SENIOR COMPUTER SPECIALIST

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

The UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, housed in the School of Public Health, is seeking a full-time Senior Computing Specialist.

POSITION PURPOSE

The staff member will join a department IT team with five other members to provide a wide array of computing support to faculty, staff, and students. The Senior Computer Specialist works with the department Director of Computing Support and with other Senior Computing Specialists to meet the growing computing needs of faculty, students and staff in DEOHS, over 400 people in total. DEOHS activities span a very wide variety of academic, research and service areas, including workplace safety, air quality, genomics and toxicology. As a result, the DEOHS research groups, laboratories and studies require the operation of a diverse set of computing systems to address their evolving requirements. Examples include: vendor-provided computers that operate very sophisticated instrumentation; database systems that support long-term research studies; and high-performance systems to support bioinformatics and genomic sequencing. The current computing infrastructure includes a majority of PCs running Microsoft Windows, a smaller proportion running Apple macOS and an extensive set of Linux and Windows servers in core infrastructure and analytical roles.

This new position will constitute the second of two department systems administrator positions and is intended to increase the depth of support for expanding systems. In addition to day-to-day administration and some off-hours monitoring coverage, the systems administrator will assist in extending the Department's body of technical and administrative documentation and procedures.

Within this context, this position will support a fairly wide variety of systems administration responsibilities including account provisioning, user and group security configuration, network-layer security configuration, host security configuration, capacity and load monitoring and maintenance of systems like storage systems, backup, virtualization hosts, and intranet/Web servers. While the position will focus on back-end systems administration, it will, like all other computing/IT positions in the Department, be responsible for direct support of individual customers and their workstations on a routine basis and will work with other IT staff in addressing day-to-day help desk requests.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The successful candidate will be required to balance a continuing mix of day-to-day operational support for the Department with longer-term complex projects. Examples would include addressing very basic computer usage questions from faculty, students, and staff while actively working on very complex code and debugging. Specific activities will include:
Serve as co-administrator of core UW DEOHS systems and services including authentication systems, storage systems, security systems, backup systems and management systems among others.
Participate in development and implementation of new departmental services, as well as functioning as technical lead for implementation and maintenance of some new services.
Join with our lead systems administrator as technical leads for implementation and maintenance of many services. Examples include: operating system/kernel updates (Linux); security infrastructure technologies like PKI and firewalls (iptables), and Kerberos; file system management and tuning (NFS, CIFS, ZFS); and management automation (monitoring, logging, backup). (50%)
Implement procedures to support system management and backup of system configuration and user data.
Maintain user and group account infrastructure utilizing Active Directory, GPOs, and related tools.
Assist with development of intranet resources to facilitate provision of computing services to DEOHS members; examples include Help Desk systems and knowledge bases. (15%)
Operate and extend backups, both on site and off site, to include backup of user and group data files and of the configuration of key servers and systems.
Participate in planned systems maintenance activities, in change management and documentation and in testing and verification. (10%)
Communicate with UW IT on security, network and other issues. Support the use of UW IT services such as email, Mailman lists, and supplementary accounts.
Maintain DEOHS-specific data in UW systems such as DNS. (5%)
Provide configuration management and support for operation of specialized research systems running programs such as relational database management systems (RDBMS) and statistical programs such as R. (5%)
Diagnose and repair some hardware problems on site.
Assist with laptop security procedures and policies. Work with users to balance network security needs with users' needs to access data and processing capability from external sites.
Provide direct support as needed to department customers using desktop/laptop computers and services. (5%)
Develop and test scripts to support systems operation and maintenance.
Develop and maintain durable instructional and reference material to assist faculty, staff and students in areas such as shell commands and the use of scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, Bash, SQL, and R. (5%)
Create computing FAQs and instructional guides on technical issues that will help programs develop and exercise expertise in areas such as database management and use of software development tools like compilers and IDEs. (5%)

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Sciences, Health Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering or similar fields.
Three years of experience

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Windows Server and Hyper-V administration
Multi-user Linux system administration
Experience installing and administering servers using configuration management tools such as Ansible; writing and debugging complex Python and shell scripts; administering web servers running Apache or Nginx; writing PHP code and with PHP/MySQL and web server integration; configuring MTAs such as sendmail and Postfix.
Expertise in network security and specifically with SSL, SSH, and public key cryptography, with AD, Kerberos, Linux/PAM security, with host and network intrusion detection systems, and with the configuration of Linux and Windows firewalls.
Previous experience in protocol-level debugging of common network protocols and of network applications including VPNs and Samba.
Ability to: troubleshoot effectively with little supervision; interact effectively and efficiently with a large number of users with diverse needs.
Demonstrated experience writing instructional tutorials and technical documentation, and in development of security best practices for users and other IT staff; writing both formal and informal technical documentation for both department end-users and other IT staff.
Excellent communication skills in order to socialize information and knowledge with a diverse group of colleagues. Demonstrated ease in handling multiple tasks simultaneously, prioritizing work and managing time effectively.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Six years of relevant experience. Experience configuring and administering systems running in cloud computing environments such as AWS and Azure.
Experience with statistical applications, bioinformatics, and biomedical data security/privacy.
Ability to use project management tools and techniques (e.g. Gantt charts, PERT diagrams, and Kanban boards).
Experience with procurement in a government/educational setting.

Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

The University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at or .

Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law .