About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.
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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Context And Mission
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is seeking a Systems Engineer to join the Operations Department, within the System Administration team.
The selected candidate will contribute to the administration, operation, and continuous improvement of Linux-based infrastructures, HPC clusters, and core IT services that support the daily activities of the center. This role is key to ensuring the reliability, performance, and scalability of BSC’s computing and service platforms.
The primary project for this position will be the systems administration of the BSC Trusted Research Environment (TRE) infrastructure, which enables processing of sensitive research data (including GDPR-regulated personal and health data) for AI and research workloads.
Key Duties
- Install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot core IT services of the center, including email systems, web services, databases, and server infrastructure.
- Administer, optimize, and maintain storage subsystems and backup solutions, ensuring data integrity, availability, and efficient resource utilization.
- Manage and support HPC environments, including configuration, monitoring, and performance tuning of Linux-based supercomputing clusters.
- Administer and maintain cloud platforms (OpenStack, OpenNebula, oVirt), ensuring their reliability, scalability, and integration with existing infrastructure.
- Monitor system performance and proactively identify and resolve issues to minimize downtime and improve service quality.
- Collaborate with other technical teams to support research and operational needs, ensuring alignment between infrastructure and user requirements.
- Contribute to documentation, automation, and continuous improvement of system administration processes and tools.
- Contribute to the systems administration of the BSC TRE platforms, including secure compute environments, isolated network zones (ingress/egress, DMZ), internal package mirrors, and supporting services for sensitive data processing.
- Support the implementation and operation of security controls aligned with applicable frameworks (such as ISO 27001 and ENS) in coordination with the security and data management teams.
- Participate in technical meetings, workshops, and project-related activities, including occasional travel when required.
Requirements
- Education
- Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
- Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Hands-on experience in Linux system administration in production environments.
- Experience in administering HPC environments based on Linux, including job schedulers, cluster management, and performance considerations.
- Good Knowledge and experience managing complex IT infrastructures.
- Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Good level of English, both written and spoken, in technical and collaborative environments.
- Experience with IT services security design, configuration and management is a plus.
- Familiarity with monitoring tools, scripting (e.g., Bash, Python), and DevOps practices will be highly valued.
- Experience working in research or high-performance computing environments is an advantage.
- Familiarity with information security management frameworks (ISO 27001, ENS) and their application to infrastructure operations is a plus.
- Experience configuring or operating restricted-network or air-gapped environments (DMZ zones, internal package mirrors such as Harbor, PyPI, CRAN, npm; jump servers; multi-hop VPN) is highly valued.
- Experience with container orchestration platforms (Kubernetes) in production environments is a plus.
- Familiarity with identity and access management (LDAP, OIDC, MFA), audit logging, and SIEM tools is valued.
- Experience with encryption at rest and key management (LUKS, HSM, KMS) is a plus.
- Familiarity with Trusted Research Environment concepts and reference frameworks (SATRE specification, Five Safes), or experience operating regulated data environments (GDPR, health data), is highly valued.
- Competences
- Proactive attitude with strong sense of ownership and responsibility.
- Good organizational and time management skills, with the ability to handle multiple tasks and priorities.
- Team-oriented mindset with effective communication skills to collaborate across technical teams.
- Problem-solving approach with attention to detail and commitment to service reliability.
- Comfort working in cross-functional teams that include security, legal/DPO, and data management roles, where some operational decisions are constrained by regulatory or compliance requirements.
Conditions
- The position will be located at BSC within the Operations Department
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We offer a full-time contract (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
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Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
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Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
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Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
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Starting date: 01/07/2026
Applications procedure and process
All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:
- A full CV in English including contact details
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A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.
Development of the recruitment process
The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:
- Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
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Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.
The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.
In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.
The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es.
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Deadline
The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes
BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
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