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HPC Support Engineer

Category:  Management & Professionals

1 - Working at the VUB

Are you our HPC Support Engineer who likes to sink his teeth into the Tier-1 supercomputer and is looking forward to the next step in your career?   VUB is always looking for new talent to grow together.

For almost 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and connectedness. These values are strongly present on our campuses, in our students as well as our staff. At the VUB, you’ll find a diverse collection of personalities: pure innovators and especially people who are 100% their authentic selves. With about 4.000 employees, we are the largest Flemish-speaking employer in Brussels, an international city with which we are all too happy to be connected, and around which our four campuses are located.

The VUB is also a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of 10 like-minded European universities, all ten ready to reinvent themselves. 

2 - Position Description

The VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Centre) supports the HPC (high performance computing) activities in all Flemish university associations (https://www.vscentrum.be) for more than 10 years. Within the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) the local VSC hub is part of the Scientific Data & Compute team (https://hpc.vub.be) which provides centralized services for scientific computing and data storage to the research community. The next leading Flemish HPC infrastructure (https://www.vscentrum.be/compute) of the VSC will be  installed and managed by the VSC hub at the VUB. We are looking for a new colleague to join our team to support our academic users.

 

We are open to both junior and senior profiles. The ability to learn and fit into our fast-paced team of passionate people is very important. Interested in scientific software, Python, Linux, ... then you might become our new colleague.

 

Your responsibilities are:

 

  • Helpdesk Support & User Assistance: 
    • Together with your colleagues you run the helpdesk for the users of the next leading Flemish HPC infrastructure. 
    • Diagnose and resolve issues related to running simulations (jobs) on the cluster and troubleshoot HPC workloads. 
    • Perform software installations needed by the researchers on the platform, assist the team in performances tuning 
    • Ensure support requests are answered in a timely and accurate manner, either by directly solving the issues or escalating them to your colleagues. 
  • Documentation Management: 
    • Maintain and update existing documentation to ensure it remains relevant and accurate. For instance, our documentation website is available at https://hpc.vub.be/docs/ 
    • Identify areas where documentation can be expanded to cover new use cases or recurring support questions. 
    • Collaborate with other team members to produce user-friendly, accessible guides for a variety of technical HPC-related topics. 
  • Automation and Process Improvement: 
    • Collaborate with your colleagues and other teams to implement automation solutions that enhance system stability and performance. 
    • Proactively identify opportunities for process improvements and implement changes where appropriate. 
    • Assist in the development of scripts and software tooling to automate routine support tasks and improve the efficiency of the helpdesk processes. 
  • User Training and Outreach: 
    • Assist in organizing and delivering training sessions, workshops, and webinars to support HPC users and advise how to run their HPC workloads efficiently and effectively. 
    • Help with creating training materials, tutorials, and FAQs to guide users in effectively utilizing HPC resources. 
    • Actively gather feedback from training participants to continuously improve training programs. 

 

For this position our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will your place of work, in combination with remote working.

3 - Profile

What do we expect from you?

  • You are passionate about IT and feel at ease in computer environments. You possess at least a basic knowledge of GNU/Linux operating system, and you are ready to learn (a lot) more. 
  • You hold either a master’s degree (or a similar qualification); or a bachelor’s degree with several years of relevant experience. 
  • Experience with HPC is a big plus. You can explain complex matters with clarity and have effective communication skills. You adapt the message depending on the background of the audience.  
  • Experience or knowledge on any of the following domains is a plus: 
    • Basic Linux System administration 
    • Scripting in a language like Python or Bash 
    • Code compilation and optimization 
    • Skills and experience in numerical and algorithmic fields 
    • Experience in software installations in Linux (compiling software from source) 
    • Version control with git 
    • Experience in porting and optimizing applications on Linux systems and GPU architectures 
  • You like to share knowledge and express yourself fluently in English. Knowledge of Dutch is a plus. 
  • You are eager to learn and are not afraid of reading documentation and searching for new solutions on your own. 
  • You have strong problem-solving skills. 
  • You are a team player and customer focused.  
  • You strive for continuous improvement, both within your own way of working but also within your work environment, and you also encourage others to do so. 

 

VUB aims to be a reflection of society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, sex, age, religion, skin color, migration background, functional disability and neurodiversity.

4 - Offer

Are you going to be our new colleague? You’ll be offered a permanent full-time/part-time contract at a salary linked to grade 7 (min. € 3.763 - max. € 5.804), grade 8 (min. € 4.184 - max. € 6.352), or exceptionnaly grade 9 (min. € 4.545 - max. € 6.714 ).    The grade and salary depends on your competences and previous relevant work experience.

At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career. As well as this, you’ll enjoy various benefits:

  • An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work-life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave, closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days; 
  • Cost-free hospitalisation and very attractive group insurance with a guaranteed income;   
  • Full reimbursement of your home-to-work commute with public transport according to VUB-policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike;  
  • A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices; 
  • Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise,  a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in  all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks...) and Ecocheques;  
  • Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps;  
  • The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses; 
  • And finally: great colleagues with a healthy drive and a good sense of humour. 

5 - Interested?

Is this the job you’ve been dreaming of? Apply via jobs.vub.be before 16/05/2025

 

Your application will undergo various steps as follows:

  • Step 1: CV screening by one of our recruiters.
  • Step 2: A  technical test; 
  • Step 3: A final interview 

 

Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Ward Poelmans at ward.poelmans@vub.be.

Do you have questions about the selection procedure? Contact annelies.jongert@vub.be

Would you like to know what it’s like to work at the VUB?

Go to www.jobs.vub.be and find all there is to know about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals and your future colleagues.  

6 - For office use

Regulation: external funding

Contract: [[c_contractType]]

Head unit/faculty: Directie ICT

FTE: 1

Function: ICT consultant

Pay grade group: 7-8-9

Recrutement type: recruitment

DO YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS VACANCY?

You can contact the person mentioned in the job description.

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