Main Purpose of the Job

The Norwich Bioscience Institutes Partnership (NBIP) has an exciting opportunity for a Linux System Administrator to join our Research Computing team.

The purpose of the Linux System Administrator is to provide support to Research Computing on delivering a managed research computing product life cycle; managing, maintaining and developing Linux based systems and services. This role is key to how the team responds to service-raised incidents (incident control) and all service requests (request control) and will report to the Deputy Head of Research Computing.

The post-holder will work in the established Operations Group and support the Research Computing engineers in their daily work. This includes supporting users, performing operating system and service upgrades, and assisting technical experts in the group. They will also be responsible for informing customers on progress and advising on workarounds where necessary, as well as the support and maintenance of end-user services with guidance and oversight from the Research Computing Infrastructure Group.

The Systems Administrator will be offered opportunities to develop within the role, especially in developing further administration skills for some of the specialist research computing systems the team runs for the NBI.

Key Relationships

Reports to the Deputy Head of Research Computing
Member of the Research Computing team
 

Main Activities & Responsibilities

Percentage

Working with Research Computing staff, develop and support the on-site research and core services built upon Linux platforms. Specifically, those secondary systems such as Globus, GitLab, Omero, WordPress and Wikis as well as other bespoke systems

40

Providing support to the Senior Storage Engineer in administrating our various Storage solutions

30

Provide technical support and advice to researchers by creating user and technical documentation, assisting in running training courses and supporting triage of user computing requests

15

Support Senior Engineers for HPC and Cloud provision in administrating these Primary systems

10

As agreed with line manager, any other duties commensurate with the nature of the role

5

Education & Qualifications

Requirement

Importance

Bachelor Honours degree in computer science or other strong related subject / equivalent demonstrable experience

Essential

Master’s degree in computer science or other strongly computational subject

Desirable

Certificated courses in Linux, Enterprise Storage OR networking

Desirable

Specialist Knowledge & Skills

Requirement

Importance

In-depth understanding of LAMP stack environments (Linux, Apache/Nginx, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP)

Essential

Solid understanding of Linux system administration

Essential

Scripting and automation skills

Essential

Good knowledge of system and web security practices

Essential

Understanding of monitoring and logging tools.

Essential

Ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues

Essential

Ability to plan and prioritise work in a busy environment

Essential

Understanding of enterprise scale storage systems and data management

Essential

Basic knowledge of containerisation technologies

Desirable

Basic understanding of IP networking

Desirable

Knowledge of Dell Powerscale

Desirable

Knowledge of CEPH

Desirable

Relevant Experience

Requirement

Importance

Experience in using automation tools e.g. Ansible, Puppet, Terraform, GitHub, Jenkins, etc

Essential

Strong experience administering application platforms for example - WordPress, OMERO, Globus

Essential

Experience managing databases

Essential

Experience managing enterprise grade storage

Essential

Experience with virtualisation technologies, and cloud and hybrid environments

Desirable

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

Requirement

Importance

Good communication skills, both written and verbal

Essential

Good interpersonal skills, with the ability to work well as part of a team

Essential

Additional Requirements

Requirement

Importance

Attention to detail

Essential

Promotes equality and values diversity

Essential

Ability to maintain confidentiality and security of information where appropriate

Essential

Willingness to work outside standard working hours when required

Essential

Ability to undertake occasional travel (national and international) related to collaborations and/or seminars (reasonable adjustments will be considered)

Essential

Willingness to embrace the expected values and behaviours of all staff at the Partnership, ensuring it is a great place to work

Essential

Able to present a positive image of self and the Partnership

Essential

NBI Partnership

The NBI Partnership provides non-scientific services to the John Innes Centre (JIC), Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB), Earlham Institute (EI) and The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL). All of these organisations carry out scientific research funded by the UK Government, European Union, Charitable and Industrial Sponsors. The Partnership employs around 140 staff to cater for the needs of approximately 1100 Research Staff, Students and Visiting Scientists who are all located in close proximity on the Norwich Research Park.

The John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute Bioscience, the Earlham Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory are registered charities (No’s 223852, 1058499, 1136213 and 106550) and are Equal Opportunity Employers.

For more information about working at NBI Partnership, please click here.

Department

Research Computing

Group Details

The Norwich Bioscience Institutes (NBI) are a cluster of internationally renowned research organisations, working to tackle major challenges of the 21st Century – the sustainability of our environment, our food supplies and healthy ageing.  

The NBI Partnership provides high quality support services for the diverse community of staff, students and visiting workers at the Institutes (the Earlham Institute, John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory and Quadram Institute Bioscience). 
The Research Computing team operate High Performance Computing (HPC), research data storage and private cloud infrastructure on behalf of NBI, and our work is critically important across the full spectrum of research activity.

Living in Norfolk

• Visit Norfolk
• Schools in Norfolk
• Childcare in Norfolk

Linux System Administrator

The Norwich Bioscience Institutes Partnership (NBIP) has an exciting opportunity for a Linux Systems Administrator to join their busy Research Computing department. This position will provide an excellent opportunity to work on cutting-edge Linux based technologies and develop new skills in a wide range of specialist systems.

Background:

The Norwich Bioscience Institutes are a cluster of internationally renowned research organisations, working to tackle major challenges of the 21st Century – the sustainability of our environment, our food supplies and healthy ageing. 

The NBI Partnership provides high quality, non-scientific support services for the diverse community of staff, students and visiting workers at the Institutes (the Earlham Institute, John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory and Quadram Institute Bioscience) and for the NBI Partnership.

Based on the Norwich Research Park amongst 230 hectares of parkland, you will be joining a committed, professional and welcoming team.  In addition, you will enjoy a competitive salary and annual leave, our defined contribution pension scheme, excellent recreational facilities and a range of other employee benefits.

The Research Computing team are responsible for managing the core research computing infrastructure for the NBI Partnership and supporting a wide array of different and specialist technologies and platforms both for and created by researchers on site.

The Research Computing department provides a fast paced and exciting environment in which to experience the rapid growth and development of computational techniques that underpin modern science.

The role:

The purpose of the Linux Systems Administrator is to provide support to the Research Computing Infrastructure Group and Service Management Group on delivering a managed research computing product life cycle. This role is key to how the team responds to service-raised incidents (incident control) and all service requests (request control) and will report to the Deputy Head of Research Computing.

The post-holder will work in the established operations team and support the research computing engineers in their daily work. This includes supporting users, performing operating system and service upgrades, and assisting technical experts in the group. They will also be responsible for informing customers on progress and advising on workarounds where necessary, as well as the support and maintenance of end-user services with guidance and oversight from the Research Computing Infrastructure Group.

The workload for the role is split roughly evenly between leading on various standalone research tools such as Globus, WordPress, Omero and other Linux based services and supporting the Senior Data Storage Engineer with routine and project work on the various data storage systems here at NBI including Dell PowerScale and CEPH.

The Linux Systems Administrator will be offered opportunities to develop within the role, especially in developing greater administration skills for the specialist research computing systems the team runs for the NBI.

Please note that this role combines office-based work with practical duties. The post may occasionally involve physically demanding tasks, including working in confined spaces and the manual handling of materials or equipment. Reasonable adjustments will be considered where appropriate.

The ideal candidate:

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor Honours degree in computer science and preferably a Master’s degree in computer science or other strongly computational subject.

They will have deep knowledge of the Linux/UNIX command line and system administration, programming and scripting knowledge, preferably in a Linux/UNIX environment and the ability to demonstrate strong level of accuracy and attention to detail.

Experience in basic system administration of Storage systems such as Dell PowerScale will be advantageous.

Additional information:

Salary on appointment will be within the range £38,000 to £42,000 per annum depending on qualifications and experience.  This is a full-time post offered on an indefinite basis.

Interviews are planned for mid to late October.

Please note, this post does not meet UKVI requirements to provide visa sponsorship.

The NBI Partnership is an equal opportunities and disability confident employer. We are committed to attracting, recruiting and retaining the best talent, and welcome all applications.

The closing date for applications will be 7 October 2026.

We reserve the right to close the advert prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.