Details
Posted: 07-May-22
Location: Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Type: Full-time
Salary: Open
Boston College IntroductionFounded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,445 full-time undergraduates and 5,125 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 878 full-time and 1,201 FTE faculty, 2,750 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.2 billion, and an endowment in excess of $2.8 billion.
Job DescriptionThe Research SystemsAdministrator is a member of Research Services at Boston College. ResearchServices provides consultation, research support and training to students,faculty and staff in a variety of domains such as statistics and statisticalsoftware, scientific computation, computational mathematics, GIS, surveys andqualitative research. Research Services also offers support with coding,databases, web technologies, and administration for research-oriented computinghardware based within departments and institutes.
Provides primarily Linuxserver administration and some Windows server administration. The role sets upand manages physical and virtual systems for research and teaching for theneeds of academic departments, research labs, the Boston College's ResearchCore Facilities (cutting-edge shared resources that offer services in multipledomains including high-end instrumentation and education), and/or the Institutefor Scientific Research (the largest sponsored research center at BostonCollege specializing in space physics, space chemistry, solar-terrestrialresearch, space weather, and astrophysical studies).
Administers specializedteaching and research software such as MestreNova,Scilligence ELN, and CPRLocal, used by Research CoreFacilities and the wider research community at Boston College. The role employsscripting to automate various system administration processes and to tieinstruments to storage and computation.
This individual design,implements and maintains research- and computation-oriented solutions involvingvirtualization and containerization on BC's HPC Linux cluster and on cloudservices such as AWS and GCP. The role sets up and maintainscomputation-oriented instances on AWS and GCP. Helps promote technologiesfor teaching and research, and stays abreast of emerging trends and solutions.
Responsibilities/Competencies:
- Provides Linux server and some Windows server administration services
- Sets up and maintains virtual machines and containerized research/teaching applications both on BC's HPC Linux cluster and on cloud services such as AWS and GCP
- Sets up and maintains cloud instances on AWS and GCP, and servers for research and teaching
- Employs scripting to automate system administration tasks and processes
- Works with faculty and researchers to understand their current and future needs, and develops solutions to address them
- Installs and manages specialized teaching and research software
- Explores and promotes technologies that facilitate teaching and research
- Develops and delivers training on topics related to research and teaching technologies, scripting and automation
- Acts as a liaison between researchers and other functional areas within the department
- Commitment to continuous learning and skill development
In addition to expected baseline competencies this individual must:
- Understand the mission and strategic goals of the University
- Be able to view and understand the implications of the larger picture both within Research Services and the University at large
- Identify and understand complex challenges, work through the challenges and recommend appropriate solutions
- Be oriented to innovative approaches to problem solving
- Must have proven competencies to work in a team environment that aspires to service excellence with strong individual organizational, planning and communication skills
Two positions are available and will be hired atone of the following levels, depending on their experience:
Senior Research SystemsAdministrator: Minimum five years ofrelevant system administration experience. Minimum three years of experience inan academic/research environment. Minimum one year of experience withvirtualization, containerization and cloud platforms. Salary range: 99k - 115k
Research Systems Administrator: Minimum three years of relevant system administration experience. Minimum of one-year experience in an academic/researchenvironment. Salary range: 92k - 99k
Requirements- Bachelor's degree
- Hands-on experience with setting up and managing Linux and Windows physical and virtual servers
- Experience in an academic/research environment
- Ability to script (for example, to automate system administration tasks and processes, tie instruments to storage and computation)
- Willingness to learn and adapt to changing needs and scope of work
- Knowledge and experience with container technology and/or cloud platforms; experience with code-to-infrastructure systems is an advantage
- Experience with HPC systems administration is an advantage
- Experience with database administration is an advantage
- Ability to work with faculty and researchers to address their research technology needs
- Oriented to innovative approaches to problem solving
- Excellent verbal, written (including documenting code) and interpersonal communications skills to include presentation skills and the ability to influence others
Closing StatementBoston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:
- Tuition remission for Employees
- Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
- Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Low-Cost Life Insurance
- Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
- Paid Holidays Annually
- Generous Sick and Vacation Pay
- Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook
Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process and requires all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Boston College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/offices/diversity.
Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination.
