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Position Title: Principle Systems Administrator – MRC/UVRI Ugandan Medical Informatics
Centre,Jobs in Uganda,
Organisation: MRC/UVRI Uganda,Uganda Jobs,
Unit Name: MRC / UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
Division/Section: IT/ Bioinformatics
Reports to: Unit Director Project (if any):
Bioinformatics Grade: 27 Points Band B.
Brief Company Profile:
The MRC/UVRI Uganda Virus Research Unit on AIDS conducts large-scale
epidemiological and
intervention studies, clinical trials, virological and
immunological research and behavioural studies, and has generated a wealth of
research results that have been used to inform policy and practice, and that
have led to a large number of scientific publications in peer reviewed
journals over time. The Unit is a center of excellence in HIV/AIDS related
research.
The MRC/UVRI with the Sanger Institute is setting up the MRC/UVRI Ugandan
Medical Informatics Centre (UMIC) that will be located at the UVRI campus in
Entebbe. It will be closely associated with the Ugandan Ministry of Health and
other educational and research
Institutes in Uganda, as well as pan-African research centres as part of
established collaborations with MRC/UVRI.
The central aims of this project are:
(1) to develop a medical informatics in Uganda and
(2) to develop human research capacity in medical informatics and
computational genomics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in collaboration with UK and
SSA centres. The UMIC is being developed to capitalise on technological advances
in genomics and to ensure the efficient utilisation of data resources in
clinical epidemiology and large scale genomics across SSA from on-going
research programmes.
Job Purpose: The post holder will be responsible for supporting the planning, execution
and management of the IT infrastructure for the UMIC project.
They will provide an expert IT service to optimize the effective use of IT
infrastructure resources in support of the scientific aims of the MRC/UVRI
Ugandan Medical Informatics Centre. The principle systems administrator will be
accountable for management of the UM|C’s IT hardware, its performance and
delivery of the associated IT infrastructure and for meeting the
Key Responsibilities:
1. Investigate and analyse complex and/or strategically important IT
issues, leading a small team of other specialists to define, develop and
implement optimal leading-edge solutions.
2. Provide expert advice and guidance to the informatics community within
the MIC, enabling others to work more independently and productively.
3. Manage the development and introduction of specific solutions ensuring
that user needs are fully identified and met within agreed timelines and that
appropriate skills transference and training takes place.
4. Develop effective relationships with and a sound understanding of the
needs of users to ensure that the IT infrastructure resource is effectively
deployed to meet scientific priorities.
5. Recruit, manage and develop a team of subordinate systems administrators
to facilitate the activities of the UMIC.
6. Ensure that the network grade and quality of service meet performance
targets through monitoring and initiating changes for improvement.
7. Oversee the administration of Service Level Agreements
8. Ensure compliance with the computing policy with emphasis on ensuring
software and data security and integrity using soft and hard solutions.
9. Plan and implement business continuity efforts for the various centre’s
information systems.
10. Plan and implement system expansion, upgrades and improvements.
11. Build and develop relationships and collaborations with external
organisations and suppliers to exchange technical expertise and awareness of
new developments.
12. Setup and maintain a high-performance computational cluster based on
Linux
13. Setup and maintain a high-throughput distributed network file system
(such as Lustre)
14. Setup and maintain reliable/redundant network storage (e.g. using NFS)
15. Investigate and resolve technical problems that arise with the above
systems rapidly.
Financial Responsibilities:
Raises requisitions to be approved by Supervisor
People Management Responsibilities:
Works closely with the Head of IT, and Project Manager Bioinformatics but
supervises a team of subordinate Systems Administrators
Corporate/Local Responsibilities & Requirements:
The job holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due
regard to the MRC’s:
·
Code of conduct
·
Equality & Diversity Policy
·
Health & Safety Policy
·
Information technology policy and
Data Protection Act
Education / Qualifications / Training required:
A degree in Computer Science,
Computer Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field
Minimum 3 Year Experience
Skills & Abilities
(E) Acknowledged expertise in a
range of operating systems including Unix, Linux and networking systems
(D) Experience in very large
scale IT systems management
(E) Ability to design and
implement appropriate IT and networking architectures
(D) Degree-level understanding of
bioinformatics/biology and computing
(D) Experience in providing a
high quality customer-focused IT consultancy service
(D) Demonstrable expertise in
building and debugging bioinformatics application code
(D) Relational database
administration experience
(E) Significant track record in
scripting language e.g. python, perl
(E) The ability to effectively
explain technical issues to non-technical users
(E) The ability to support and
train other IT staff
Competencies:
Core:
·
Personal Integrity
·
Emotional Resourcefulness
·
Ability to Learn
·
Forward Thinking
·
Reliability
·
Openness to Others
Job Specific (delete as appropriate):
·
Independence
·
Analytical Thinking
·
Proactivity
·
Results Orientation
·
Thoroughness
·
Concern for Excellence
·
Flexibility Towards Others
·
Service Orientation
·
Development Orientation
Additional information:
The most challenging aspect of the role is that that post holder will be
responsible for architecting and The specifying scalable, but flexible,
leading-edge IT solutions for scientific projects that are also developing and
subject to change.
Additional information:
The post-holder will take part in
professional development exchanges with institutions in the UK and will be
required to travel to and spend some time in the UK for training.
Mode of Application:
Applications including copies of academic qualifications, curriculum vitae
and names plus
telephone contact details of three (3) referees should either be addressed
to:
The Human Resources Manager
MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
P. 0. Box 49, Entebbe.
Or to:
Email: recruitment@mrcuganda.org
Closing date for applications: 05:00pm, 23rd May 2014.
