Senior Systems Engineer (Research IT), BII

Job Summary

The Research IT (Systems) Engineer is responsible for ensuring 24/7 server availability to support our global platform for pathogen data sharing. This role focuses on setting up, deploying, and maintaining virtual machines based on data submission demands.

The candidate will work closely with system administrators, and scientific teams to ensure reliable, scalable, and secure network operations that support continuous global access to genomic data.

Job Responsibilities:

• Server management (Apache, Nginx, etc), network configuration, implementing security measures (firewalls, SSL), performance monitoring, and DNS management.
• Set up, configure, and deploy virtual machines in response to varying data submission and processing loads.
• Conduct regular performance assessments and capacity planning to anticipate infrastructure scaling needs.
• Support disaster recovery and failover mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted platform operation.
• Collaborate with scientific and bioinformatics team to support infrastructure of viral surveillance activities, genomic data analysis, and the reliable operation of pathogen genomic data workflows
• Collaborate with compute and application teams for systems integration.
• Maintain infrastructure documentation, performance logs, and provider agreements.
• Assist with the deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting of systems and services supporting genomic analysis pipelines, including applications developed or automated using Python, R etc
• Stay up-to-date with best practices in networking, virtualization, and infrastructure automation.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor degree in Information Technology, Computer and Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• Possess web hosting experience in managing, maintaining, and troubleshooting server infrastructure to ensure website uptime, security, and performance.
• In-depth knowledge of Linux/Unix environments and system administration.
• Understanding of cybersecurity principles and network security implementation.
• Experience with virtualization platforms (e.g. Proxmox VE, VMware, KVM, Hyper-V, or cloud equivalents).
• Understanding of container orchestration concepts (e.g. Kubernetes, OpenShift/OKD).
• Working knowledge on scripting/programming languages (e.g. Perl, Python, Java, C/C++).
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills, with ability to respond effectively under pressure.
• Familiarity with viral surveillance, genomics, and genomic data analysis would be advantageous.
• Familiarity with Python/R programming for genomics and bioinformatics applications would be advantageous.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work in a multidisciplinary, global team.