We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced professional to lead our Virtualisation and On-Premise Cloud team within our IT section, serving an institute of over 800 researchers and technical staff. You will be working closely with members of IT, and more widely with technical users across EMBL-EBI, overseeing the design, deployment and operation of our substantial VMWare and Openstack estates. These on-premise cloud resources are in place to support the services, applications and large data flows and processing services fundamental to EMBL-EBI activities.
The services you will provide, along with the TSC, enable EMBL-EBI’s technical research and administrative staff to process and make the world’s public biological data freely available to the scientific community via a range of services and tools, perform basic research and provide professional training in bioinformatics.
We are situated on one of the world’s largest concentrations of scientific and technical expertise in genomics.
Your role
EMBL-EBI provides a range of life sciences services relied upon by users worldwide. EMBL-EBI processes an ever increasing volume of data which is made publicly available and is processed internally via multiple HPC clusters, virtualization platforms and private & public clouds. This position offers you the chance to lead a great team, delivering compute services via a range of high end HPC hardware and storage.
As Virtualisation and On-Premise Cloud Lead, under the direction of the Head of Infrastructure, you will:
- Lead the team in architecting, designing and implementing future EMBL-EBI virtualisation and on-premises cloud platforms
- Proactively document, communicate and garner feedback on strategic changes to the platforms via clear and concise roadmaps
- Manage and coach team members through regular 1:1s, setting and tracking objectives and managing performance
- Ensure the operation, reliability, and integrity of EMBL-EBI’s virtualisation and on-premises cloud platforms
- Drive automation and change to simplify management and increase efficiency
- Ensure reporting interfaces are in place to deliver monitoring and accounting of the virtualisation and on-premises cloud platforms
- Drive best practice and efficient usage of the virtualisation and on-premises cloud platforms through positive relationships with key stakeholders across the EMBL-EBI community
- Ensure documentation is of standard
- Manage the implementation of technical projects
- Oversee the sharing of knowledge, training and continuous development within the team
- Foster and maintain a cohesive and comfortable working environment within the team
- Remain aware of and aligned to broader ITS and EMBL-EBI strategies
- You will work both collaboratively and with a reasonable degree of autonomy and regularly present your work back to collaborators and stakeholders to gather feedback.
Closing date: 11 September 2023
- Contract duration: 3 years (renewable upto 9 years)
- Grading: Grade 7 (Monthly starting salary £3,934 + other paid allowances and benefits)
- Reference number: EBI02164
Related
You have
- Degree in computer science or equivalent industry experience
- At least 5 years of experience in the design, implementation and delivery of large scale virtualisation and private cloud platforms
- Team leadership experience
- Experience in mentoring and developing team members
- Solid interpersonal and written English communication skills
- Proven ability to work well in a team, building positive relationships and sharing knowledge
- Ability to multitask and prioritise during periods of high workload
- Solid experience in delivering OpenStack as a service, including deployment, management and upgrade
- Subject matter expert in virtualisation concepts, storage technologies (specifically FC and NFS), networking, and server hardware
- Experience in working with users to architect solutions and translating policy requirements into technical solutions
- Experience with backup and disaster recovery solutions for virtualized environments
- Experience working with docker, containerd, or other runtimes
- Experience in working in Agile environments
- Strong Linux administration skills, ideally with RHEL or a RHEL clone
- Experience with CI/CD tools and Terraform
- Solid skills in automation frameworks, including Puppet or Ansible
- Experience with monitoring products such as Prometheus and Grafana
You might also have
- Experience in deploying and maintaining log analysis platforms such as ELK
- Fluency in at least one programming language, ideally python
- Demonstrated experience with VMWare, including strong expertise in VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter, and related tools
- VMware certifications, such as VCP (VMware Certified Professional)
- Experience in container orchestration in OpenStack using Magnum
- Experience in Kubernetes architecture and administration
- Experience with cloud technologies, including Google or AWS certification
- ITIL certification
- SCRUM certification
- Experience with network technologies, ideally Arista or Open Cumulus
Why join us
Do something meaningful
At EMBL-EBI you can apply your talent and passion to accelerate science and tackle some of humankind’s greatest challenges. EMBL-EBI, part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is a worldwide leader in the storage, analysis and dissemination of large biological datasets. We provide the global research community with access to publicly available databases and tools which are crucial for the advancement of healthcare, food security, and biodiversity.
Join a culture of innovation
We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus, alongside other prominent research and biotech organisations, and surrounded by beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. This is a highly collaborative and inclusive community where our employees enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. We are committed to ensuring our employees feel valued, supported and empowered to reach their professional potential.
Enjoy lots of benefits:
- Financial incentives: Monthly family, child and non-resident allowances, annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and unemployment insurances
- Flexible working arrangements
- Private medical insurance for you and your immediate family (including all prescriptions and generous dental & optical cover)
- Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to eight bank holidays
- Relocation package including installation grant (if applicable)
- Campus life: Free shuttle bus to and from work, on-site library, subsidised on-site gym and cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
- Family benefits: On-site nursery, 10 days of child sick leave, generous parental leave, holiday clubs on campus and monthly family and child allowances
- Benefits for non-UK residents: Visa exemption, education grant for private schooling, financial support to travel back to your home country every second year and a monthly non-resident allowance.
For more details please see our employee benefits page.
Working at EMBL-EBI
Join our diverse team and help power the next generation of discoveries in the life sciences.
Tim Dyce, Head of Infrastructure Services
What else you need to know
- Contract duration: This position is a 3 year contract, renewable to a maximum of 9 years.
- International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Read more on our page for international applicants.
- Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL-EBI, we strongly believe that inclusive and diverse teams benefit from higher levels of innovation and creative thought. We encourage applications from women, LGBTQ+ and individuals from all nationalities.
- EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we implement best practices in research assessment in our recruitment processes here.
- Job location: This role is based in Hinxton, near Cambridge, UK. You will be required to relocate if you are based overseas and you will receive a generous relocation package to support you.
- How to apply: To apply please submit a cover letter and a CV through our online system.