System Engineer
ApplyDo you like to run smooth and secure large-scale storage systems but also get a kick out of testing the limits? Do you want to contribute to the operationalisation of software components, from wild conceptual ideas to deployed stable environments? Do you want to use these skills to support national and international scientific communities and make scientific research future-proof? We want to hear from you!
Where you will work
SURF is the collaborative IT organisation for Dutch higher education and research. With approximately 850 colleagues, SURF supports researchers in the fields of data management, high performance computing (HPC) and visualisation. To this end, we work closely with research communities and other providers of expertise and IT facilities, both nationally and internationally. Together we improve the quality of education and research by developing and innovating digital services.
SURF has a very diverse, dynamic, and open environment. It is unique in providing its employees with an opportunity to innovate and experiment with state-of-the-art technology on a large scale, while also developing and maintaining highly reliable infrastructure and services for researchers on a national and international level.
The team you will join
You will be part of the Data Preservation Services team. This team runs, among other services, the SURF Data Archive, a tape library with more than 100 petabytes of research data, and a Backup and Restore service. The Data Archive plays a central role in the long-term storage and preservation of scientific research data in the Netherlands and Europe. It is particularly essential for fields with very large volumes of data, such as the LHC at CERN and the LOFAR telescope at ASTRON.
Our team of 10 has an excellent team dynamic, with trust and openness as our core values. We have a fixed team day at the office each week. We have our team meetings and sessions or conversations that are more effective in-person on this day. We plan and work in an agile way using scrum. This helps us work together as a team while also allowing each person freedom in how to plan and carry out the work.
What you will do
You will be part of our core operations team, a close-knit team of technical colleagues that operate and maintain the SURF Data Archive and other long-term data preservation services at SURF. You will help develop and further operationalise new services. You will also work on integrations and federations with other components of the national and international infrastructure. You will work well with colleagues in the team who work on the user support and product level. You can explain the technical concepts to them on a functional level.
Other tasks you will handle
- You will develop, maintain and improve long-term preservation services and infrastructure (full stack).
- Your focus will be on services for backup and restore, archiving, repositories, and persistent identifiers.
- You will automate deployments, improve monitoring, and you implement CI/CD pipelines.
- You will experiment with new technologies and keep up to date on developments in the field.
- You will maintain contact with suppliers and other (international) institutes and organisations similar to SURF.
- You will integrate and federate services within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
Your skills and experience
- You have at least 5 years of experience in operating and maintaining Unix / Linux environments.
- You have experience using programming or scripting languages, preferably Python.
- It is an advantage if you have knowledge of storage or backup and restore technologies (IBM Storage Protect and Tape storage systems), networking (specifically SAN), disk storage systems (e.g. NetApp E series or IBM Flashsystem), GitLab CI/CD.
- Not required, but it is an advantage if you know about: Configuration Management tools (e.g. SaltStack, Ansible, ..), containerization tools (e.g. Docker), virtualisation (e.g. KVM), cloud services (e.g. AWS SAM, EC2, …)
- You are willing and eager to learn new technologies as needed.
- You have fluency in English, both speaking and writing skills, fluency in Dutch is an advantage.
Prior to starting this job, a VOG must be presented.
SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.