IT Systems & HPC Infrastructure Specialist 60% - contractor

Are you a Linux-savvy IT professional who thrives at the intersection of systems administration and High-Performance Computing (HPC)? We are looking for a Part-Time IT Systems & HPC Infrastructure Specialist to manage our technical environment. While we have 30 employees who need standard support, our additional challenge lies in maintaining the high-performance compute farms and cloud-bursting capabilities that drive our engineering team. Currently, these tasks are handled by our senior engineers; we are looking for a dedicated specialist to take over the tactical management of our local and cloud infrastructure, ensuring our compute-heavy workloads run reliably and securely, as well as helping enhance and maintain our standard office IT infrastructure.

Responsibilities HPC (High-Performance Computing) - Ensuring engineers have the compute and tools needed for their work. Compute Management: Manage and optimize job scheduling tools ( SLURM , LSF-like) for heavy compute loads. Hardware Acceleration: Ensure optimal GPU access (both local and cloud-based). DevOps & Infrastructure - Automation, security, and the "invisible" backbone that keeps systems running reliably. Infrastructure Automation: Use Ansible to deploy, configure, and maintain on-premises servers (Proxmox/bare-metal) and cloud environments. Containerization & Data Pipelines: Facilitate data pipelines utilizing Kubernetes, Docker, and containers. Security & IAM: Manage identity and authentication ( LDAP, SSSD, SAML ) and maintain firewall rules (Fortinet). Data Integrity: Maintain a rigorous backup/snapshot regime and ensure all SaaS data (e.g. GitLab, Coda) is archived to the NAS. Business Continuity: Establish disaster recovery procedures and conduct security audits/log monitoring. Helpdesk & IT Operations - Supporting the human element and managing the physical office technology. User Support: Provide essential support for the ~ 30 users (troubleshooting hardware, app freezes, network latency). Endpoint Management: Deploy and maintain Operating Systems ( Windows/macOS ) and manage ESET/Google Admin consoles. Life Cycle Management: Onboarding/Offboarding employees and providing training on security/IT tools. Vendor Relations: Act as the technical point of contact for partners and third-party service providers. HPC (High-Performance Computing) HPC Experience: Practical familiarity with job schedulers ( SLURM/LSF ). Workload Management: Experience managing high-compute workloads, specifically involving CPU and GPU resource allocation. Performance Optimization: Ability to troubleshoot performance bottlenecks at the system level (memory, daemon processes, latency). DevOps & Infrastructure Infrastructure as Code: Proficiency in Ansible for automated deployment and configuration. Linux Administration: A strong background in Linux System Administration (the primary OS for your servers and compute nodes). Networking & Security: Practical knowledge of firewall management (e.g., Fortinet). Identity management expertise with LDAP and SSSD . Experience with system logging for proactive security monitoring. AI & Automation Mindset AI Curious: You are familiar with the current AI landscape and have experimented with AI agents or LLM-assisted workflows to automate your own work. Automation-First: You naturally lean toward scripting and agentic solutions rather than manual, repetitive fixes. Helpdesk & IT Operations General IT: Proficiency in managing Windows and macOS endpoints (onboarding, cleanup, and troubleshooting). SaaS Administration: Experience with Google Workspace administration and partner integrations (e.g., Coda, GitLab). Mobile/Endpoint Tools: Comfort using MDM consoles (Apple Business Manager, ESET, Google Admin). You are a tactical executor . You don't need to be the chief architect, but you should be able to take strategic input and handle the "how-to" of the deployment autonomously. Logistics: Flexibility to support both Leuven and Meylan sites (remote/on-site split negotiable). Why this role? This isn’t a “typical” IT support role. You will be working with a sophisticated, hybrid stack that bridges high-performance on-premises clusters with advanced cloud-native data tools. It is an ideal position for a technical generalist who enjoys deep-level infrastructure variety—moving from automation and compute orchestration to security and user support—while working in a flexible, part-time capacity within a high-growth technical environment.