Winterover Experiment Operator

Universities of Wisconsin•Madison, WI

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Winterovers deploy to the South Pole for an estimated 13 months. Technical work includes operating and maintaining IceCube detector subsystems and complex computer data systems, uploading research data by satellite to the northern hemisphere, analyzing and resolving detector-electronics problems, providing hardware and software support, preparing reports for the IceCube collaboration and the National Science Foundation, and participating in Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center outreach activities. Winterovers are members of a small, isolated South Pole community for eight months of the year. Community duties include participating in fire or trauma response teams, kitchen tasks, general cleaning, and station opening and closing duties. Winterovers attend the NSF contractor orientation program and must pass physical and psychological evaluations for work at polar and high-altitude sites. Vaccination is required as specified by the NSF Office of Polar Programs.

Requirements

Experience with Linux/Unix operating systems, including configuring core services and network management.
Experience writing scripts for system diagnostics and/or task automation, such as Bash, Python, or Perl.
Ability to take initiative and work as a self-starter.
Excellent communication and organization skills.
Bachelor's degree required.
Must pass physical and psychological evaluations for work at polar and high-altitude sites.
Must meet vaccination requirements specified by the NSF Office of Polar Programs.

Nice To Haves

Experience with operational procedures for scientific instruments or industrial equipment.
Knowledge of computer systems security methodology and experience with host-based security tools.
High-performance computing hardware maintenance and debugging skills.
Experience with data storage products such as RAID disk arrays.
Understanding of TCP/IP networking.
Familiarity with configuration management systems such as Puppet, Ansible, or Chef.
Experience with centralized IT monitoring solutions such as Nagios, CheckMK, or Zabbix.
Ability to use standard laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes and digital multimeters.
General electronics debugging and repair skills.
Experience working at polar and/or high-altitude sites and remote locations.
Master's degree or Ph.D. in engineering, physics, computer science, or IT with at least 3 years of professional, job-related experience; or a bachelor's degree with at least 5 years of professional, job-related experience.

Responsibilities

Write and update documentation and tutorials supporting research cyberinfrastructure activities; may provide brief courses for internal researchers and external collaborators (15%).
Participate in station emergency response team activities, general station cleaning, and other station activities as required by ASC/NSF (5%).
Develop custom cyberinfrastructure solutions for research needs (10%).
Lead troubleshooting, analysis, operation, and support of advanced computing systems for research using cyberinfrastructure expertise (45%).
Serve as a cyberinfrastructure domain expert and provide direct support to users, user-support staff, and advanced computing systems (15%).
Participate in IceCube/WIPAC outreach activities where possible (5%).
Provide consultation and expertise for research proposals; may lead cyberinfrastructure projects or serve as a Co-Principal Investigator (5%).
Operate and maintain IceCube detector subsystems and South Pole computer data systems.
Upload research data by satellite to the northern hemisphere.
Analyze and resolve detector-electronics problems and provide hardware and software support.
Write and submit weekly reports to the collaboration and monthly reports to the National Science Foundation.
Participate in community duties such as fire or trauma response, kitchen tasks, cleaning, and station opening and closing.