Linux Administrator 2

Competition 2211

This position is a part of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).

This position offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Location - This role is hybrid with a mix of remote and in-person. Work primarily takes place at North Campus, Edmonton.

Working at the University of Alberta

The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and all FirstPeoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

The University of Alberta is a community of knowledge seekers, change makers and world shapers who lead with purpose each and every day. We are home to over 14,000 faculty and staff, more than 40,000 students and a growing community of 300,000 alumni worldwide.

Your work will have a meaningful influence on a fascinating cross-section of people — from our students and community members, to our renowned researchers and innovators, making discoveries and generating solutions that make the world healthier, safer, stronger and more just. Learn more.

Working for the Information Services & Technology (IST)

Information Services & Technology (IST) is the central support group for the university's technological landscape. IST plays a pivotal role in ensuring the evolution and smooth operation of technology for teaching, learning, research and working at the University of Alberta. Beyond having expansive technical expertise, IST fosters a supportive environment where our staff values include compassion, connection, collaboration, creativity and courage. If you are passionate about leveraging technology to empower education, research and to drive institutional excellence, join us and be part of shaping the future of the University of Alberta through innovative IT solutions.

Position Summary

As a vital member of the Unix Infrastructure Services team, you will report directly to the Team Lead.

Your primary responsibilities include ensuring the availability, efficiency, and security of clients' services. Moreover, you will be instrumental in the design and implementation of new services, aligning them with the diverse requirements of our clients while adhering to the University's broad objectives.

You will actively contribute to planning efforts, procedure development, and the establishment of robust standards to ensure dependable and sustainable operations. We expect you to champion DevOps principles with a focus on extensive automation and testing to facilitate the University's transition towards sustainable, highly efficient IT operations.

In addition to your DevOps expertise, a solid grasp of traditional IT technologies is vital to support our diverse environment and client base effectively.

Unix Infrastructure Services (UIS) administers Linux (Unix) digital infrastructure for all of the University and affiliates. It ensures the availability, efficiency, and security of systems, applications, and databases, and provides 24x7 support for critical infrastructure such as U of A websites, identity management databases, and operational data analytics.

The team evaluates emerging trends in technology and adopts and recommends new technologies where appropriate. It provides technical expertise for both new and existing services, including research, design, planning, implementation and maintenance.

UIS also takes a role in establishing digital infrastructure policies, procedures and best practices, tailored to address the university's broad and diverse needs.

Duties 

• Administers a large number of Linux/BSD servers that run critical University services and are hosted on-premises or in the public Cloud.
• Applies system and security patches as defined in guidelines and best practices.
• Automate service delivery life cycle management.
• Designs, enhances and manages high-performance GPU infrastructure to support multidisciplinary research and enable cutting-edge AI projects.
• Research and evaluates emerging trends in technology to improve the efficiency of operations and quality of service, and make decisions in the adoption of new technologies.
• Participates in the establishment of policies, best practices, and procedures.
• Collaborates in the creation of business continuity plans for critical services to ensure recoverability in the event of disaster. Contributes to the plan's implementation.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams and engages with department or faculty stakeholders to identify their requirements and craft technological solutions that align with their specific needs.
• Writes documentation providing architectural and technical details of new and existing services.
• Proactively and reactively handles alerts produced by the central monitoring service and performs root cause analysis, and works with vendors/clients to develop workarounds or solutions to problems.
• Acts as technical liaison to clients.
• Participates in a 24/7 on-call rotation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computing Science or a related field, or equivalent Technical Diploma combined with relevant experience.
• Minimum of 6 - 8 years of experience working in a large and complex computing environment.
• Minimum of 6 years of extensive experience with Linux (Redhat and Ubuntu) systems in roles such as system administrator and system analyst.
• Advanced working knowledge of automation technologies in provisioning, configuration management, infrastructure as code, and orchestration tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.).
• Working knowledge of Containers deployment (Kubernetes or other) in the Cloud or on-premises and administration of containerized applications.
• Working knowledge of programming and/or scripting experience with Bash, Python, and other languages.
• Working knowledge of networking, VMWare platform (vCenter, ESXi).
• Working knowledge of server and application hardening, and security policy implementations.
• Working knowledge in administering LAMP, PostgreSQL.
• Oracle database knowledge is a strong asset.
• Working Knowledge of ITIL and DevOps.
• Working knowledge of disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Demonstrated ability to participate in a 24/7 on-call support rotation.
• Effective communication and facilitation abilities.
• Demonstrated ability in problem-solving and process optimization skill sets.