Linux System Administrator Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

The Office of Information Technology, High Performance & Scientific Computing group at The University of Tennessee Knoxville is seeking qualified applicants for a System Administrator position which will perform a key role in evaluating, deploying, maintaining, securing, and operating the research cyberinfrastructure resources used to support the research mission of the University. Under the guidance of the High Performance & Scientific Computing Manger and Executive Director of Research Computing, this individual will have knowledge of system administration and be part of a team that manages centralized high performance computing and storage resources, a secure research computing environment, and works with faculty and researchers to make effective use of the resources for research.

Required Qualifications 

• Due to regulatory requirements the successful candidate(s) must be a U. S. citizen or legal permanent resident with a green card

• Education: Master's degree in computer science, data science, information technology, engineering field, bioinformatics, genomics, or hard sciences field.

• Experience: Three years performing information technology administration - experience can be substituted for equivalent time pursuing education related to information technology at an institution of higher education

• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

  • Knowledge of system administrator role, duties, and activities for Linux-based information technology systems

  • Knowledge of information technology administrator technologies, best practices, and troubleshooting techniques

  • Knowledge of installation and use of Red Hat Linux or other Linux operating systems

  • Knowledge and proficiency in configuring, operating and managing a large information technology environment 

  • Knowledge and skill in operating and maintaining Ethernet based networking equipment and systems

  • Experience with batch schedulers such as Slurm, Torque + MOAB, or HTCondor

  • Skills in writing and interpersonal communication - writing sample, manuscript, or cover letter required.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Education: PhD in computer science, data science, information technology, engineering field, bioinformatics, genomics, or hard sciences field.

• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

  • Knowledge and proficiency in high performance computing technology (hardware, software and services)

  • Knowledge of operation and support of Lustre parallel file system technologies

  • Knowledge of hardware, software and services in cloud computing technologies

  • Knowledge of best practices and technologies related to research computing in a University environment

  • Knowledge of installation and use of Windows based operating systems

  • Knowledge of CMMC policies and procedures such as NIST 800-171 or NIST 800-53

  • Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA), Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), Red Hat Certified Specialist in (RHCS Virtualization) or Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform certifications preferred

  • Experience with Icinga, SolarWinds, or XDMod monitoring tools

  • Experience with the use of Microsoft productivity tools, such as, Teams, OneDrive, and Sharepoint

  • Experience with ticketing systems such as Team Dynamics

  • Experience with Ansible, Puppet, Chef, or Salt/SaltStack provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment  
  • Experience with InfiniBand or other high-performance networking (eg. Omni-Path ultra ethernet)

Work Location

• Location: Knoxville, Tennessee 
• Hybrid

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: MR14
• Anticipated hiring range:  $95,000 - $105,000
• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here 
• Find more information on UT Benefits here 

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments: 

• Resume 
• Writing sample, Manuscript, Publication or Cover Letter
• Curriculum Vitae (if applicable)

About The Division

The High Performance and Scientific Computing group provides centralized HPC resources and expertise to the UTK research community. HPSC operates the ISAAC cluster - a multi-thousand-core, GPU-accelerated computing environment supporting research in fields ranging from computational physics and engineering to genomics, machine learning, and the social sciences. HPSC is entering a period of significant growth and transformation, with strategic investments in AI/GPU computing, a new secure enclave for sensitive data, expanded user onboarding, and deeper integration with the university's Research Computing Support (RCS) team.

The successful candidate will perform analysis, troubleshooting, and provide problem solving to maintain and administer the research cyberinfrastructure resources used to support the research mission of the University. The responsibilities of the System Administrator include, but are not limited to: 

• Coordinating the configuration and maintenance of the storage resources, including hardware and software

• Configuring and maintaining server-class, HPC resources, including compute and storage hardware, OS software, application software, and SLURM resource management system

• Maintaining an effective security posture including implementing the required security controls specified in the system security plans

• Diagnosing and resolving hardware, software, networking, and system issues when they arise

• Monitoring services and responding to service failures

• Implementing configuration management processes and procedures

• Providing technical support and user support as needed

• Documenting processes and procedures to administer and maintain the storage systems, computational systems, and infrastructure; ensuring required backups are performed regularly and successfully

• Working with other OIT groups, such as, Networking Services, Help Desk, and Systems to support the continued and efficient operation of the research cyberinfrastructure