Special Instructions to Applicants: Applicants should attach a resume and cover letter in PDF format to the Supporting Documents section of the application.

About Rice

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff, and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Rice University Office of Information Technology (OIT)

OIT provides excellent constituent service, acting as a strategic partner to advance Rice University’s priorities and mission of “pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contribution to the betterment of our world”. We fuel innovation at speed across the university by building a culture of trust, using an effective operating model, driving seamless experiences, and providing core IT capabilities.

OIT is service-oriented and team-enabling. We seek applicants who will contribute to our mission.

Trust Building and Stakeholder Engagement - Foster trust across the campus by being transparent, reliable, consistent, and solution-oriented in communication and execution. Ensure clear, consistent, and timely communication with all constituents, maintaining a service-oriented mindset and addressing challenges with integrity.

Collaboration and Cross-functional Commitment - Work effectively with colleagues across teams, departments, and roles to support shared goals and a positive work environment. Communicate clearly and professionally with team members throughout OIT and across the campus to ensure smooth coordination of tasks and projects. Build and maintain positive relationships with others by being approachable, reliable, and responsive. Proactively share relevant information and follow up to ensure alignment and efficiency in team efforts.

Agility and Responsiveness - Adapt quickly to evolving needs, technologies, and priorities, ensuring efficiency and relevance. Identify potential challenges in advance and take proactive steps to minimize disruption to end-users. Approach unexpected changes with a problem-solving mindset, balancing speed and thoughtful engagement. Prioritize user experience by delivering seamless, timely, and effective support and potential solutions. Maintain a culture of continuous learning, ask questions from a place of curiosity and possibility to enhance agility and service outcomes.

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement - Maintain a culture of continuous improvement in all IT operations to ensure efficient and effective service delivery. Regularly assess and optimize processes, systems, and technologies to enhance performance, scalability, and user satisfaction.

Position Summary

We are seeking an HPC Systems Administrator to join our growing organization. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Research Computing, the HPC Systems Administrator works with the HPC team to perform specialized functions for systems installation, management, problem-solving, and solution design, and serves as the primary backup for the lead HPC Systems Engineer. Additional technical functions include the implementation and support of HPC research environments, including databases, containers, HPC and hybrid/cloud compute and storage services, and security and access controls. The incumbent will participate on the HPC Systems and User-Facing team to proactively and reactively identify and solve operational and software problems running on our HPC systems and collaborate with Rice Information Security to properly secure the environment and any related information services, whether cloud-based or on-premise.

Additionally, while this is primarily a systems-facing role, the incumbent may participate in the training of scholars and students on campus in the use of the HPC and research computing facilities to support research, education, and outreach to industrial and governmental partners.

The ideal candidate has experience managing HPC systems in research environments and the ability to collaborate with colleagues across the Rice IT organization to provide best-in-class HPC services.

Workplace Requirements

This position is an on-site (in-person) role. A hybrid work arrangement may be considered after the probationary period. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible position, and the proposed salary range is $80,000 to $92,500 annually, depending on qualifications and experience. *Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
  • In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted
• 2+ years of hands-on Linux system administration building and operating HPC clusters.
  • In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted.

Skills:

• Managing Linux clusters in production-oriented research/HPC environments (Slurm / Open OnDemand; RunAI)
• Managing container environments for HPC services/workflows (Docker/Kubernetes)
• Scripting and automation (Python, Bash, Ansible)
• Managing HPC networking (InfiniBand, Omni-Path, NDR)
• Managing and monitoring shared HPC resources
• Working well independently and as a team member
• Supporting and documenting HPC environments

Preferences

• Experience supporting accelerator (GPU) ecosystems for AI/ML and scientific workloads
• Experience with automated management of Linux HPC clusters (Warewulf, Terraform)
• Experience building and managing containers with Docker, Podman, and/or Kubernetes
• Experience working with secure systems for regulated data
• Experience integrating on-premise HPC with public cloud services (GCP, AWS, Azure) to migrate or burst workloads while managing cost/performance tradeoffs

Essential Functions

• Manage day-to-day reliability and performance of HPC services
• Build and maintain automation for predictable operations and rapid recovery
• Enable HPC and containerized workflows aligned with research needs
• Provide advanced support and documentation of HPC services and systems
• Configure and manage system and network security
• Manage installation and maintenance of HPC hardware and operating systems
• Troubleshoot issues with HPC systems and services
• Monitor and handle incoming service requests and trouble tickets
• Respond to security vulnerabilities, incidents, and outages in a timely manner
• Monitor resource usage to identify enhancements to system capabilities and performance
• Recommend upgrades according to growth statistics and disk space forecasts
• Evaluate new technologies and integrate new systems into the computing environment
• Document infrastructure for users, support and consulting personnel, and developers
• Occasional after-hours or weekend work may be requested for critical incidents or emergency situations
• Perform all other duties as assigned

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

Rice Mission and Values: Mission and Values | Rice University

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please contact Rice University’s Human Resources Office via email at facstaffada@rice.edu for support.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at jobs@rice.edu. Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.

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We are seeking an HPC Systems Administrator to join our growing organization. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Research Computing, the HPC Systems Administrator works with the HPC team to perform specialized functions for systems installation, management, problem-solving, and solution design, and serves as the primary backup for the lead HPC Systems Engineer. Additional technical functions include the implementation and support of HPC research environments, including databases, containers, HPC and hybrid/cloud compute and storage services, and security and access controls. The incumbent will participate on the HPC Systems and User-Facing team to proactively and reactively identify and solve operational and software problems running on our HPC systems and collaborate with Rice Information Security to properly secure the environment and any related information services, whether cloud-based or on-premise.