HPC Systems Administrator

Special Instructions to Applicants: Applicants should attach a resume and cover letter in PDF format to the Supporting Documents section of the application.

About Rice

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff, and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Rice University Office of Information Technology (OIT)

OIT provides excellent constituent service, acting as a strategic partner to advance Rice University’s priorities and mission of “pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contribution to the betterment of our world”.  We fuel innovation at speed across the university by building a culture of trust, using an effective operating model, driving seamless experiences, and providing core IT capabilities. 

OIT is service-oriented and team-enabling. We seek applicants who will contribute to our mission.

Trust Building and Stakeholder Engagement - Foster trust across the campus by being transparent, reliable, consistent, and solution-oriented in communication and execution. Ensure clear, consistent, and timely communication with all constituents, maintaining a service-oriented mindset and addressing challenges with integrity. 

Collaboration and Cross-functional Commitment - Work effectively with colleagues across teams, departments, and roles to support shared goals and a positive work environment. Communicate clearly and professionally with team members throughout OIT and across the campus to ensure smooth coordination of tasks and projects. Build and maintain positive relationships with others by being approachable, reliable, and responsive. Proactively share relevant information and follow up to ensure alignment and efficiency in team efforts.

Agility and Responsiveness - Adapt quickly to evolving needs, technologies, and priorities, ensuring efficiency and relevance. Identify potential challenges in advance and take proactive steps to minimize disruption to end-users. Approach unexpected changes with a problem-solving mindset, balancing speed and thoughtful engagement. Prioritize user experience by delivering seamless, timely, and effective support and potential solutions. Maintain a culture of continuous learning, ask questions from a place of curiosity and possibility to enhance agility and service outcomes.

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement - Maintain a culture of continuous improvement in all IT operations to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.  Regularly assess and optimize processes, systems, and technologies to enhance performance, scalability, and user satisfaction. 

Position Summary

We are seeking an HPC Systems Administrator to join our growing organization. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Research Computing, the HPC Systems Administrator works with the HPC team to perform specialized functions for systems installation, management, problem-solving, and solution design, and serves as the primary backup for the lead HPC Systems Engineer. Additional technical functions include the implementation and support of HPC research environments, including databases, containers, HPC and hybrid/cloud compute and storage services, and security and access controls. The incumbent will participate on the HPC Systems and User-Facing team to proactively and reactively identify and solve operational and software problems running on our HPC systems and collaborate with Rice Information Security to properly secure the environment and any related information services, whether cloud-based or on-premise.

Additionally, while this is primarily a systems-facing role, the incumbent may participate in the training of scholars and students on campus in the use of the HPC and research computing facilities to support research, education, and outreach to industrial and governmental partners.