Tomography (NXCT) facilities, which includes systems administration of the Digital Imaging Laboratory (DIL), staff workstations and PC attached to instruments.

The NXCT (https://nxct.ac.uk/) is a National Research Facility that provides a paid-for customer service to academic and industrial researchers from across the UK. NXCT runs over 500 projects, provides over 60000 hours of computing access and trains over 100 researchers each year.

Key responsibilities, accountabilities and duties

• You will be expected to demonstrate a commitment to the IT Services Practice Charter and the University’s values. The University of Manchester values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
• Managing Digital Imaging Laboratory (DIL), which includes (but not limited to):
  • Installation of new hardware, workstations, etc.
  • Installation and maintenance of general and specific software
  • Comply with IT Security regulations, regular updates and patching
  • Manage, both internal and external, access to DIL workstations
  • Manage licenses and usage monitoring.
• Managing workstations and PC attached to lab instruments, including security measures to ensure the accessibility and functioning of those systems.
• Managing NXCT Server room servers including installation of new servers, upgrading, patching and installation of necessary software.
• Manages the storage and backup systems to provide agreed service levels.
• You may from time to time be required to undertake other duties of a similar nature as reasonably required by your line manager.

Person specification

Essential

Previous relevant work experience.

• An in-depth knowledge of the Linux operating system or MS Windows — preferably both — including administration and support.
• A good working knowledge of: data storage protocols (e.g., NFS, SMB); networking (TCP/IP, firewalls, routing); VMs and containers (e.g., VMware, Docker, Singularity) and NAS devices.
• Experience with access rights and ACLs (both in Windows and Linux).
• Experience in problem solving, general fault finding and resolution.
• The ability to work as an effective part of a team and to establish productive relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of skills.
• Enthusiasm, initiative and flexibility: the capacity to anticipate both problems and opportunities and take appropriate action; a desire to learn and a can-do approach to work as it arises.

Desirable

• Experience working within an academic research environment (or a higher, preferably research, degree).
• Experience with Active Directory and/or LDAP.
• Experience with parallel file systems, particularly GPFS is an advantage.
• Experience of using at least one high-level programming language such as BASH, Perl or Python.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Simon Hood

Email: Simon.Hood@manchester.ac.uk

Advert information