High Performance Computing (HPC) Systems Administrator

Are you passionate about high-performance computing (HPC) and ready to help power research that addresses some of the world’s most complex challenges?

The University of Exeter is seeking an experienced HPC Systems Administrator to join our growing Research IT team. You’ll play a vital role in supporting the University’s strategic investment in Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI), ensuring our compute environment is secure, efficient, and responsive to the needs of our world-leading researchers.

About the Role
Reporting to the Acting HPC Lead, you will be responsible for the operational health, performance, and resilience of the University’s HPC systems. You will work closely with academic users to deliver services that enable data-intensive, compute-intensive, and interdisciplinary research.

This is a hands-on technical role with strategic impact, balancing system optimisation, user experience, and long-term sustainability. You’ll contribute to service design, infrastructure development, and resource planning, while helping to ensure HPC services are accessible, cost-effective, and well-integrated into the wider DRI ecosystem.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Monitor, maintain and optimise the performance, resilience, and reliability of HPC platforms and clusters.
• Manage access control, job scheduling, system patching, and software updates (e.g. Slurm, Lustre, Linux).
• Support researchers with proposal development and compute planning for complex projects.
• Collaborate with academic users and governance groups to align HPC service development with DRI strategy.
• Track and report usage metrics, cost recovery performance, and environmental impact.
• Engage with internal teams and external HPC networks to share learning and shape future services.

About You
We are looking for someone who combines technical expertise with a strong service ethos and the ability to work collaboratively with researchers. You will have:

• Experience managing HPC systems in a Linux environment.
• Proficiency with tools such as Slurm, Lustre, and virtualisation platforms.
• An understanding of research workflows and academic compute needs.
• A proactive approach to performance tuning, sustainability, and user support.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to engage a diverse user base.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification (available on the university's website, accessed by the 'Apply' button) for full details of this role.

We will be reviewing applications as they come in, so please don’t hesitate in applying, as we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.

Why Exeter?
We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world’s most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

Be part of Exeter’s digital transformation in research. If you’re ready to take HPC operations to the next level, we’d love to hear from you.

For further information, contact:
Dr Andrew Cowley, Acting HPC Lead: a.cowley@exeter.ac.uk.

This role may be subject to additional background screening.

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