Your role: 

We are looking for an experienced storage and/or systems engineer to lead the Storage and Servers team at ECMWF. A proven track record in operating a large scale multi-tier data storage system is essential for this role, as well as a flair for team and (some) project management. The successful candidate will be based in Bologna and lead the six-person strong Storage and Servers team, currently distributed across the Bologna and Reading locations.

The team is responsible for the day-to-day operation and improvement of the ECMWF data storage systems, comprising of tape libraries, disk systems, SAN and NAS attached storage as well as the support and provisioning of servers. As a hands-on technical expert and team leader, you will play an influential role, in assuring the delivery of storage and server infrastructure services, as well as working in a cross-functional way with peers and teams delivering end-to-end solutions.

As ECMWF’s data volume and requirements are constantly evolving, this role is expected to be instrumental in defining the strategy of the Centre’s storage services. Part of this process involves the evaluation of future technologies, as well as the selection and introduction of state-of-the-art products.

About the Storage and Servers Team

ECMWF operates a large-scale very active on-premises data archive, in which all ECMWF users (internal, Member State and external users) can store and retrieve data needed to support both weather forecasting research and operational forecast production. Today this system holds more than 1 exabyte of data, consisting of about 750 petabytes of primary data and about 250 petabytes of the most essential primary data duplicated into the on-site disaster recovery system. More than 500 terabytes of new data are added each day.

The underlying storage hardware is tape, and we have 10 high-capacity tape libraries, hosting more than 570 IBM enterprise tape drives and 64 LTO tape drives, giving access to data held on 55,000 tapes. On top of this tape layer, there are tens of petabytes of high performance and high-capacity disk and solid-state storage to provide cache and buffer space to the ECMWF archive services which are served by many HPE and Dell servers. Cloud and geo-distributed storage are not yet part of the portfolio but is expected to be in the near future.

The Storage and Servers team is part of the Core Infrastructure Section in the Computing Department, alongside Network and Security and Data Centre Engineering teams.

About ECMWF

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is a world-leader in weather and environmental forecasting. As an international organisation we serve our members and the wider community with global weather predictions and data that is critical for understanding and solving the climate crisis. We function as a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions, holding one of the largest meteorological data archives in the world. The success of our activities builds on the talent of our scientists and experts, strong partnerships with 35 Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovative technologies and machine learning across our operations. ECMWF is a multi-site organisation, with a main office in Reading, UK, a data centre/supercomputer in Bologna, Italy, and a large presence in Bonn, Germany.

ECMWF has also developed a strong partnership with the European Union and has been entrusted with the implementation and operation of the Destination Earth Initiative and the Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the Copernicus Programme. Other areas of work include High Performance Computing (HPC) and the development of digital tools that enable ECMWF to extend provision of data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring.

For additional detail about ECMWF, see www.ecmwf.int

Main duties and key responsibilities

• Act as Team Leader for the Storage and Servers team
  • Plan, prioritise and supervise the work of the team
  • Line-manage a team of expert engineers
  • Coordinate the provision of 24/7 hour on-call support for the storage and servers systems
• Develop and maintain team’s yearly budget and work plans
• Contribute to the strategic planning to further develop the Storage and Servers services, and taking part in the implementation of such plans
• Maintain vendor relations in procurement, support actions, implementation reviews, etc.
• Assist in the research and evaluation of new types of storage and server technologies, which will involve liaising with the development teams of various vendors, and providing input for the long-term planning of the infrastructure and services used by the centre
• Work closely with engineers when new hardware is installed, in order to configure, test and evaluate the hardware and bring it into production in a timely fashion
• Support the Section Head and other members of the Senior Management Team with technical expertise and reporting information
• Occasionally participate in the 24/7 remote on-call rota in the relevant area

What we’re looking for

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive and constructive approach
• Ability and desire to take a leadership role within a team of subject matter experts
• Demonstrated previous experience of working well and building relationships within a team of computing professionals and wider teams within an organisation
• Willingness to coach and mentor staff within the team
• Flexibility in handling the diverse requirements of the role, with the ability to adapt to changing priorities
• Curiosity and drive to explore new technologies and solutions, and capability to drive innovative ideas forward
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Highly organised with the capacity to work on a diverse range of tasks to tight deadlines

Education:

• The candidate should have a university degree, preferably in Computer Science or a related technical or scientific discipline, or demonstrated equivalent industry experience

Experience required in the following areas

• Considerable experience/proven track record in operation and management of large-scale data archiving and storage systems is essential. Experience with IBM’s HPSS or other similar storage systems is a strong plus.
• Experience with administration of Linux systems and clusters
• Experience with leading engineering teams would be a strong plus
• Experience with hardware and service procurement
• Knowledge of data centre networking would be an advantage
• Experience in engineering project management would be beneficial

Knowledge and skills

• Strong understanding of data storage systems and archiving technologies
• Knowledge of modern server and fabric technologies
• Fluency in at least one scripting language (bash, python, …)
• Familiarity with automation tools like ansible, puppet, etc.