HPC Advisor

As an HPC advisor, you are the forefront of the national and international High-Performance Computing (HPC) landscape. You are familiar with scientific applications, application performance evaluation, CPUs & GPUs. Do youwant to use your expertise in facilitating Dutch research and education and make a real impact?. Then we would love to meet you.

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research. As an HPC advisor, you will work with colleagues and international partners, contributing to strengthening the national and European HPC environment. You will also collaborate with other teams at SURF to gain insights into scientific workflows and to improve the performance and efficiency of scientific codes and applications

The team you will join

The HPC Development team contributes to the user support of the Dutch national supercomputer Snellius, innovation projects executed at SURF, and plays an active role in European and national initiatives. The team works closely with the HPC Services team to support users in their daily work, while also providing specialized expertise in code optimization and performance improvement to help users get the best out of the national Tier-1 system.

In addition, the HPC Development team leads training activities for Dutch and international researchers, including workshops and courses, and supports knowledge sharing across the user community.

Team HPC Development is a multicultural team comprising members from over eight different nationalities. We value an inclusive, collaborative working environment and encourage openness and enthusiasm among our team members. Together with Team HPC Services, we regularly organise social activities such as international dinners, (board) game evenings, and informal lunchtime walks through Flevopark.

What you will do

Leveraging your expertise in scientific software environments and programming models, you will manage the scientific software stack on Snellius, support researchers with their use of the national Dutch supercomputer, and develop tools that facilitate research and enhance application performance.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Managing and continuously improving the software stack on the national supercomputer Snellius, and contributing to the development of European Environment for Scientific Software Installation (EESSI), one of several European projects led by our team.
• Contributing to the Energy Aware Runtime (EAR) project, in collaboration with external partners in Spain and the HPC Services team.
• Supporting users of the national supercomputer through Helpdesk duties, and advising researchers on performance optimization, scalability, and the efficient use of HPC resources.
• Optimizing and improving user codes and workflows to enhance performance and efficiency.

Your skills and experience

We are looking for a candidate who combines strong technical expertise with an academic mindset and strong interpersonal skills.

You bring:

• A high-level institutional degree (MSc or higher) in computer science, engineering, physics, mathematics, or a related field.
• At least 2 years of relevant experience in HPC, research computing, or a similar environment.
• Knowledge of parallel programming models for CPU and GPU architectures (e.g., MPI, OpenMP, CUDA, OpenACC, HIP).
• Programming skills in Python, C/C++ and/or Fortran, Bash. Knowledge of other languages is a plus.
• Knowledge of scientific software architectures and research workflows.
• Knowledge of software building and installation systems and frameworks (e.g., Make, CMake, Ninja, EasyBuild, Spack)
• Strong teamwork and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across disciplines.
• Excellent command of the English language in writing and speaking.

Prior to starting this job, a VOG must be presented.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.