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LIGO Laboratory (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) seeks a highly motivated and skilled Scientific Computing Systems Administrator to join its team. This position is located in Richland, WA. LIGO is committed to providing work-life balance and flexibility where possible. We offer an optional 9/80 alternative work schedule and occasional work-from-home days may be available.
LIGO Laboratory is a National Science Foundation major facility dedicated to observing the newly discovered gravitational-wave universe. Jointly operated by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the LIGO Laboratory operates world-leading observatories near Richland, WA and Baton Rouge, LA as well as R&D centers on the Caltech and MIT campuses. The LIGO Laboratory's mission spans a broad and vibrant array of activities related to gravitational-wave physics and astronomy, including detector operations, R&D toward detector improvements, gravitational-wave astrophysics, observatory operations, and education and public outreach.
For more information, please visit the Laboratory website at www.ligo.caltech.edu
Job Summary
In your position as a computer systems administrator position at the LIGO Hanford Observatory, you will help manage key computing equipment and systems vital to the operation of the LIGO detector and the analysis of the data. The work will involve helping to administer and maintain a high throughput computing cluster, instrument control room computers, and instrument infrastructure. You will enable LIGO to collect scientific data and support users analyzing these data to make amazing new discoveries in the relatively new field of gravitational-wave science. To do this you will work with a team of computing specialists, world leading scientists, and detector engineers who are dedicated to advancing gravitational science. The person working in this position will help maintain and build the control systems computers and analysis cluster. Your hands-on experience with computing hardware is a key to success in this position. You will need to help maintain existing computing systems. In addition, you will be able to help design future systems, incorporating new technologies and techniques into the system workflow.
Essential Job Duties
Help to monitor, maintain, administer, and document scientific computing systems. These include the local high throughput compute cluster, the instrument control room systems, and instrument supporting infrastructure.
Monitor and manage the distribution of scientific data, from acquisition in the instrument through to the analysis systems which perform both real time and offline analysis.
Work with instrument specialists when troubleshooting, designing, or deploying systems and solutions to ensure science goals can be met.
Help with the full life cycle of systems maintenance, including design, physical installation, updates, and retirement of computing systems.
Respond to and help troubleshoot both software and hardware computing issues, including technical root cause analysis and developing both short- and long-term solutions.
Other duties as assigned.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Science, or related field, or 4 years of experience in a related field in lieu of a degree.
5 years of related work experience, with at least 3 years administering Linux systems.
Experience with physically installing, maintaining, or upgrading computing equipment.
Must have good customer support skills
Able to communicate fluently in written and oral English to support users of the LHO computing system.
Must be able to obtain and maintain reliable transportation to and from the observatory.
Preferred Qualifications
Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Science, or related field.
4+ years' experience with the HTCondor batch processing system.
Experience running and troubleshooting jobs on the Open Science Grid.
2+ years of experience using Puppet or other configuration management systems.
Experience with designing and supporting high-speed Ethernet networks.
Experience with software scripting or programming in Python and/or Ruby
Experience in running jobs and services via Linux based container systems such as LXC, Apptainer, Docker, or
Kubernetes.
Experience working with the EPICS control system.
Required Documents
Cover Letter describing your relevant hands-on experience and your interest in working at LIGO Lab.
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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