Systems Administrator - Cloud

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Position Summary:
McGill University is seeking a Systems Administrator, Cloud (OpenStack), to operate, maintain and evolve its research cloud platform within the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) environment.

Reporting to the Associate Director, Operations, the incumbent will be one of three systems administrators on the cloud team, which is part of Calcul Québec's operations team of 14 systems administrators distributed across McGill, Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke and ÉTS.

Calcul Québec is a consortium of Québec universities, of which McGill is a founding member, and a regional partner of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. It provides advanced research computing resources and expertise to research groups across Québec. This role is dedicated to the OpenStack research cloud, which operates alongside HPC clusters, multi-petabyte Lustre parallel storage, and multi-petabyte tape storage for backup and archiving.

Why join us

• Run a production cloud used by researchers across Québec and Canada, in a wide range of fields including genomics, climate science, artificial intelligence and the digital humanities.
• Work with open-source technologies (OpenStack, Ceph, OVN), with opportunities to contribute upstream.
• Join a distributed team of experienced specialists, in a hybrid work arrangement.

Primary Responsibilities:

Operations and support

• Ensure the daily operation, availability and performance of the OpenStack platform and its Ceph storage, including CephFS and Rados Gateway.
• Provide level 2 and 3 support at the infrastructure level (OpenStack services, virtual networking, and access to Ceph and CephFS storage). The operating systems and applications inside virtual machines remain the users' responsibility.
• Tune and optimize the platform so that virtual machines and their storage access run reliably and efficiently.
  
• Diagnose hardware and software problems, working with vendors and colleagues as needed.
• Work closely with the Associate Director, Operations, and fellow systems administrators to plan maintenance and coordinate responses to outages and security events, keeping the Associate Director informed to support communication with users.

Platform evolution

• Plan and carry out upgrades, patching and lifecycle management of OpenStack, Ceph and CephFS.
• Evaluate, pilot and recommend new hardware and software solutions, and contribute to acquisition planning.
• Propose improvements to procedures and service quality.

Automation, monitoring and documentation

• Automate repetitive tasks and document procedures so that operational work can be shared within the cloud team.
• Set up and maintain performance and security monitoring.
• Maintain documentation of services, configurations and procedures.
• Contribute features and bug fixes to relevant open-source projects.

Collaboration

• Work with colleagues across Calcul Québec and the Alliance on regional and national cloud initiatives.

• Other Qualifying Skills and/or Abilities
  3+ years bachelor’s degree in computer science, Computer Engineering or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience administering production Linux infrastructure at scale (Debian/Ubuntu).
• Hands-on experience operating OpenStack in production.
• Solid hands-on experience with Ceph administration, including CephFS.
• Deployment and configuration with Ansible (openstack-ansible an asset).
• Scripting in Bash and Python.
• Git-based workflows, including code review.
• Knowledge of OVN, Open vSwitch (OVS), VLAN, VXLAN and virtual networking.
• Virtualization (libvirt/QEMU-KVM) and Linux containers (LXC/LXD or Incus). MySQL/
• Galera.
• RabbitMQ.
• Prometheus/Grafana or similar monitoring tools.
• Experience in a research or academic computing environment.
• Strong sense of ownership over the reliability of the systems you run.
• Advanced problem-solving skills in complex, multi-layered environments.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and work independently within a clear direction.
• Collaborative mindset in a distributed team; willingness to act as a technical resource for colleagues.
• Curiosity and a demonstrated ability to learn new technologies quickly.
• Good oral and written communication in French and English

As one of Montreal's Top Employers, here is what we offer:

• Competitive benefits package (Health, Dental, Life Insurance) (if eligible)
• Defined contribution pension plan (with employer contribution up to 10%) (if eligible)
• Group Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)
• Competitive vacation policy
• Two (2) personal days
• Two (2) floating holidays
• Nine (9) "Summer Fridays" - paid days off between the St-Jean Baptiste holiday and Labour Day
• Paid time off over the December holiday period
• Tuition waiver for regular employees and their dependents
• Up to two (2) days of remote work per week where the position permits

Before applying, please note that to work at McGill University, you must be both authorized to work in Canada and willing to work in the province of Quebec at the campus where the position is based / located.

Knowledge of English: McGill University is an English-language university where day to day duties may require English communication both verbally and in writing. The level of English required for this position has been assessed at a level #3 (qualifier) on a scale of 0-4.

For a definition of our language proficiency levels, please click here.

Minimum Education and Experience:

Bachelor's Degree 3 Years Related Experience /

Annual Salary:

(MPEX Grade 05) $73,470.00 - $91,840.00 - $110,210.00

Job Profile:

MPEX-IST2F - IT Infrastructure & Operations - Professional 2

Hours per Week:

33.75 (Full time)

Supervisor:

Associate Director Operations

Position End Date (If applicable):

2027-11-30

Deadline to Apply:

2026-11-25

McGill University hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity and diversity within its community. We welcome applications from racialized persons/visible minorities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with diverse communities. McGill implements an employment equity program and encourages members of designated groups to self-identify. Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations for any part of the application process may contact, in confidence, [email protected].