• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $103,000 - $113,000

Position Summary

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University is seeking a Senior System and Data Engineer for full-time, career opportunity. Reporting to the Director of Research Computing and Campus Infrastructure, the Senior System and Data Engineer will oversee LDEO's portfolio of Research Computing systems - designing and implementing new systems as business needs arise, as well as providing maintenance and operational support for existing systems. The incumbent plays a key role in architecting, designing, developing solutions for LDEO Research Computing goals to implement a hybrid computing infrastructure, on-prem and in the cloud. Help to develop and execute IT and data strategies aligned with overall Research Computing Strategic Plan, and the policies of the institution. Provide administration and support for systems including commercial cloud hosted services and solutions, Linux, among other systems in a virtualized environment. The incumbent will work within the LDEO Information Technology group, and supports research computing and networking needs across the Palisades, NY campus, and beyond.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute system deployment plans in keeping with the needs of the research groups and the policies of the institution.
• Design, code, and implement platforms and scripts to meet data analytics and data lifecycle needs of research projects.  
• Provide system administration and support for systems in the commercial cloud hosted services, as well as on-prem virtualized environments.
• Administer and provide maintenance for server hardware including rackmount servers, storage arrays, and ancillary networking equipment.
• Test new software versions and participate in standard installation and upgrade methodologies, creating flowcharts, diagrams, and other documentation in the process.
• Perform daily functions that include user support, operational system tasks, upgrade coordination, and institutional mandates/audits.
• Ensure the successful resolution of all server & client computing/application problems.
• Develop, maintain, and disseminate knowledge of best practices to recurring problems.
• Monitor and create automated reports and/or respond to alerts for hardware and software issues, implementing new monitoring processes as needed.
• Provide on-going documentation for all configuration and installation work being done and provides regular feedback for any lack of resources and/or knowledge gaps that prevents completion of assigned tasks.
• Perform related duties as assigned or requested.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field required.  Advances degree desirable.  Minimum of 4-6 years of related professional experience required.

• Experienced in installing, configuring, and maintaining operating systems in a Unix environment on bare-metal, virtualized environment, or on major public cloud providers.

• Experienced in troubleshooting Linux server and operating system issues in a heterogeneous networked computing environment.

• Working knowledge of Data Lifecycle Management processes.

Other Requirements

• Experience with the following technologies: AWS or GCP, or MS Azure, Virtualized Environment (RHEV), VMWare.

• Knowledge of managing Hyper Converged Infrastructure for compute servers, data servers, data storage devices, and software deployment with automation and orchestration tools.

• Familiarity with scripting languages (Perl, BASH), object-oriented programming (Python), markup languages (YML, XML, HTML)

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

• Highly technically skilled and administratively organized.

• Extensive experience working with end users. Demonstrated experience working effectively with diverse user communities including highly skilled programmers, scientists, administrators, vendors, students, support staff, and excellent written and spoken English.

• Assertive and able to work successfully in a fast-paced work environment.

• Ability to proactively work on problems of diverse scope.

• Exhibit tact, analytical, and critical thinking skills.

• Strong initiative, resourcefulness, and follow-through.

• Ability to independently research problems and develop solutions.

• Project management experience, Proven attention to detail, and the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects while functioning on a team.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

The Lamont campus values diversity and inclusion, and encourages applications from members of underrepresented minority groups.