Systems Engineer

About UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.

Job Summary

The Systems Engineer for the Computer Science Computing Facility (CSCF) will assist in implementing, monitoring, and continually improving procedures and resource allocations to ensure professional, high quality technology support and services to the College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) including its faculty, staff, and researchers. Provide support and monitor enterprise class Linux systems; provide system administration as well as integration with other campus services. 

Essential Functions

• Design, deploy and support enterprise class Linux/Windows configuration management, system deployment and monitor systems for the campus community.
• Using the tools implemented, provide enterprise class Linux hosts in both physical and virtual environments.
• Monitor system performance and tune or otherwise adjust system resources to maintain efficient and equitable use of managed resources by the campus community.
• Develop tools for automation of tasks and integration of all CSCF IT services.
• Participate in the planning of both short and long term goals and directions for CSCF.
• Provide consulting to staff, faculty, and students in the College of Information and Computer Sciences on matters related to system provisioning, maintenance, and monitoring.

Other Functions

• Perform other duties as assigned or required to meet department, college, or university goals and objectives.
• Understand responsibilities with respect to conflicts of interest and behave in ways consistent both with law and university policy.
• Contribute toward creating a positive and respectful workplace defined by personal and professional competence, integrity, and collaboration. Understand and contribute to implementation of departmental and institutional goals for achieving non-discrimination and creating a respectful, inclusive environment that is supportive of diversity.
• Use access to sensitive and/or not yet public university related information only in the performance of the responsibilities of position and exercises care to prevent unnecessary disclosure to others.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related field and at least three (3) years of experience providing systems administration in a large, complex environment.

OR

• An equivalent combination of education and experience. One (1) year of relevant experience may be substituted for every one (1) year of required academia.

Skills and Abilities

• Excellent analytical and organizational skills to plan, recommend, implement, and monitor effective and efficient processes and to identify problems and implement solutions.
• Experience with centralized automated configuration management and provisioning solutions for Linux systems such as RedHat Satellite, Puppet or Ansible.
• Knowledge and experience with system scripting using technologies such as Powershell, Perl, Bash.
• Knowledge and experience with system monitoring solutions such as Nagios and Solarwinds.
• Knowledge and experience working with virtualization environments and tools such as VMWare, KVM, or Hyper-V.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience working in a team-based environment and a proven history of implementing cross-departmental initiatives.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to complete assignments in a timely manner, balancing the demands of concurrent and potentially competing projects.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and maintain confidentiality.
• Ability to think through problems, organize and seek out data/information, identify key factors and underlying causes, and generate solutions.

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

• Knowledge and experience using cross-platform system administration, including UNIX/Linux and Windows.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

Typical office environment.

Work Schedule

M-F 9a-5p, 37.5 hours/week.

May be required to work some nights and weekends.

Salary Information

Level 27

PSU Salary Schedule 

Salary amounts shall be determined by the experience and education of the applicant in relation to the advertised job qualifications.

Special Instructions to Applicants

Please submit a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information for three (3) professional references.

To apply, please follow this link: https://careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-us/job/513205/systems-engineer

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, or genetic information in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University.  To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.  It is the policy of the UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.