HPC Systems Engineer
About The Position
As part of NCAR’s High-Performance Computing Systems Group (HSG), the HPC Systems Engineer provides systems engineering and technical support for CISL high-performance computational systems, storage systems, archival systems, high-performance networks, and data transfer services. The environment includes multi-vendor resources and specialized hardware, requiring coordination and communication with other groups and stakeholders. Production systems are located at the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The engineer must work at the NWSC during some system installations, upgrades, or troubleshooting. The position includes a periodic 24x7 on-call rotation and occasional travel to the center, approximately 90 miles north of Boulder. The role covers installation, integration, engineering, maintenance, administration, troubleshooting, and operation of hardware and software systems, including large-scale computational systems, scheduling environments, high-speed networks, and storage. It also involves system management, monitoring, resource control, data and archival services, cloud and network services, performance tuning, and benchmarking. The engineer monitors systems routinely, addresses unusual or failed operating conditions, may repair failed hardware, and provides advanced on-call troubleshooting for users, CISL teams, and vendor personnel. The position also contributes activity reports and may represent the group in organizational meetings, presentations, and conferences.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a computer-related or engineering field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience; an Associate’s degree plus four years of work experience is given as an example.
- Skill with multiple operating systems, including Linux, and with scripting and programming languages.
- Experience in a Linux environment, particularly networking, storage, performance, and installation and management in a Linux-based supercomputer environment.
- Experience with Linux scripting languages and at least one higher-level programming language.
- Experience with job scheduling systems such as PBS or SLURM.
- Experience with clustered file systems such as Spectrum Scale or Lustre, and clustered system management tools and techniques.
- Experience with at least one form of HPC storage, such as block, object, cloud, or tape.
- Experience with version control and configuration management systems.
- Experience with disaster recovery of single-image systems and clusters.
- Skill or familiarity with HPC and HPS software analysis, design, and development.
- Skill or familiarity with HPC and HPS networking, high-performance interconnects, and security.
- Skill or familiarity with installation and integration of HPC and/or HPS hardware and software.
- Skill or familiarity with developing technical specifications for RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs.
- Skill or familiarity with upgrading hardware and software stacks on HPC and HPS systems.
- Ability to travel occasionally to the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputer Center.
- Ability to serve in a periodic 24x7 on-call rotation with other staff.
Nice To Haves
- No separate preferred qualifications are specified; the posting labels its additional role details as “Preferred Qualifications.”
Responsibilities
- Perform systems engineering and technical support for high-performance computing, storage, archival, networking, and data transfer systems.
- Install, integrate, engineer, maintain, administer, troubleshoot, and operate HPC and HPS hardware and software systems.
- Manage system deployment, monitoring, resource control, statistical data gathering, data transfer, data management, data archiving, cloud services, network services, performance tuning, and benchmarking.
- Monitor systems and related hardware routinely to ensure proper and efficient operations.
- Alert staff, vendor representatives, and operations personnel to anomalous conditions and take remedial action as needed.
- Diagnose and potentially repair failed hardware components.
- Provide advanced 7x24 on-call troubleshooting and resolution for system-related problems reported by users, CISL sections, and vendor engineers or analysts.
- Coordinate and consult with other staff and stakeholders to resolve issues.
- Travel to and work at the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center during system installation, upgrades, or troubleshooting.
- Provide regular reports on HPC Systems Group activities and potentially contribute to the NCAR Annual Scientific Report and development plans.
- Attend group, divisional, and laboratory meetings and potentially represent the group at organizational meetings, user-group presentations, conferences, and planning meetings.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, and short- and long-term disability insurance.
- Retirement plan with a stated UCAR contribution of 10% of base salary.
- Time-off plans, including a minimum of 20 days of annual PTO and 10 paid holidays.
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
- FAMLI Leave.
- Tuition Assistance Program.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligible employer.
- Employee assistance programs.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
