The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is seeking an enthusiastic sysop with strong people and project management skills to join our team immediately in Cambridge, MA.
A full position description can be found below and on the Harvard Human Resources website.
Please note that applications for this position must be submitted through the Harvard Human Resources website, and will not be collected directly through the Berkman Klein Center. We will accept and review applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Apply here.
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Job Description:.
The successful candidate would be able to ensure smooth operation of the technological infrastructure of a world-class research center working on cutting-edge Internet policy and manage select technical projects in conjunction with our innovative community of developers and researchers. Working with great in-house talent, this position is ideal for someone who learns new technologies quickly, tinkers and solves odd technology problems and is able to communicate solutions effectively to technical and non-technical faculty, fellows and staff.
We're looking for a systems administrator who will thrive in a creative, fun, and fast-paced atmosphere with a team of extremely talented and dedicated developers and co-workers. We love big databases, virtualization, real time migration and replication, finding interesting ways to measure and distribute load and have access to fascinating internet research data from all over the world; this is the stuff that you could be knee deep in!
They will work closely with a team of sysops, developers, researchers and staff on all kinds of projects using various OS's, applications and deployments methods, either involving our staff support infrastructure and/or our developer support infrastructure at some point in the development cycle, including planning, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
The systems administrator would serve as primary administrator of 50+ virtualized servers, 15 physical servers and associated hardware, NAS/SAN storage array and associated networking equipment; serve as primary administrator for web based enterprise systems such as Wordpress, Drupal and Mediawiki; serve as primary administrator for backend enterprise systems such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Solr and MongoDB; be responsible for installation, deployment, maintenance, backup, system uptime and integrity of *nix servers; be able to setup and maintain system monitoring, alerting and logging systems; be able to install and configure management tools such as puppet, chef and rdist; be responsible for project planning, communications, tracking, and program execution for select technical projects, including setting timelines and project deliverables, events, and reporting including metrics; be familiar with Perl and Bash shell scripting, LDAP, Apache and Nginx; be comfortable with server and enterprise security practices; above all, be willing and eager to learn what they do not know and share what they do know.
What we run:
For our servers, we use Ubuntu Linux, Windows and OSX - whatever suits the task. Many of our apps are written in Ruby on Rails, Perl or PHP in combination with jQuery (we also maintain a few Java applications). Mysql, Postgres and Couch provide the backend, but we're open minded about new technology, too. We deploy via passenger, mod_perl and mod_jk on apache, use Lucene/Solr for search, and tomcat for our Java applications. We maintain many production applications on primarily open source infrastructure.
How we operate and expect you to participate:
• We’ll ask you for your opinion and expect you to have one.
• Building better and more resilient systems is your lifestyle; you have and admire your ability to pick up new technologies in days and weeks not months and years.
• We’ll have you create and maintain the infrastructure with the tools that best match the job.
• That you will be able to refactor and improve existing systems, and build new ones from scratch.
At the Berkman Klein Center, geekery is respected. In addition to the bump to your geek street cred, you’ll get:
• the satisfaction of seeing your work help make the world and the Internet a better place.
• to work with our world-class faculty, fellows, and staff - the minds behind the Internet Monitor, Global Voices Online, Creative Commons, StopBadware, Surveillance and Circumvention Projects, the Public Radio Exchange, Herdict, Mediacloud, and countless other Center efforts – and be able to shape new projects.
• to attend the Berkman Klein Center’s many events, which bring a rotating cast of the best and brightest folks thinking about the ways the Internet is changing the world (these also contribute to an oft-generous magic food table).
• to go to work every day in a yellow house at the edge of the Harvard Law School campus. Our team lives in the Geek Cave... oddly enough, one of the best-lit rooms at the Center.
Basic Qualifications:
Some combination of education and experience is required, such as BS in computer science or engineering, prior work experience, internships or having built your own datacenter or mining rig put under load by some human. Experience with Ubuntu, RHEL, OS X Server; Linux security, basic scripting skills.
The systems administrator should be able to lift, move and install server and network equipment up to 50lbs; be able to participate in on-call rotation 24x7x365 support of critical systems and services; and be available to work during off-hours for systems maintenance windows.
Additional Qualifications:
Experience with Perl, Python, Bash or other scripting languages, knowledge and experience with VMware, KVM/QEMU or Xen, SVN or GIT, and knowledge and experience with Apache or Nginx and MySQL or Postgres. Knowledge and experience with NetApp systems, Tomcat / J2EE Systems, NoSQL DBs, Bacula, Windows 2012 Server and AD a plus. The right candidate follows through with minimal supervision; is patient, curious, and perseverant; is flexible and able to prioritize and to manage multiple needs; and works well as part of a team and independently.
Experience with SQL, noSQL, enterprise backups, virtualization technologies, networking, system monitoring and logging, OS deployment practices, shell scripting and/or basic programming, enterprise security practices and technical project management is valued, but all are not essential. Interest in learning these and more is a must; we are ready to invest in, teach and support the right person in gaining the necessary skills.
We are looking for someone who loves to make patch cables look nice, script themselves out of tedium, and think of n-tier solutions.
About the Berkman Klein Center:
The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is dedicated to exploring, understanding, and shaping the development of the digitally-networked environment. A diverse, interdisciplinary community of scholars, practitioners, technologists, policy experts, and advocates, we seek to tackle the most important challenges of the digital age while keeping a focus on tangible real-world impact in the public interest. Our faculty, fellows, staff and affiliates conduct research, build tools and platforms, educate others, form bridges and facilitate dialogue across and among diverse communities. More information at www.cyber.harvard.edu.
Commitment to Diversity:
The work and well-being of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University are strengthened profoundly by the diversity of our network and our differences in background, culture, experience, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and much more. Our community actively seeks and welcomes people of color, women, the LGBTQIA community, and persons with disabilities, as well researchers and practitioners from across the spectrum of disciplines and methods.