Senior HPC Systems Administrator

Salary: £40,000 - 80,000 per year

Requirements:

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• Extensive experience managing HPC infrastructure in research or technical environments
• Strong Linux systems administration expertise
• Experience with GPU servers and high-performance networking technologies
• Experience with scripting and automation (e.g. Bash, Python)
• Knowledge of storage systems and backup/archive procedures
• Strong troubleshooting and systems integration skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a research environment
• Experience with SLURM or other job scheduling systems
• Experience with containerisation and virtualisation technologies
• Knowledge of cloud computing platforms
• Familiarity with scientific computing tools and AI/ML research workflows
• Experience supporting research software or academic computing environments
• Knowledge of high-performance file systems such as BeeGFS or Lustre

Responsibilities:

• Designing, building, and maintaining HPC clusters and associated infrastructure
• Managing Linux compute and storage environments
• Supporting GPU-enabled research computing systems
• Maintaining high-performance storage and backup solutions
• Monitoring system performance, security, and availability
• Supporting and mentoring researchers, software engineers, and postgraduate students
• Developing documentation, training materials, and operational best practices
• Collaborating with departmental and university-wide research IT teams
• Evaluating and deploying new technologies to support evolving research requirements

Technologies:

• AI
• Architect
• Bash
• Cloud
• Computer Vision
• Support
• Linux
• Machine Learning
• Python
• Security

More:

We are seeking a full-time Senior HPC Systems Administrator to join the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, working within the internationally recognised Visual Geometry Group (VGG). This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced systems professional to lead the development, administration, and strategic evolution of our high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure supporting cutting-edge AI, computer vision, and multimodal learning research. You will work closely with academic researchers, software engineers, and departmental IT teams to ensure robust, scalable, and secure computational infrastructure capable of supporting world-leading research in machine learning and visual computing. The successful candidate will work under the direction of the departmental HPC Infrastructure Architect, with approximately 20% of their time allocated to broader departmental infrastructure activities. The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze Award, recognising its commitment to advancing gender equality and supporting an inclusive working environment. This role is based in central Oxford, with a salary of £49,119 - £58,265 and a closing date of 1 October 2026 at 12:00.

last updated 37 week of 2026