System Administrator DevOps Specialist
The University of Chicago

Department
SSD Social Sciences Computing Services - Banotra

About the Department
Social Sciences Computing Services provides the Social Sciences Division with direct support for research, administrative and teaching technologies and services.

Job Summary
The job designs automated, scalable, and rapidly deployable solutions to infrastructure development and server configuration. Works independently to install, configure, and maintain operating systems. Uses best practices and systems knowledge to monitor and alert systems, utility software, and firewalls. Guides maintenance for production servers as well as Windows and Linux servers.

The Systems Administrator is responsible for supporting the administration of server environment Social Sciences Computing Services and its clients. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to installing, optimizing, and maintain operating systems on a variety of Unix workstations and servers. The system administrator will develop and enhance scripts, interfaces, and programs to facilitate end user effectiveness in relation to statistical software and distributed computing. The Systems Administrator will play a key role in helping to maintain a high level of reliability, security and integrity on networked Unix computers and lab equipment.

Responsibilities

• This position is responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of new and existing applications, systems architectures and network infrastructure. Will develop and coordinate the automation, streamlining, and securing Social Sciences Division servers and systems across on-prem, cloud, and virtualized architectures.
• This position will be responsible for gathering system requirements from team members and leadership, developing solutions, providing documentation of best practices.
• Serves as a strong resource and subject matter expert in SSD's dev-ops activities both internally without SSCS and with outside partners.
• Works with members of the Research Support team to develop appropriate solutions for the design, maintenance and securance of SSCS servers and services.
• Automate the provisioning of cluster, virtualization, Windows, and cloud resources.
• Monitor performance and security on all platforms (on-prem, virtualization, cloud).
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines connecting on-prem, cloud, and virtualized workloads.
• Liaise between research support, on-prem and cloud infrastructure teams for seamless service delivery
• Work closely with SSCS Leadership to develop strategies to ensure & document compliance with governing security standards.
• Administers operating systems, maintains security, and implements backup procedures for the organization's information systems and peripheral equipment, such as servers, desktops, printers, and storage devices.
• Tracks compliance and maintains documentation for hardware, software, and service inventories for management reports.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree.

Experience:

• Related work experience, preferably in a higher education setting serving researchers.
• Professional knowledge of UNIX (including knowledge of internals and utilities as well as the ability to interpret diagnostic information).
• Experience in distributed and clustered computational environment.
• Demonstrated ability to learn independently.
• Configuration Management experience 2-5 years, Ansible strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated familiarity with a range of computer hardware, software and peripheral equipment.

Technical Knowledge and Skills:

• Demonstrable expertise in the administration of HPC clusters. 2-5 years.
• Experience with the installation, maintenance, trouble shooting of UNIX systems in a professional capacity required. 2-5 years.
• Experience with Python, bash scripting, and distributed computing.
• Ansible experience 2-5 years.
• Experience managing AWS environments and associated services
• Skilled in Windows systems administration (Active Directory, Windows Server).
• Hands-on with vSphere/VMware virtualization platform.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps toolchains (Jenkins, GitLab CI, etc.).
• Familiarity with containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience in system monitoring (Prometheus, Nagios, Zabbix) and centralized logging (ELK Stack, Splunk, CloudWatch).
• Strong documentation skills and collaborative approach.

Preferred Competencies

• Demonstrable expertise with Ansible.
• Expertise in administering Linux.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills.
• Knowledge of virtualization technologies.
• Knowledge of system administration issues in a large and complex client server environment.
• Technical knowledge gained in 2-5 years of experience.
• Outstanding deductive and investigative skills to identify and diagnose complex, non-intuitive technical problems.
• Integrity and credibility to work with sensitive data.
• Strong documentation skills.
• Experience with compliance frameworks relevant to academic settings.

Working Conditions

• Ability to bend, stoop, and crouch in confined spaces.
• Ability to lift, push and pull up to 50 pounds.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover letter (required)
• References (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
Information Technology

Role Impact
Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours
37.5

Drug Test Required
No

Health Screen Required
No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No

Pay Rate Type
Salary

FLSA Status
Exempt

Pay Range
$99,000.00 - $120,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

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