IT048 High Performance Computing Services Support

IT048 High Performance Computing Services Support / System Administrator

This job description is for a System Administrator to administer and operate the supporting infrastructure required for the operations of the Integrated Modeling Computing Center (IMCC), formerly known as the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS). The IMCC will directly support the Integrated Modeling Virtual Institute (IMVI) to meet the Earth science modeling needs for NASA. The following describes the core duties and responsibilities and technical skills. Ideal candidates should have excellent communication skills, problem solving, and the ability to work efficiently within a highly performing team environment.

Core Duties & Responsibilities:

• Virtualization & Container Orchestration: Design, deploy, and manage virtualized and containerized infrastructure within an on-premises cloud environment, with an emphasis on Kubernetes cluster administration, hypervisor management, virtual machine lifecycle management, and container orchestration to support scalable HPC-adjacent services.

• Storage & Parallel File Systems: Administer and optimize high-performance storage systems supporting HPC workloads, including parallel file systems (Lustre preferred; GPFS experience also valued) and object/block storage platforms such as Ceph.

• Configuration Management & Automation: Develop and maintain configuration management solutions (Ansible preferred) to automate provisioning, ensure system consistency, and reduce manual administrative overhead across the infrastructure fleet.

• CI/CD & DevOps Workflows: Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines to automate testing, deployment, and infrastructure-as-code practices, streamlining delivery of updates and new services.

• Supporting Infrastructure Administration: Administer and operate critical infrastructure that supports HPC operations, including, but not limited to, applications such as Jira, Confluence, JupyterHub, monitoring services, and time and DNS hosts.

• User Support: Provide specialized, tiered technical assistance ranging from software provisioning and workflow optimization to advanced, expert-level troubleshooting for complex research challenges.

• Security and Compliance: Implement security updates, coordinate systematic Operating System patches, and mitigate vulnerabilities across supported infrastructure without compromising system stability.

• System Maintenance: Perform routine diagnostics, maintenance, and rapid-response resolution for supported services and applications to ensure high availability and performance.

• Web Support: Manage and maintain web infrastructure, including web server administration, content deployment, and ensuring the availability and security of web-based services.

Required Technical Skills and Qualifications:

• Virtualization & Kubernetes Expertise: Strong, hands-on expertise with virtualization platforms and container orchestration, particularly Kubernetes (cluster deployment, scaling, networking, and troubleshooting); experience with OpenStack or similar platforms is a plus.

• Parallel File Systems & Storage: Demonstrated experience administering parallel file systems in an HPC environment — Lustre strongly preferred, GPFS acceptable as a foundation with willingness to develop Lustre expertise. Experience with Ceph or other distributed storage systems is a valuable addition.

• Configuration Management: Proven experience building and maintaining configuration management automation, ideally with Ansible (playbooks, roles, inventory management), to enforce consistency and streamline deployments at scale.

• CI/CD & Automation Pipelines: Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD workflows (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar) including automated testing, build, and deployment pipelines.

• Expert Linux System Administration: Advanced, production-level expertise in enterprise Linux distributions (RHEL, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, or Ubuntu Server), incorporating expert-level command-line proficiency, kernel tuning, and automated shell scripting (Bash, Python).

• Infrastructure Services Management: Hands-on experience deploying, configuring, and maintaining enterprise applications (e.g., Jira, Confluence, JupyterHub), monitoring services, and core network services (DNS, NTP).

• Systems Security Alignment: Robust foundation in core security frameworks, including firewalls, identity management (LDAP/Active Directory), access control lists (ACLs), SSH hardening, and continuous patch management cycles.

• Agile Methodologies: Experience operating within modern Agile frameworks, leveraging iterative workflows, participating in sprint reviews, and utilizing collaborative project boards (Jira, GitLab) to track milestones.

• Web Server Management: Experience deploying, configuring, and maintaining web server technologies (e.g., Apache, Nginx, or similar) to support organizational web services.

• US Citizenship required.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Investigation through NASA.

Team ADNET brings over 30+ years of experience to information systems and professional services for the federal government. With a history of expertise in software development, computer network design, IT security, mission operations support, and educational outreach, Team ADNET is deeply embedded in the Space and Earth Science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD.

ADNET Systems, Inc. is working with Goddard Space Flight Center to fulfill NASA's vision for space exploration, and working with the Science and Exploration Directorate to fulfill its many missions.

ADNET Systems, Inc. is an employee-centric company, committed to providing premier benefits that support our employees and their families. With affordable medical and dental plans coupled with leading disability and life insurance options, ADNET offers our employees the benefits most sought after by today’s professional candidate. Furthermore, our benefits package features the extras that distinguish us from other small businesses, ensuring our high employee retention that our customers appreciate.

Some features of our compensation plans and environment perks include:

• Annual Leave/Sick Leave

• Military and Family Emergency Leave

• Paid Holidays

• Performance Bonuses

• Medical, Dental and Vision Plans

• Direct Deposit Payroll

• 401K Plan with Company Matching

• Tuition Reimbursement

• Swag bags

Equal Employment Opportunity: ADNET Systems, Inc. prohibits discrimination with respect to the hiring or promotion of individuals, conditions of employment, disciplinary and discharge practices or any other aspect of employment on the basis of sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or veteran status.