System Engineer - NCSA/Senior System Engineer
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and advanced digital resources for the nation's scientific enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students, and collaborators from around the world use advanced computing technologies to address and research grand challenges for the benefit of science and society. For more than 40 years, NCSA has partnered with one-third of Fortune 50 companies by bringing industry, researchers, and students together to solve complex challenges at rapid speed and scale.
NCSA is seeking a motivated individual for a System Engineer or Senior System Engineer role. The successful candidate will install, maintain, and troubleshoot HPC systems and services, including Kubernetes, OpenStack, on-prem and off-prem cloud environments, and others, with a focus on supporting scientific research needs. They will collaborate with researchers to resolve computational issues and develop innovative solutions to emerging research challenges, as well as engage with the national research community to provide computational services to NSF-funded collaborations.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States, as this role is not eligible for visa sponsorship now or in the future. This position follows a hybrid schedule with two to three in-office days each week, and the selected candidate must reside within 90 miles of the National Petascale Computing Facility (NPCF) to support onsite work requirements.
Job Summary
Install, maintain, and troubleshoot HPC systems and services, including Kubernetes, OpenStack, on-prem and off-prem cloud, and others, with a specialization in meeting the needs of scientific research. Collaborate with scientific researchers to resolve computational issues and design innovative solutions to emerging research challenges. Integrate with the national community of researchers to provide computational services to NSF-funded collaborations. This position is on-site, with the possibility of a hybrid work arrangement.
Duties & Responsibilities
-
Operations:
- Install, update, and troubleshoot hardware and software on HPC enterprise IT and cloud computing systems.
- Detect and investigate system issues and provide solutions.
- Monitor and respond to incoming support requests and alert accordingly.
- Create new solutions within existing configuration management (CM) tools and workload management (e.g., Puppet, Ansible, Slurm, HTCondor, Rancher, Kubernetes).
- Automate tasks using Continuous Integration (CI) tools (e.g., GitLab runners, GitHub action).
- Create new scripts in one or more programming languages to improve the efficiency of routine tasks.
- Technical Investigation:
- Participate in training junior engineers on system engineering best practices.
- Collaborate with other engineers to diagnose and resolve system issues in a controlled environment.
- Test, document, and present new technologies, and make recommendations for NCSA’s policies and practices.
- Lead development, investigate small-scale systems and solutions for internal projects, and assist with large ones internally or externally.
- Outreach:
- Provide NCSA training, guidance, and assistance related to team operations and activities.
- Participate in conferences.
Minimum Qualifications
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Three (3) years of work experience in IT-related functions such as hardware/software support, programming, network design, network engineering, IT systems integration, or a closely related field. College coursework, which includes Information Technology (IT), IT Management, Programming, IT systems, or a closely related discipline, may be substituted as follows:
o 30 semester hours equals one (1) year,
o An associate’s degree (60 semester hours) equals eighteen (18) months,
o 90 semester hours equals two (2) years,
o Bachelor’s Degree (120 semester hours) equals three (3) years
- Demonstrated experience supporting IT technologies, including servers.
Preferred Qualifications
- Operational experience with virtual system software frameworks (e.g., VMware, OpenStack).
- Operational experience with container orchestration frameworks (e.g., Kubernetes, Rancher).
- Operational experience with containerized software technologies (e.g., Docker, Apptainer, Podman).
- Operational experience with cloud technologies (e.g., AWS, Jupyter).
Senior System Engineer
PRIMARY POSITION FUNCTION/SUMMARY
Lead and delegate tasks for systems and services providing cloud computing. Collaborate with scientific researchers to resolve computing issues and design novel solutions to new research challenges. Coordinate installation and maintenance of cloud computing systems and services. This position is on-site with the possibility of being hybrid. Establish relationships with researchers at other institutions.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Technical Investigations:
- Lead development of large projects, mentor other engineers in the process.
- Lead a team to investigate the new systems and solutions by delegating tasks.
- Plan new efforts for system design, deployment, and stability.
- Collaborate with researchers to design systems and solutions for current and new project requirements.
- Test and document new technologies and make technical recommendations for NCSA’s policies, practices, system development, and architecture.
- Evolve and Maintain NCSA support systems with state-of-the-art technology.
- Maintain currency in the state of the art of assigned technical fields.
- Operations:
- Coordinate installation and maintenance activities on HPC, enterprise IT, and cloud computing systems.
- Plan deployment and daily operations of HPC, enterprise IT, and cloud computing systems, monitor and respond to incoming alerts and support tickets.
- Coordinate all aspects of planned maintenance operations for divisional systems.
- Architect and build monitoring solutions to enhance customer satisfaction of supported systems.
- Create new and validate other’s solutions within existing configuration management (CM) tools and workload management (e.g., Puppet, Ansible, Rancher, Kubernetes).
- Provide technical expertise as part of NCSA/ICI teams.
- Expand existing NCSA/ICI teams’ practices to new areas within the organization.
- Coordinate with directorate-level teams, project coordinators, and sales vendors.
- Recommend solutions within the scope of their subject matter expertise to meet project specifications and NCSA operational requirements.
- Outreach:
- Create and present training materials for internal and external use.
- Prepare and present training to division- and directorate-level staff.
- Represent NCSA at domain-specific events, meetings, and conferences.
- Mentor Assistants/Staff-level System Engineers and student workers.
Minimum Qualifications:
- High school diploma or equivalent.
- Three (3) years of work experience in IT-related functions such as hardware/software support, programming, network design, network engineering, IT systems integration, or a closely related field.
- College coursework which includes Information Technology (IT), IT Management, Programming, IT systems, or a closely related discipline may be substituted as follows:
o 30 semester hours equals one (1) year,
o Associate’s Degree (60 semester hours) equals eighteen (18) months,
o 90 semester hours equals two (2) years,
o Bachelor’s Degree (120 semester hours) equals three (3) years
- Demonstrated experience supporting IT technologies, including servers.
- Demonstrated experience supporting OpenStack and/or Kubernetes clusters.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Eight years of experience in a combination of the following areas:
o Support of IT technologies in a large and/or complex environment.
o Experience with computing systems hardware, networking, storage, and operating systems.
o Proficient use of one or more programming languages to accomplish large, complex tasks.
o Activities associated with the procurement, deployment, and management of Linux systems or other enterprise IT services.
- Experience operating systems in both data center and cloud environments.
- Experience planning complex system deployments.
- Experience or training in project management and delivery.
- Four years of experience researching, presenting, and/or publishing technical projects or papers in a professional or academic setting.
- Operational experience with virtual system software frameworks (e.g., VMware, OpenStack).
- Operational experience with container orchestration frameworks (e.g., Kubernetes, Rancher).
- Operational experience with containerized software technologies (e.g., Docker, Apptainer, Podman).
- Operational experience with cloud technologies (e.g., AWS, Jupyter).
Appointment Information
This is a 100% full-time Civil Service 5031 - Information Technology Technical Associate position, appointed on a 12-month basis. The expected start date is as soon as possible after 7/6/2026. Salary is commensurate with experience. The salary range is $80,000 - $100,000.
For more information on Civil Service classifications, please visit the SUCSS web site at https://www.sucss.illinois.gov/pages/classspec/default.aspx.
Application Procedures & Deadline Information
Applications must be received by 6:00 pm (Central Time) on June 12, 2026. Apply for this position using the Apply Now button at the top or bottom of this posting. In order to be considered as a transfer candidate, you must apply for this position. Applications not submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered. If required by the position, transcripts or other documentation of credentials are to be provided no later than the first day of employment. For further information about this specific position, please contact Jewel Goodly at [email protected]. For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.
At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — the state’s flagship public university and one of the world’s leading research institutions — every staff member helps shape what’s next. Founded in 1867, Illinois is home to a vibrant community of 59,000 students from all 50 states and 129 countries, supported by 15 colleges and instructional units, more than 20 research institutes, and one of the most comprehensive student service ecosystems in the nation. Whether you’re empowering first-generation students, fueling breakthrough innovation, or strengthening communities across Illinois and beyond, your work here has a far-reaching and deeply meaningful impact. The university offers a highly competitive benefits package designed to support your well-being, growth, and financial security. Join a top 10 public university that has launched over 330 startups and continues to redefine excellence — where the Illinois Value Proposition ensures that your contributions are recognized, your potential is nurtured, and your career can thrive.
Champaign-Urbana
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position; however, all employment decisions will be made by a person.
This position is intended to be eligible for benefits. This includes Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, a Retirement Plan, Paid time Off, and Tuition waivers for employees and dependents.
The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.
Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Accommodations may also be requested on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, or religion. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodation portal, or by contacting the Office for Access & Equity at 217-333-0885, option #1, or [email protected].
Requisition ID: 1036102
Job Category: Technical
Apply at: https://jobs.illinois.edu
