Hpc Engineer

As a HPC Engineer within the Scientific Computing team you will play a key role in supporting, developing, and operating the High Performance Computing systems used to enable the world-leading research undertaken at the facility.
In addition to HPC, Scientific Computing are responsible for all the science-enabling compute, networking, and storage infrastructure our researchers require, to get the results they need, as quickly as possible. As such, you will be part of a collaborative team of engineers and will contribute to solving any challenges that come our way; there is no limit to what you can learn. Innovation and creativity are encouraged, as well as a desire to automate as much as possible.
Day to day, you will collaborate with the teams responsible for delivering the High Performance storage and networking capabilities at Diamond, working with them to deliver the High Performance data acquisition and analysis platforms required to enable the world class research at the facility.
A primary focus of the HPC Engineer role will be to provide technical expertise on HPC systems, as such the role covers the full HPC infrastructure stack: HPC cluster hardware (CPU, GPU, InfiniBand), Linux operating systems, and cluster job schedulers (currently Altair Grid Engine and Slurm).
Specific responsibilities of the role also include:
* Design, development, installation, commissioning, and operational support of high-performance computing systems.
* Engaging closely with subject matter experts in a variety of technical fields to inform the development of new systems, services, and policies.
* Troubleshooting, diagnosis, and resolution of faults in our clusters.
* Develop of automation tools for system administration tasks.
* Monitoring and analysis of cluster performance metrics, proactively identifying areas where improvements can be made in cluster operations.
* Staying up to date with emerging storage technologies and trends, evaluating their potential impact on research computing for the facility.
Overall, our HPC cluster infrastructure underpins scientific research at Diamond, and there are high demands placed on the availability and performance of the infrastructure to support the 24/7 nature of the work the facility does.
A flexible approach to work is required with some out of hours working during peak times, along with occasional UK and overseas travel.
About You
Ideally you will hold a degree level qualification in a computing or science subject or able to demonstrate equivalent relevant experience commensurate with the responsibilities of the role. Additionally, you will be a keen problem solver and with a demonstrated desire to learn new skills and technologies.
You will have knowledge/experience in the following areas:
* Systems administration of a Linux or Unix platform.
* Configuration management and automation tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet, CFEngine). Knowledge of containerisation and orchestration technologies (e.g. Docker/Singularity, K8S) would be beneficial.
* Common network protocols (e.g. PXE, DHCP, DNS, CIFS, NFS). Knowledge of HPC specific network protocols such as InfiniBand/Omnipath would be beneficial.
* Scripting languages such as Perl or Python is desirable.
* Experience of working with an HPC job scheduler is desirable.
* Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with a keen attention to detail.
* Some project management experience in IT technical delivery.
* Good interpersonal, and communication skills in order to interact with staff, facility users and suppliers.
* Experience of working in a scientific environment and/or providing support to researchers will be advantageous.
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