#138873 Linux Systems Engineer

DESCRIPTION

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:

The Mission of the San Diego Supercomputer Center is to translate innovation into practice. SDSC adopts and partners on innovations in industry and academia in the areas of software, hardware, computational and data sciences, and related areas, and translates them into cyberinfrastructure that solves practical problems across any and all scientific domains and societal endeavors. Cyberinfrastructure refers to an accessible, integrated network of high-performance computing, data, and networking resources and expertise, focused on accelerating scientific inquiry and discovery. With more than 250 employees and $30-50M of revenue a year, SDSC is a global leader in the design, development, and operations of cyberinfrastructure.

SDSC supports hundreds of multidisciplinary programs spanning a wide variety of domains, from earth sciences and biology to astrophysics, bioinformatics, and health IT. SDSC presently operates multiple large HPC systems ranging from a 120k x86 CPU core general purpose system to a system explicitly designed for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and a nationally distributed system open for all of academia to integrate with. SDSC offers research data services across the entire vertical stack from universally scalable storage to consulting services on FAIR, Big Data, and AI. SDSC offers a rich set of cloud services both on-premise, in the commercial cloud, and as hybrid services across both.

SDSC has three geographic scopes, a national scope supporting cyberinfrastructure for the entire US research and education community, a California scope with a special focus on convergence research that addresses the three dominant threats to CA: Drought, Fire, Earthquakes, and a campus scope focusing on advancing the global impact of SDSC by advancing the research objectives of the UC San Diego faculty, researchers, and students.

SDSC impacts researchers at scales from 1,000’s to Millions. SDSC annually trains thousands of researchers in cyberinfrastructure tools and software, and supports thousands of individual researchers via Unix accounts on its large HPC systems. SDSC was a leader developing the Science Gateway concept, and continues to be a global leader in its evolution. SDSC operates multiple major such gateways with user communities ranging from the tens of thousands to the millions. SDSC’s educational programs includes online courses that have been attended by more than a million students.

SDSC is committed to democratizing access to cyberinfrastructure across all of its geographic scopes. SDSC strives towards a culture that supports our employees to be their best, achieve their goals, and enjoy their lives, both professionally and personally.

The Stack Science Division is a leading academic organization specializing in cyberinfrastructure development, managed cloud services, and community building. We collaborate with researchers and educators to facilitate breakthrough discoveries by building and operating virtual environments for science and education. Our services drive research and scientific outcomes through a comprehensive suite of offerings, including science gateways as a service, research software development, secure cloud enclaves, and regulatory data management. Adopting a customer-centric and solution-focused approach, the Stack Science team is dedicated to advancing scientific community building, enhancing cyberinfrastructure, accelerating research goals, and achieving societal impact through collaboration and excellence.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Linux Systems Engineer works within a security-focused IT team and is responsible for building, managing, securing, and maintaining Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems across environments regulated by NIST 800-53 and CMMC frameworks. The Linux Systems Engineer will have deep expertise in Linux system builds, configuration, CIS hardening benchmarks, patch management, and secure application support, including Apache and Tomcat servers. Key responsibilities include administering Linux servers, troubleshooting system performance issues, implementing security and compliance standards, and supporting virtualization, containerization, and cloud-integrated environments. The Linux Systems Engineer also develops automation and scripting solutions to streamline operations, improve system reliability, and support continuous service improvement.

This position requires strong expertise in Linux system administration, scripting and automation, infrastructure management, and cybersecurity best practices, along with the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams in a complex research and higher education environment.

This position will be a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) or equivalent Linux certified individual. The Linux Systems Engineer will be responsible for configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef. This position will be very familiar working with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) in a secure environment.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced knowledge of computer security best practices and policies including demonstrated experience securing most complex server-based software.

• Security & Compliance: Ability to implement system hardening (CIS benchmarks), manage vulnerability remediation, and support compliance requirements (FedRAMP, CMMC, NIST 800-53)

• Operations & Incident Response: Ability to monitor system performance and security events, troubleshoot complex issues, and respond to operational and security incidents

• Automation & Continuous Improvement: Ability to develop and maintain automation (e.g., Ansible) to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficient system management

• Linux Infrastructure Management: Ability to build, configure, and maintain RHEL systems supporting critical infrastructure and customer-facing services, ensuring high availability and reliability

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Background check required.

If employed by the University of California, you will be required to comply with our Policy on Vaccination Programs, which may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to cultivate a rich and diverse environment, inclusive and supportive of all students, faculty, staff and visitors. For more information, please visit UC San Diego Principles of Community.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

For the University of California’s Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination

UC San Diego is a smoke and tobacco free environment. Please visit smokefree.ucsd.edu for more information.

Misconduct Disclosure Requirement: As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts an offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of substantiated misconduct with a previous employer.

a. "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies governing employee conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, or discrimination, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC’s policies addressing some forms of misconduct:

• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• Abusive Conduct in the Workplace