Position Overview & Specifications
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is located on the UCL Bloomsbury campus in central London. The department currently has 86 academic staff organised into 5 research groups: Atomic Molecular Optical and Positron Physics (AMOPP), Astrophysics (Astro), Biological Physics (BioP), Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (CMMP), and High Energy Physics (HEP). Close links exist between the department and the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN), the UCL Quantum Science and Technology Institute (UCLQ) and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL).
Our computing and IT support team comprises five full-time members, under the direction of the Departmental IT Manager and Computing Coordinator, with further assistance from other staff. We support the activities of the department across research, teaching and professional services. You will spend most of your working time with the AMOPP (Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Positron Physics) and BioP (Biological Physics) groups, but we also collaborate across groups to support each other and work towards wider goals.
About the role
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is looking for a sysadmin to join our computing and IT support team. You will support physics research by providing help and advice to users, managing existing systems, and helping to plan and implement new and improved services. Most of the systems we run in the department are Linux-based, but users often use Mac or Windows machines in their day-to-day work, and you will also need to advise users on services provided by UCL's central IT services (ISD and ARC) and external suppliers. This is a wide-ranging and flexible role, and would suit someone from a scientific, computing or IT background who is keen to apply and develop their skills in a research setting.
Your responsibilities will include:
- installing, configuring and maintaining workstations and servers, including hardware, operating systems, and software;
- supporting and advising users on the use of computing and IT to further their research;
- investigating new systems and services that may be of use to users, and developing these in collaboration with researchers and the rest of the computing and IT support team.
The full Job Description and Person Specification can be found in the “Available Documents" section below.
You can learn more about the department on our website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/physics-astronomy. Informal enquiries regarding the vacancy can be made to Dr Ben Waugh .
About youYou will have
- experience of Linux system management, including the Red Hat family of distributions (e.g. RHEL, CentOS, Alma Linux, Fedora);
- knowledge of configuration management tools such as Puppet and automated deployment tools such as Foreman;
- the ability to communicate with researchers of varying levels of IT expertise, and to document and share solutions.
At UCL, we offer a competitive benefits package including 27 days annual leave plus six days (bank holidays are in addition), hybrid and flexible working, final salary pension scheme, season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme, enhanced maternity/ paternity/ adoption pay, workplace nursery, employee assistance programme and much more! For more information on our benefits, please visit our staff benefits webpage.
We will consider applications to work on a part-time, flexible and job share basis wherever possible.
The UCL Ways of Working for professional services supports colleagues to be successful and happy at UCL through sharing expectations around how we work – please see www.ucl.ac.uk/ways-of-working to find out more.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and InclusionAt London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.
We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.
You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/
We particularly welcome female applicants and those from an ethnic minority, as they are under-represented within UCL at this level.
Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality.