HPC User Support Engineer

The Center for Research Computing (CRC) at the University of Notre Dame is seeking an HPC User Support Engineer to support researchers in effectively leveraging large-scale computing and storage infrastructure. This position serves as a technical resource for undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and other computational researchers, helping them navigate complex high-performance computing (HPC) environments, accelerated GPU clusters, and emerging AI/ML workflows to maximize the performance and efficiency of their research.
The HPC User Support Engineer will bring expertise across Linux environments, programming and scripting languages, job scheduling, scientific applications, optimized compilers, mathematical libraries and algorithms, and distributed and parallel file systems. The role requires a combination of strong technical skills, problem-solving ability, and excellent communication skills to address highly technical user needs and translate complex concepts for researchers with varying levels of computational experience.
Working under the direction of the Center for Research Computing, this position may directly administer and support HPC systems or coordinate with colleagues across departments, colleges, and peer institutions to develop and maintain a world-class research computing environment.
Key Responsibilities
Provide technical support to users of high-performance computing resources through email, virtual meetings, and in-person consultations. Assess access issues, troubleshoot complex job workflows, investigate system problems, and resolve local and global application issues.
Analyze user challenges and identify opportunities to improve system documentation. Develop new documentation and update existing resources to provide clear guidance for common issues, workflows, and solutions.
Assist researchers with configuring, debugging, and scaling artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning workflows across accelerated cluster infrastructure.
Lead and teach weekly HPC orientation and training sessions for undergraduate and graduate users, including researchers from both technical and non-technical backgrounds.
Participate in workshops and other educational programs, which may occasionally require half-day or full-day sessions. Maintain and enhance training materials and contribute to developing new approaches to educating and supporting HPC users.
Work directly with researchers to debug, profile, and optimize scientific software and computational workflows, helping users improve the efficiency and performance of their applications on HPC resources.
Monitor and assess system usage to identify opportunities for improved performance, efficiency, and resource utilization. Collaborate with users to understand computational challenges and recommend appropriate solutions.
Support other HPC staff with system performance initiatives, emerging technologies, current tools and practices, and ongoing user education.
Coordinate with department, college, and external colleagues when specialized expertise or additional resources are needed to resolve technical challenges or advance HPC capabilities.
Communicate technical issues, recommendations, project updates, and progress effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Stay current with developments in high-performance computing, scientific software, programming frameworks, system architectures, and research computing practices.
Participate in occasional non-standard work hours when necessary to support critical systems, maintenance activities, or research computing needs.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
This position is structured as a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week on-site to support in-person consultations, lab visits, and classroom instruction. Regular campus business hours apply, with occasional flexible evening or weekend hours required for planned system maintenance, critical cluster support, or scheduled training sessions.
Master’s degree in a STEM field with 1+ years of experience in HPC or scientific computing support; Or
Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with 3–5+ years of relevant technical experience (with at least 1 year directly supporting HPC/scientific workflows); Or
An equivalent combination of education, relevant certifications, and experience.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience supporting researchers in an academic, research, industry, or supercomputing environment.
Advanced knowledge of one or more HPC areas, including Linux, programming and scripting, parallel programming (MPI), job schedulers, scientific applications, numerical methods, debugging, profiling, optimization, or distributed file systems.
Experience supporting modern machine learning frameworks, data science toolsets, and interactive computing environments within an HPC or cluster environment.
Ability to quickly learn and independently develop expertise in new technologies and tools.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
No