Research Storage Consultant

Stanford Research Computing is looking for a talented data and storage consultant to join our team of collaborative and innovative professionals assisting Stanford’s faculty and students to use high-performance computing and data tools to explore new frontiers in knowledge and solve some of humanity’s most urgent problems.

Our staff work directly with some of the world's top researchers in a broad range of disciplines, across all of Stanford’s seven schools while also supporting and learning from each other in cross-project endeavors.

We maintain and steadily improve an advanced research computing facility, and we support a variety of environments for Stanford research.

In Stanford Research Computing, you’ll have a rare opportunity to contribute to discoveries and inventions that have global reach and positive impact, and to share in the curiosity and commitment of the scholars and scientists who lead these projects.

This is a hybrid position, with on-site presence a minimum of 3 days a week for the first 9 months and a minimum of 2 days a week thereafter.

Responsibilities

• Field technical and administrative questions from Stanford’s diverse research community.
• Collaborate with colleagues to resolve researchers’ storage and data questions and improve their experience using our shared storage platforms.
• Document how to effectively use the different storage systems.
• Build expertise in the SRC research shared storage systems, primarily Oak, Elm, and Koa, and in other cloud-based and on-prem storage solutions.
• Answer direct questions and requests from researchers related to our storage services, including storage, data movement methods, and billing-related questions.
• Collaborate with researchers to understand their storage needs and financial constraints, provide technical assistance, and help determine appropriate solutions.
• Present our storage services and best practices to current and potential users in information sessions and workshops.
• Participate in SRC office hours and focus on storage-related issues.
• Become familiar with and periodically test the different storage services that we offer.
• Document best practices and policies.
• Collaborate with other groups to improve data management, migration, and lifecycle planning.

To be successful in this role, you will bring :

• Advanced degree plus seven years of relevant experience, or a combination of education and relevant experience.
• Ability to quickly adopt new technologies and programming tools.
• Strong understanding of data design, architecture, relational databases, and data modeling.
• Outstanding communication skills with both technical and non-technical clients.
• Ability to recognize and recommend necessary changes in user and / or operations procedures.
• Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the academic community; demonstrated experience working in an environment with colleagues of diverse backgrounds and customs.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, and use good judgment in providing services based on goal.
• Familiarity with Linux filesystem concepts (quotas, ownership, permissions, ACLs).
• Ability to resolve issues accurately in creative and effective ways.
• Demonstrated success collaborating with key contacts outside your own area of expertise.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of, and experience with, information security concepts.

In addition, preferred qualifications include :

• Familiarity with cloud storage technologies and cloud APIs (S3).
• Knowledge of Network file sharing protocols (SMB, NFS, Globus, etc.), and cloud storage technologies (S3).
• Familiarity with data transfer tools like rsync, rclone, and aws cli.
• Familiarity with GitHub or GitLab.
• Ability to write shell scripts to automate simple tasks on Linux.
• Comfortable working with systems that are not well defined yet.
• Some knowledge of Splunk, Grafana, and other monitoring tools.

How to Apply

The information below covers the role requirements, expected candidate experience, and accompanying qualifications.

We invite you to apply for this position by clicking on the Apply for Job button. To be considered, please submit a cover letter and résumé along with your online application.

Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position.

The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

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