UK SKA Regional Centre DevOps Engineer (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a Computing Operations Engineer to join the Astrophysics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory (Department of Physics, Cambridge) and become part of an ambitious global activity to deliver science from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope as part of the UK SKA Regional Centre (UKSRC) project.  When fully operational the SKA will be the world's largest radio telescope and its users will rely on globally federated SKA Regional Centres (SRCs) to meet SKA science aims in areas such as seeking the origins of life and testing theories about the universe and its evolution (https://www.skao.int/en/explore/science-goals). Alongside SKA work the UKSRC will enable and enhance work in other areas of radio astronomy through a series of science demonstrator projects.

The successful candidate will become part of a diverse and dynamic team of astronomers, computer scientists and engineers using Scaled Agile techniques to develop the advanced solutions necessary for a new era in radio astronomy. The UKSRC activities span 7 UK institutes and in the Cavendish we are contributing to the UK work package focussed on the astronomy pipelines, distributed processing approaches and science platforms. To enable and support this team, and wider activities, we are seeking a computing engineer to assist in areas such as helpdesk ticketing and documentation, application installation, configuration & troubleshooting, systems administration and general operations. An ideal candidate will have some knowledge of container orchestration and release engineering and be able to assist with aspects of research software engineering. Training opportunities to develop and sharpen skills will be available.

Cambridge is a provider of High Performance Computing (HPC) resources for UKSRC and has a large team developing novel federated cloud platform technologies as well as providing leadership on system architecture. Our engineering post holder will therefore have an opportunity to work alongside HPC and cloud platform experts locally, as well as gain experience working in a large international project as part of the global SRC activities brought together in the SRC Network.

Applications will be reviewed soon after the closing date and interviews conducted within approximately 2 weeks of that date. The candidate will ideally start as soon as possible.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 31 December 2025 in the first instance.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo Certificate of Good Conduct, a basic disclosure (criminal records check) check, a health assessment and a security check.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button above.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to:

Dr Jeremy Coles jc574@cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference KA42425 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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