Virtualization Systems Engineer

The National Internet Observatory (https://nationalinternetobservatory.org/) aims to help researchers understand how people behave online and how platforms structure what people see. Northeastern University hosts the Observatory, and a grant from the National Science Foundation supports the project. The Observatory collects data about participants' online experiences through software on participant devices and provides privacy-preserving access to researchers who wish to study human and algorithmic behavior on the Internet. We are in the process of expanding data collection and onboarding our first cohort of researchers. The Observatory's infrastructure team seeks to add a Virtualization Engineer as we expand our service footprint and utilization. The Virtualization Engineer will take responsibility for the Observatory's primary Virtualization and Storage clusters underpinning our private-cloud infrastructure. Infrastructure automation, sustainability, utilization management, and uptime preservation will be core focuses of the Engineer's first year with the project. This is a one-year, full-time, benefits-eligible position with the option of renewal based on performance and available funding. Accepted candidates will receive a salary commensurate with experience in the University's 110 Salary Grade. Hired candidates will be asked to start within a month of receiving an offer. The position follows a 3-2 hybrid schedule, requiring work in the team's Boston office three days per week. The position will report to the sitting Research Systems Engineer with supervision from the primary investigators. Responsibilities Operation of the Observatory's infrastructure, including: Provisioning of new Virtual Machines into the Virtualization Cluster Enrollment of virtualized infrastructure into the Observatory's identity and management system Management of local and shared block and file storage Deploying shared storage solutions for other Observatory teams System health and performance reporting Real-time Monitoring of total cluster uptime and utilization Quarterly reporting to Technical and Project Leadership Development of Ansible Playbooks for application deployment Contribute written and visual documentation for existing and new infrastructure Build system support for disaster recovery and project continuity initiatives Occasional functions as assigned by Technical Leadership Required Qualifications Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, equivalent, or greater required and a minimum of four years of experience including 1 year operating a Virtualization Environment and 3 Years working in a Virtualization Environment. Proficient with git, Python 3, and bash scripting. Familiar with systems automation and management tools (Ansible, Chef, Puppet). In-depth Linux operating system knowledge. Preferred Qualifications One of: 1+ years of operating XCP-ng or XenServer 3+ years of operating another Virtualization Environment Knowledge of the IP stack and operation of its key protocols (DHCP, DNS, Routing) Knowledge of remote block and file storage protocols (iSCSI, NFS) Familiarity with public cloud offerings (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc) 1+ years of experience in an IT Service Desk environment

Northeastern University hosts the Observatory, and a grant from the National Science Foundation supports the project.