Scientific IT Administrator

Contract

This is a G-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as General Service and related categories. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about G-5 contracts.

PURPOSE OF POSITION

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), is the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is based in Lyon, France. The objective of the

IARC is to promote international collaboration in cancer research.

The role of the Section of Support to Research (SSR) is to support the achievement of IARC’s scientific objectives through efficient and effective management of the Agency’s resources and provision of administrative services, ensuring accountable risk mitigation and implementing strategies to strengthen capacities and maximize IARC’s impact.

The ITS main objective is to maintain, develop and ensure smooth IT services through its main core functions including but not limited to IT Governance, Information System, Digital Workplace, Scientific IT, Cyber Security and Hybrid Infrastructure.

Under the direct supervision of the infrastructure officer SSR/ITS and overall guidance of the ITS head, the incumbent will perform the below tasks.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

1. Operation and Administration of Scientific IT Systems:

Operate the IARC Scientific IT platform. Tasks include but not limited to:

• Maintenance, operation and update of High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources and services to the highest standards using automation.
• Ensure systems integrity and security applying firmware updates/upgrades and security patches.
• Detect, troubleshoot and resolve SIT service problems.
• Daily monitoring of services and IT resources (system logs, backup, etc)
• Produce and keep technical documentation up to date.

2. Scientific IT Development:

Develop the IARC Scientific IT (SIT) platform according the ITS roadmap articulated along with the Computational Biology, Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Committee (C3B) IT Working Group:

• Design, implement, configure, document, Scientific IT High Performance Computing, high performance storage and services.
• Further develop automation to provision systems and the user state environment in a consistent manner to aid reproducibility of scientific results and to enable access to sensitive scientific data.

3. Training and Support:

Train and assist scientists in using high performance computing (HPC) / bioinformatics resources and for best practices in data management:

• Create and maintain user documentation
• Track and resolve support requests
• Create and publish monthly/yearly HPC usage report.
• Maintain SIT Collaborative website
• Organize and deliver training sessions

4. Liase with colleagues from the IARC C3B Committee by participating in the evaluation of new technological opportunities aimed to meet the needs of IARC scientific groups.
5. Core IT services operation and development:

ITS as the main IT services provider for IARC develop, provision, and maintain multiple IT environment and systems; The incumbent will have to:

• Collaborate with the Linux System Administrator for the management and development of shared systems.
• When needed, act as backup of the Linux System Administrator for the management of the Linux based IT services.
• Whenever possible, contribute to the development of the Linux based IT services.

6. Perform any other related technical duties as requested by the supervisor(s).

COVID-19 MEASURES

Due to the evolving situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, and depending on work requirements, this position may be partly occupied remotely, from the home of the candidate selected in the region Lyon, according to the teleworking clause for force majeure currently in force as part of the IARC teleworking policy during this pandemic period.

WHO COMPETENCIES

• Producing results
• Moving forward in a changing environment
• Fostering integration and teamwork
• Technical expertise
• Communication

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

Essential: Completion of a secondary school education plus two years of specialized studies in computer science, recognized by a diploma (BTS, DUT, license, license pro or equivalent)

Desirable: Engineering School specialized in IT.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Essential: Minimum of 5 years of combined professional hardware and software stacks experience.

Desirable:

• Experience with Slurm workload manager and Beegfs parallel file system.
• Experience working in a bioinformatics environment in a research organization.
• Experience in support and user training.

USE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Excellent knowledge of English OR French and the aptitude to learn language.

SKILLS

Essential:

• Strong Linux Systems/Services Knowledge and skills
• Good Knowledge of HPC environment, job schedulers and parallel file systems.
• Knowledge of configuration management tools and infrastructure automation (Ansible, Puppet, Xcat...)
• Proven communications skills including in a multidisciplinary team.

Desirable:

• Container virtualisation such as Singularity or Docker
• CD/CI pipeline automation
• Scripting skills in Bash,/YAML/Python/MS PowerShell

REMUNERATION

The fixed remuneration for the above position currently amounts to EUR 3,544 per month, and is expressed net of income tax but before deduction of the employee share contributions for mandatory participation in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) and in the Organization’s private insurance plans covering health, accident, illness and disability.

Other benefits include different types of leave and allowances for dependent family members.

Employment status is that of an international civil servant.

Note: due to the legal status of WHO/IARC as an international organization, its staff do not contribute to and do not generate benefits in French mandatory schemes for health insurance (“assurance maladie”), pension (“assurance vieillesse/retraite or unemployment (“Pôle-Emploi”) throughout their period of employment with the Agency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This post is open to all EU nationals who can work/have work permit in France. IARC offers a relocation package for selected candidates if they are not residing within the local commuting area and based outside France.
• IARC has different means of flexible working arrangement which support the work-life balance.
• We only accept applications submitted via our online recruitment tool (applications for this position should be filled out in English and include a cover letter in English). Application profiles should include the details of all work experiences to date (including paid internships).
• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test and/or presentation may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. IARC/WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to IARC/WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• For information on IARC’S operations please visit: www.iarc.who.int
• IARC/WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• IARC/WHO's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice.
• IARC/WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women are encouraged.