Position Function:
As a Cyberinfrastructure Facilitator (CIF), you will play a crucial role in improving the effectiveness of research and analysis activities that utilize high-performance computing (HPC). You will be engaged in optimizing and managing certain aspects of our cyberinfrastructure to support complex scientific, engineering, and research applications at the Mississippi State University (MSU) High Performance Computing Collaboratory (HPC2). Working under limited supervision, the CIF will be responsible for extending our existing research computing support services to the university’s research community through collaborative relationships with university researchers, faculty, and scholars, information technology staff, vendors, and external collaborators. In this role, the CIF will serve as an intermediary between the research community and the system administrators to address deployment issues as well as assisting researchers and scholars to improve their workflow and identify appropriate HPC approaches which may be applicable to their research objectives. The CIF will utilize their knowledge of scientific computing and cluster operations to respond user queries related to use of research computing services.
Salary Grade: 16
Please see Staff Compensation Structure for salary ranges.
Department Profile:
The High Performance Computing Collaboratory (HPC²), an evolution of the MSU NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Computational Field Simulation, at Mississippi State University is a coalition of member institutes and centers that share a common core objective of advancing the state-of-the-art in computational science and engineering using high performance computing; a common approach to research that embraces a multi-disciplinary, team-oriented concept; and a commitment to a full partnership between education, research, and service. The mission of the HPC² is to serve the University, State, and Nation through excellence in computational science and engineering.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Support faculty, research staff, and graduate students using cyberinfrastructure.
2. Provide scientific applications consultation and support; software installation, software dependencies, scripting, programming, web development, tool utilities, code porting, and debugging services.
3. Provide consulting, programming, project management, and other assistance in the use of HPC and other information technology resources for research.
4. Develop and teach workshops, course modules, seminars, and training sessions in basic use of cyberinfrastructure including data management and cloud services.
5. Assist with generating documentation for, and respond to questions from, the university’s growing community of users of cyberinfrastructure resources.
6. Analyze, benchmark, and fine-tune the HPC environment to achieve optimal performance and throughput for computational and data-intensive tasks. Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks to enhance overall system efficiency.
7. Provide expert guidance and support to researchers, scientists, and engineers in leveraging HPC resources effectively for their computational workloads. Assist in porting, optimizing, and parallelizing code for maximum performance gains.
8. Strong skills and extensive experience with Linux operating system
9. Other duties as assigned.
This position has supervisory responsibility for small teams and directly supervises, trains, develops and evaluates professional staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students. This position provides hand on support to researchers in high-performance computing and advance cyber infrastructure.
The above essential duties are representative of major duties in this position. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary based upon departmental needs. Other duties may be assigned to the above consistent with the knowledge, skills and abilities required for the job. Not all of the duties may be assigned to a position.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelors Degree in computer science, engineering or related field.
4 years directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Masters Degree
• In-depth knowledge of parallel computing, distributed systems, and cluster architectures.
• Exposure to the challenges of research information technology across a range of domains,
such as Medicine, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy/Astrophysics, Geography (Climate
Research), Computer Science, Social Sciences, and the Humanities.
• Scientific programming experience in Python, Java, or MATLAB.
• Knowledge of mathematics through multivariate calculus and advanced matrix algebra.
• Experience in a research lab making use of advanced cyberinfrastructure.
• Extensive knowledge compiling and supporting open source software.
• Experience with C, C++, FORTRAN, Perl, PHP, Python, and Shell programming.
• Extensive working knowledge of Linux software packaging deployment tools.
• Familiarity with high performance computing software and tools, such as MPI, OpenMP,
CUDA, and other parallel programming paradigms.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and document software business rules and
requirements using diagrams, written use cases, and user stories.
• Ability to lead and supervise broad teams providing leading edge technical solutions.
• Strong organization skills and the ability to self-direct efforts to complete documentation
requirements.
• Ability to use Microsoft products (Word, Excel, Power Point).
Working Conditions and Physical Effort
• Work involves occasional exposure to unusual elements found in a data center workspace,
such as confined space, medium noises and lifting of items up to 40 pounds.
• Requires limited lifting of files and records and nearly all work is performed in a
comfortable indoor facility.
• Frequent external imposed deadlines; set and revised beyond one’s control; interruptions
influence priorities; difficult to anticipate nature or volume of work with certainty beyond a
few days; meeting of deadlines and coordination of unrelated activities are key to position;
involves conflict-resolution or similar interactions involving emotional issues or stress on a
regular basis.
• Job frequently requires walking, sitting, reaching, talking, hearing, handling objects with
hands.
Instructions for Applying:
Link to apply: http://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/
Apply online by submitting a cover letter, resume and a copy of transcript(s). Any social security numbers included on requested transcripts should be redacted prior to submitting online.
Restricted Clause:
Position is contingent upon continued availability of funding.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:
MSU is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy, gender identity, status as a U.S. veteran, and/or any other status protected by applicable law. We always welcome nominations and applications from women, members of any minority group, and others who share our passion for building a diverse community that reflects the diversity in our student population.
What do I do if I need an accommodation?
In compliance with the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position with Mississippi State University, please contact the Department of Human Resources Management at tel: (662) 325-3713 or ada@hrm.msstate.edu.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, contact the Department of Human Resources Management at (662) 325-3713 or ada@hrm.msstate.edu. Upon request, sections of this job listing are available in large print, and readers are available to assist the visually impaired.
