Updated 18/10/2024

Job: Cloud Community Support Specialist

Job description

We are looking for a Cloud Community Support Specialist to assist EGI Foundation in engaging with and technically supporting international research communities. The specialist will arrange cloud resources, cloud platform and application services from the EGI Federation for user communities, will set up Service Level Agreements and Operation Level Agreements, will cloud-enable scientific applications, scientific data and data analytics environments in clouds and will monitor delivery compliance.

The position requires experience with cloud technologies (primarily OpenStack), open-source systems for automating deployment, scaling, management of containerized applications and data transfers. Knowledge of the EGI Federated Cloud, EGI High Throughput Compute, and High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning technologies are plus.

The position requires experience in collecting and analysing user requirements, defining and coordinating integration and application/data porting activities, running validation tests, development and delivery of customised training sessions that accelerate service uptake.

The Cloud Community Support Specialist will work in the Community Support Team of the EGI Foundation, in collaboration with the Technical Solutions Team, the Service Delivery Team and community experts from the broader EGI federation. He/she will cooperate with distributed technical teams to customise solutions according to user community needs. The position offers the opportunity to work in EU-funded international research projects.

Job purpose and responsibilities

The Cloud Community Support Specialist will assist the integration of scientific applications and data with the technical and operational Cloud services from the EGI Federation, will ensure that the EGI Federated Cloud offers solutions that meet the needs of international user groups, scientific projects, and European Research Infrastructures.

Job Purpose and Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include:

Work with research communities, research projects and Research Infrastructures on collecting technical requirements for distributed/big computing and identifying suitable solutions and providers from EGI to meet customer needs.
Support the porting and integration of scientific environments, data, data management tools, analysis platforms and other types of Thematic Services with the EGI cloud and with related services/technologies.
Provide technical advice and support for Cloud Compute IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, Data Management, Containers orchestration and HPC projects.
Work on collaborative projects with research communities, EGI communities and peer e-Infrastructures in Europe and beyond to deeply explore topics of common interest.
Participate in the design and delivery of training events and tutorials for user communities about cloud-related topics.
Keep abreast of technical developments in scope in his/her solution area, maintain relevant knowledge of technology standards and best practices.
Capture emerging needs in cloud computing, in digital open science and propose new services and technologies for EGI to meet those new demands.
Liaise with technical teams in EGI to ensure that the EGI service portfolio evolves according to new user requirements. Contribute to technology co-design and validation programmes.
Contribute to the definition, development and delivery of the EGI Annual Community Support and Training plan.
Prepare success stories from the support activities for EGI and project specific dissemination (e.g. articles, slides, news, brochures).

Relationships

With the user communities to identify requirements and technical gaps, co-design solutions based on EGI services and technologies, and support them from design to service deployment phase.
With the Community Support Team to identify user communities, service provisioning models and reusable support practices.
With the Technical Support Team to drive the evolution of the existing EGI services and the development of new services, taking into account emerging user and provider community needs, and the broader cloud compute landscape.
With the Communication Team to develop success stories from the user support projects.

Requirements

Essential requirements

Computer Science degree in Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, with relevant further working experience.
Proven experience with one or more private or public Cloud service(s) ands\ related technologies, preferably OpenStack.
In-depth experience with container systems like Docker, and container orchestration like Kubernetes.
In-depth understanding of programming languages, preferably Python.
Experience with Helm charts to manage Kubernetes applications.
Experience with web-based interactive computing platforms (e.g.: Jupyter notebook).
Experience with distributed version control (e.g.: Git and GitHub).
Experience with configuration management tools (e.g.: Ansible).
Confidence in public speaking to various stakeholder types, in English.

Other requirements

Detail oriented, thorough, and organised.
Excellent time management and prioritisation skills.
Ability to write and communicate effectively in English.
Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills, and ability to work well in a team.
Ability to travel within Europe.
Experience in working with international, distributed teams is a plus.
Experience in working in EC funded projects, and writing proposals to EC funded project calls.
Experience with PyTorch and TensorFlow libraries, and knowledge of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies is a plus.
Experience in using or supporting users on HPC systems is a plus.

Offer

This is a full-time (40 hours per week) position preferably in Amsterdam.
The position is offered for a period of one year, with the possibility of renewal upon satisfactory performance.
Depending on experience, for an employee working in the Netherlands, gross salary for a full-time position will be in the range of €4,962 to €5,549 per month, with additional holiday (8% annual gross) and end of year (5% annual gross) bonuses. For employees stationed outside the Netherlands, the salary will be determined by applying the country-specific coefficient correction, and bonuses and benefits will be aligned with the local regulations of the respective country.
In the Netherlands, employees are entitled to 31 days of annual leave (pro rata). For employees residing in other countries, the specific number of leave days may vary depending on the applicable national labour law regulations.
Non-native employees new to the Netherlands may be eligible for a special tax benefit if moving to the Netherlands.

Equal opportunities

The EGI Foundation is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age or veteran status.

Process and timeline

Closing date for applications: 31 October 2024
Expected starting date: December 2024/January 2025

To apply

To apply, we invite you to send us the following two items by email, to jobs@egi.eu:

A cover letter (in PDF format), explaining your motivation for applying and how you meet the requirements outlined above.
A CV (in PDF format), max 3 pages.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

If you have any questions about this job advert, don’t hesitate to contact us at jobs@egi.eu.

Thank you for your interest!