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Research Storage Systems Senior Specialist/Specialist

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Aug 14, 2017

Job Details

Job Purpose

Job Summary

The Research Storage Systems Specialist is a member of the Team that has responsibility for the set of centrally operated, inter-related services in the BEAR (Birmingham Environment for Academic Research) portfolio.

The Research Storage Systems Systems Specialist is responsible primarily for the day to day operation and support of the sophisticated storage infrastructure that underpins all BEAR services, including the High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters, our private Openstack Cloud, our Visualisation centre etc.

These highly specialised, powerful and complex computing systems are fundamental to world-class research across a broad spectrum of academic endeavour.

The post holder is responsible for:

• Maintenance, support and development of the BEAR storage infrastructure
• Ensuring the security and efficient operation of all elements of the storage infrastructure from Cloud to Tape to ensure delivery of BEAR services and the protection of data.
• Informing and supporting outreach activity to enable exploitation of BEAR by a broader, and potentially non-traditional, user-base

Work context

Research Computing services at the University use complex, large-scale architectures based on Linux, Openstack and parallel filesystems. These need to be configured and maintained to the highest possible standards of reliability, performance and quality. Business continuity and high service levels are demanded equally for research as well as other mission-critical corporate functions.

As the Research Storage Systems Specialist, the post holder is central to the delivery and reliability of these advanced computing systems.

The University of Birmingham has a record of sustained investment in HPC over many years. Over the past 5 years, both the services and Team have expanded considerably and now deliver enterprise class storage for researchers as well as new, private-cloud offerings, based on Openstack along with various tools for collaboration. The Team has built a reputation for quality and innovation. With further investment secured to support HPC, Cloud and Storage services, the Team has embarked on a major development programme.

For further information on BEAR services, see www.birmingham.ac.uk/BEAR

In addition the University is part of the HPC MidlandsPlus consortium (funded by EPSRC) providing and sharing Tier 2 compute and storage facilities

Organisation Chart
 

Person Specification

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience Required
(Please give details of the knowledge, skills, qualifications, and experience for the job that are required in order to carry out the post effectively.)

  • Formal education to degree level in a computer science related subject or equivalent experience.
  • Specific expertise and experience managing large-scale storage systems
  • Experience of working with parallel filesystems, their configuration and operation, especially IBM Spectrum Scale and associated backup
  • Experience as a Linux or Unix system administrator is essential
  • Proficiency in scripting skills in BASH and Python is essential.
  • A sound understanding of storage infrastructure technologies such as SAN, IB, direct attached, SAS is desirable
  • Experience of using or operating Object Storage systems would be an advantage e.g. CEPH, WOS, COS
  • A sound understanding of TCP/IP networking design and operation
  • A sound understanding of fabric technologies
  • Experience of cloud and container technologies e.g. OpenStack, Docker would be an advantage
  • Experience of iRods or other meta data management systems is desirable
  • Good customer relationship management skills.
  • Proven ability to work as part of a team to deliver services.
  • A self-motivated learner with a track record of continually updating skills.
  • Excellent organizational skills
  • Good communication skills, both written and oral.
  • Good broad knowledge of C&IT, including latest technology industry trends.
  • Knowledge of Higher Education, Research and its environment.
  • Familiarity with ITIL or similar service management framework desirable




Communication skills

Please detail the people the postholder deals with regularly – what is the nature of the communication? What skills are needed in order to deal successfully with the contacts?

Contact Purpose/skills required

Colleagues within IT Services To agree storage requirements, negotiate service levels, communicate system problems and proposed solutions.
Academics at all levels in Colleges Outreach on storage and data related matters to embed understanding of the risks and issues as well as embed good practice

Providing accessible documentation

  • Responding to user queries, including in the event of data loss.
  • External suppliers Technical investigation of supplier’s products
  • To investigate, upgrade, install and maintain storage services.
  • PG students Training
  • Peers and (international) conference attendees Presenting complex technical ideas and case studies
  • Global open source community Acquisition and provision of contributions

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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