Unix Systems Specialist

UKAEA's mission is to lead the delivery of sustainable fusion energy and maximise scientific and economic impact. The Computing Division underpins this mission by delivering secure, scalable, and innovative digital solutions across scientific computing, modelling, simulation, software engineering, business systems, data acquisition, and core IT services.

Within the Computing Division, the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions unit is responsible for the design, delivery, and management of centrally supported IT infrastructure and applications. This includes enterprise compute platforms, data networks, UNIX/Linux/Windows environments, cloud services, data centres, commercial software solutions, Cyber Security and end-user support across all UKAEA sites.

The UNIX Systems Group sits within the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Unit in the Computing Division and is Responsible for the technical design integration, smooth functioning and solution delivery of UNIX/Linux/Solaris systems and their associated backbone infrastructure. They work to deliver an aggregation of products and services, as opposed to a single, discrete product that support application deployment to internal and external customers, including the network infrastructure, security, server, storage, end user compute and device management.

Role Overview:

The UNIX Systems Specialist reports to the Unix Systems Group lead, Infrastructure Systems Manager (UNIX), and is responsible for design, management and support in the Linux System Administration team, manage the day-to-day running of the UKAEA Linux based IT Systems, HPC cluster, associated storage systems and support services.

Key Accountabilities:

• Design, Development, commissioning, management of UKAEA's Linux Operating Systems installations, including HPC clusters, infrastructure servers, virtual machine clusters, cloud deployments and desktop systems
  
  
• Design, Development, commissioning, management of Unix based storage systems
  
  
• management and support of backup systems for Unix based storage including testing and validation
  
  
• Lead development, management and support of configuration management environment to manage Linux System configuration
  
  
• Leading Linux systems related projects
  
  
• Ensure Linux systems documentation is up-to-date and accurate
  
  
• Liaise with user, suppliers and developers to ensure Linux systems and services meet business requirements
  
  
• Respond to and resolve incidents and service requests logged in the ITSM tool, including 2nd and 3rd level escalations.
  
  
• Ensure Linux systems are monitored adequately and preventative maintenance procedures are performed
  
  
• Proactively manage system faults
  
  
• Provide expert knowledge on a number of systems managed by the Linux team
  
  A degree in Information Technology, or a STEM subject (or equivalent experience).
  
  · Essential
  
  o Significant knowledge of the Linux Operating System
  
  o Significant experience managing Linux systems in a Research Environment, ideally using Red Hat or clones
  
  o Experience working with and managing HPC clusters
  
  o Significant knowledge of configuration management systems (i.e. cfengine, ansible)
  
  o Good knowledge and understanding of file systems and file servers
  
  o Good understanding of networking
  
  o A knowledge of current techniques and trends in Linux systems and IT in general (e.g. cloud computing)
  
  o Experience with software engineering processes and best practices
  
  o Experience supporting assurance activities or government-mandated reviews
  
  o Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills with an ability to produce technical reports and articulate risk to non-specialists.
  
  o Strong communication skills with the ability to document incidents clearly and concisely.
  
  o Familiarity with ITIL processes, change management, and major incident handling.
  
  o Eligibility for UK Security Clearance (SC/BPSS level minimum).
  
  · Desirable
  
  o Experience of managing Linux systems at scale.
  
  o Experience managing IT projects.
  
  o Experience setting up and supporting batch queueing systems (i.e. slurm)
  
  o Experience setting up and supporting Nvidia GPU systems
  
  o Ability to write well documented code in a high-level language or script (Python/Perl)
  
  o Experience in managing Unix systems other than Linux would be an advantage
  
  o Relevant Professional certifications
  
  o Experience working in a regulated or government environment, particularly within research, energy, or national infrastructure.
  
  o Knowledge of OT / ICS/ SCADA security principles and industrial control environments.
  
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