Research User Computing Linux Specialist

Research User Computing Linux Specialist

Join our dynamic team as a **Research User Computing Linux Specialist** at KAUST, where you will play a pivotal role in designing, optimizing, and maintaining cutting-edge Linux-based research platforms. This strategic position ensures that faculty, researchers, and students have seamless, secure, and high-performance access to advanced scientific computing environments. Your expertise will drive innovation, enhance productivity, and support groundbreaking research initiatives across the institution.

In this dynamic role, you will lead the administration, maintenance, and continuous evolution of KAUST’s Linux-based research infrastructure, encompassing Ubuntu and Rocky Linux endpoints, physical scientific workstations, and virtualized research environments. Your work will directly impact the efficiency and effectiveness of academic and research operations, fostering a collaborative ecosystem where technology empowers discovery.

Key Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include:

• Platform Administration and Optimization: Administer and enhance Ubuntu and Rocky Linux platforms to deliver stable, secure, and high-performance scientific workstation services tailored to KAUST’s research community.
• Workstation Development and Standardization: Design, standardize, and maintain Linux workstation builds and virtual images for both physical and virtual scientific desktops, ensuring consistency, reliability, and readiness for research applications.
• Remote Workstation Management: Oversee and support remote scientific workstation platforms, including NICE DCV and Kasm Workspaces, to provide secure, high-performance access to research environments from anywhere.
• Automation and Infrastructure as Code: Implement automation for provisioning, configuration, patching, monitoring, and compliance activities using scripting, configuration management tools, and GitOps-aligned practices to streamline operations.
• Advanced Troubleshooting: Diagnose and resolve complex issues related to Linux endpoints, workstations, remote desktops, GPU drivers, performance bottlenecks, identity management, storage, and networking, escalating to specialized teams when necessary.
• Integration with Enterprise Systems: Seamlessly integrate Linux desktops and workstations with enterprise identity and access management (IAM), storage, network, security, and endpoint management solutions to ensure compliant and reliable operations.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving: Partner closely with faculty, researchers, students, and cross-functional teams—including HPC, storage, security, and advanced computing—to translate research workflow requirements into scalable and sustainable workstation solutions.
• Scientific Software Support: Assist in the installation, validation, and maintenance of specialized scientific and research software on Linux environments, prioritizing compatibility, performance, reproducibility, and user-centric design.
• Security and Compliance: Implement and enforce robust security controls, including patch management, system hardening, audit logging, and endpoint security, aligning with KAUST’s policies and industry frameworks.
• Documentation and Knowledge Sharing: Develop and maintain comprehensive operational documentation, runbooks, user guides, dashboards, and service metrics to enhance supportability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Technological Innovation: Evaluate emerging Linux desktop technologies, remote access solutions, virtualization platforms, and automation tools, providing data-driven recommendations to elevate service quality and platform capabilities.
• Cross-Functional Contributions: Contribute to additional tasks and initiatives aligned with your expertise, ensuring adaptability and growth within the evolving technological landscape.

This role is ideal for a detail-oriented professional with a passion for Linux systems, automation, and research support. Your ability to bridge technical complexity with user needs will be instrumental in advancing KAUST’s mission of excellence in scientific research.