System administrator to NGI-Uppsala

SNP&SEQ technology platform

Uppsala University is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Our ultimate goal is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to make a long-term difference in society. Our most important assets are all the individuals whose curiosity and dedication make Uppsala University one of Sweden’s most exciting workplaces. Uppsala University has over 54,000 students, more than 7,500 employees and a turnover of around SEK 8 billion.

The Department of Medical Sciences is a large clinical institution with more than 250 employees and over 900 additional coworkers connected via the Uppsala University Hospital. The Department of Medical Sciences has a broad research profile with strong research groups in a number of different areas. The research carried out at the department is performed in close connection with the clinical activities at the Uppsala University Hospital, which includes both basic studies on the causes of a variety of illnesses and the development and evaluation of improved diagnostics and new treatment methods. More information about the Department of Medical Sciences can be found at www.medsci.uu.se

Are you interested in the rapidly growing field of biotechnology? Would you like to work alongside researchers and bioinformaticians in a dynamic and creative atmosphere at one of Europe’s largest facilities for DNA sequencing?  As a system administrator at the SNP&SEQ technology platform, you will be involved in maintaining the infrastructure that enables the flow of large-scale genotyping and sequencing data from our instruments to researchers.

The SNP&SEQ technology platform is part of the National Infrastructure for Genomics (NGI) at SciLifeLab in Uppsala. SNP&SEQ offers services with modern large-scale methods and applications in sequencing (NGS), SNP genotyping and proteomics to users within Swedish academia and industry, and also to international users. The business consists of a multidisciplinary group of researchers, project coordinators, research engineers, bioinformatics, system developers and system administrators. Annually, the platform generates> 300 terabases of sequence data from> 20,000 samples and delivers> 25 billion genotypes from 50,000 samples to clients. More about SNP & SEQ’s operations can be read at: https://snpseq.medsci.uu.se/

We are seeking a system administrator to join our Systems group in maintaining, optimizing, and developing the various systems used in laboratory and bioinformatic processes. These include the automation of data handling and analysis; tracking of samples, steps and reagents in laboratory workflows; documentation management; and visualization of key performance indicators (KPI). SNP&SEQ is growing and changing rapidly, which makes it necessary to have a scalable and dynamic IT environment with a high degree of automation. Large data volumes and very high demands on system availability create challenges beyond the ordinary. Great emphasis is also placed on creating and maintaining a secure IT environment, as sensitive personal data is handled. SNP&SEQ works according to the European quality standard ISO/IEC 17025 and is accredited by SWEDAC as a testing laboratory for genotyping and sequencing. All of the work carried out at SNP&SEQ is performed with focus on providing service of the highest possible quality.

Duties
Our unit mainly consists of Linux servers (Redhat and Debian based systems) virtualized in a VMware environment, and orchestrated via Ansible playbooks. The unit also has a number of systems administered by UPPMAX (Linux systems) and Uppsala University’s IT department (mainly Window systems).

• Linux system administration
• Windows system administration
• Administration and support of:
  Physical and virtual servers (VMWare / Hyper-V)
  Networks, firewalls, switches, routers, etc.
  MS-SQL database servers
• Purchasing and license management
• Order services from and maintain contact with Uppsala University’s IT organization
• Life cycle management of IT-related products including documentation
• Backup & archiving, related nodes (IBM spectrum protect)
• Active Directory
• Two-factor authentication via different services
• Case management and documentation in Jira and Confluence
• Help streamline the lab staff’s tasks, for example by creating scripts that automate time-consuming tasks.
• System monitoring
• User support

Since the operations at the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform are accredited by SWEDAC, there is an emphasis on documentation and version control.

Requirements
We are looking for someone who have good knowledge and at least two years documented work experience of:

• Linux server administration
• Windows server administration
• To write documentation for users with different technical backgrounds.
• Network, TCP/IP and firewalls.
• Oral and written communication in English.

Great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities. As a person, you must have a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and develop. You are responsible, have a sense of detail and think that good documentation is important.

You must also be able to work both independently and in groups, and have the ability to take initiative and drive improvement work.

Additional qualifications
Basic knowledge or interest in

• Basic system development, for example in scripting languages such as Python or Powershell
• Work with virtualized environments.
• Working with AD
• Infrastructure automation and scripting with e.g. Ansible
• System monitoring
• Quality management, for example according to ISO 27001 or ISO 9001
• Version management system, e.g. Git
• Information security and handling of sensitive data
• Molecular biology, bioinformatics, statistics, genetics, biology or similar
• Good verbal and written Swedish communication skills.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position, 1 year, full time. Starting date as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.