Job Description
The European Galaxy team is a core group within the worldwide Galaxy project. We are an open, passionate, and supportive research group at the University of Freiburg highly involved in many software projects related to the global Galaxy community, including leading the Bioconda and BioContainers projects and developing state-of-the-art computational workflows for genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, and pharmacogenomics data.
Based in Freiburg, usegalaxy.eu is the science gateway, providing an open-access computational infrastructure for accessing and running a vast catalog of data resources, tools, and workflows. It is used by more than 100,000 users worldwide.
The Department of Computer Science is opening a position for a Systems Engineer / Systems Administrator (m/f/d), bridging development and operations functions within one of the most popular and well-established data analysis platforms for life science.
Systems Engineer / System Administrator (w/m/d)
Application deadline: 30 June 2025
Publication date: 30 May 2025
start-date: At the earliest possible date
Workload: Fulltime position
Id no.: 00004373
You will be responsible for implementing, supporting, and documenting several large-scale application systems. This role includes but is not limited to the installation, modification, testing, and upgrades of applications, operating systems, file systems, hardware, and cloud environments. The work will be carried out together with other administrators and the compute center of the University of Freiburg.
Your opportunities
This position will allow you to interact with an interdisciplinary bioinformatics, data science, and software development team, working with cutting-edge infrastructure across Europe and engaged in advanced topics such as distributed heterogeneous computing, encrypted data processing, or smart scheduling of jobs across federated resources.
- Development and maintenance of the Galaxy server and related infrastructure (e.g., PostgreSQL, RabbitMQ, Celery, TIG stack, CVMFS, Jenkins, HTCondor, OpenStack, among others), including TIaaS (Training Infrastructure as a Service), Pulsar-Networks, and the Beacon Service.
- Ensure the seamless integration of new features and updates into the existing system and infrastructure.
- Collaborate with the team of Admins to design and improve software and deployment pipelines.
- Conceptualize and implement update procedures and software integrations in the running system.
- Implement and maintain best security practices, adhering to our information security policies and industry standards (ISO 27001).
- Regularly review and enhance security measures to protect data and infrastructure.
- Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies, including virtualization, infrastructure technologies, automation, configuration management, infrastructure provisioning, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Proactively identify opportunities to enhance the Galaxy Europe instance and establish general deployment guidelines for other Galaxy instances.
- Integrate infrastructural components like various storage systems and special-purpose computation nodes with accelerators like GPUs.
- Offer community support for other Galaxy administrators and users by addressing technical issues and sharing knowledge.
- Develop comprehensive documentation and training materials for automation workflows and administrative tasks to facilitate learning and efficiency.
- Conduct workshops and live training sessions for administrators, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to manage and operate Galaxy services effectively.
- Diagnose and resolve issues in Linux systems and HPC infrastructure and manage storage solutions like NFS to ensure high availability, performance, and reliability.
- Analyze and enhance system performance by identifying and addressing bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
We are looking for a dedicated and motivated team player with strong communication skills and a good command of the English language. The successful applicant will be an expert Linux system administrator with proficient knowledge of Python, Git, and SQL databases. The ideal candidate is an analytical thinker, problem-solver, and reliable, with a strong desire to learn and collaborate with the team
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Expert Linux system administrator (5+ years of experience) with strong proficiency in Python, shell scripting, Git, and command-line tools.
- Expert in debugging complex software and hardware issues and performing root cause analysis.
- Experience in networking, including TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls, and routing.
- Experience configuring continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) systems and tools like Jenkins.
- Proficiency in configuration management tools like Ansible and provisioning tools like Terraform.
- Proficiency in high-performance computing (HPC) environments and network filesystems (NFS).
- Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and engage with community members.
- Strong documentation skills, with the ability to create comprehensive guides and manuals.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think critically and develop innovative solutions.
- Ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Bachelor-s or Master-s degree in Informatics or equivalent qualification.
Additional skills that are advantageous:
- Proficient in virtualization technologies, such as KVM.
- Experience with cloud platforms like OpenStack and AWS and hybrid infrastructure environments.
- Experience building and managing containerized applications using Docker, Singularity, or Kubernetes
Located in a region that connects Germany, France, and Switzerland, our institute offers an international research environment with outstanding infrastructure facilities and a positive working atmosphere that places a high value on work-life balance.
- Salary according to your qualifications and professional experience according to the German TV-L salary grading system
- A team of admins and developers to work with
- Professional training and development opportunities
- Challenging tasks in European-wide distributed projects in a modern working environment
- Flexible working hours and trust-based working time
- 30 days holiday a year
- Reduced-cost public transport within the local area
- Family-friendly offers (affiliated daycare center at the institute, family service)
We value and promote diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities and welcome applications from all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from severely disabled people. We would also like to increase the proportion of women in areas where they are underrepresented and, therefore, expressly encourage women to apply.
This position is open immediately and funded for two years, with the possibility of extension. More information about the European Galaxy project is available at1.
The salary will be determined in accordance with up to E13 TV-L.
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