Senior Linux Administrator

Senior Linux Administrator

Cambridge, UK | Full-time | Permanent | Hybrid

Salary: £60,000 to £75,000 + Bonus + Equity

The salary range for this role is broad, as we are able to consider varying levels of experience. Any offer made will carefully take into account level of experience (including relevant industry experience), transferable relevant skills and previous relevant achievements.

About us

Riverlane’s mission is to master quantum error correction (QEC) and unlock a new age of human progress. From advances in material and climate science, to complex chemistry simulation for new drug design, quantum computers will help humanity solve some of its most important challenges. But without QEC, the industry’s defining technical challenge, such breakthroughs can never be achieved. Riverlane is the world leader in QEC technology. QEC is a complex problem that requires a range of skills, talent and passion.

Having raised more than $125M in funding to date to accelerate our cutting-edge R&D in quantum error correction (QEC), Riverlane partners with many of the world’s leading quantum hardware providers and government agencies to make fault-tolerant quantum computing a reality. We’re making remarkable progress and growing fast. 

About the role

Riverlane is looking for an experienced Linux administrator to own and grow our core computational infrastructure. This is a hands-on role combining day-to-day administration of our High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment with longer-term planning, automation, and improvement of our infrastructure estate.

You'll be the primary owner of our HPC cluster and core Linux infrastructure, working closely with IT management and wider Infrastructure Team to keep systems reliable today while building towards a more resilient, scalable environment for tomorrow.

Key Responsibilities

HPC Cluster Administration

• Administer and maintain the HPC cluster, including compute nodes, storage systems, and networking.
• Evaluate and evolve cluster topology, compute node configuration, and hardware resource utilisation as the estate grows.
• Lead the deployment, configuration, and troubleshooting of HPC tooling, particularly Slurm — including queue structures and job scheduling policies.
• Monitor system performance and ensure high availability of HPC resources, using observability tools such as Prometheus; investigate anomalies and outages.
• Assess and maintain the network file storage solution for throughput, scalability, and latency.

Business As Usual (BAU) Administration

• Maintain, patch, and troubleshoot core Linux infrastructure (RHEL).
• Act as an escalation point for complex technical issues raised by the Riverlane team.
• Provide operational upkeep of core infrastructure, including servers, tooling, and licence managers.
• Maintain Synopsys EDA tooling, including licence server management, environment configuration, and performance optimisation for electronic design automation workflows.
• Provide sound technical support to users of the HPC environment.
• Improve self-service capability for users, enabling routine tasks (e.g. restarting VNC sessions, resetting passwords) to be performed without engineering intervention.

Automation & Enhancement

• Automate routine tasks using scripting and infrastructure-as-code tools (Bash, Python, Ansible).
• Collaborate with the Infrastructure Team to plan and implement improvements to HPC infrastructure.
• Own work packages and deliver them within agreed sprint windows.
• Build and maintain documentation for systems, processes, and configurations.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders on progress and delivered improvements.

Security, Compliance & Resilience

• Ensure security and compliance across the HPC estate, including security hardening and lifecycle management.
• Maintain and develop the off-site backup strategy, ensuring data integrity, disaster recovery readiness, and compliance with data retention policies.

Requirements & Experience

• Extensive experience administering and growing infrastructure in fast-paced engineering environments.
• Enterprise Linux expertise: deep knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) administration, security hardening, lifecycle management, and troubleshooting.
• Hands-on experience configuring, scaling, tuning, and troubleshooting job schedulers (e.g. Slurm) and distributed compute environments.
• Strong understanding of network file storage protocols and network optimisation for computational workloads.
• Proficient with container environments and virtualisation infrastructure.
• High proficiency with infrastructure automation tools (Ansible, Python, Bash) and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Experience with backup and disaster recovery strategy and implementation.
• Experience managing licensed EDA or similar specialist software tooling (e.g. Synopsys) is a strong plus.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to support both technical and non-technical users and translate complex issues into clear guidance.

What can you expect from us

• A comprehensive benefits package that includes an annual bonus plan, private medical insurance, life insurance, and a contributory pension scheme
• Equity, so that our team can share in the long-term success of Riverlane
• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and enhanced family leave
• A diverse work environment that brings together experts in many fields (including software and hardware development, quantum information theory, physics and maths) and over 20 different nationalities
• A learning environment that encourages individual, team and company growth and development, including a regular programme of learning events and training and conference budgets

How to apply

Please upload a CV and covering letter by clicking 'Apply'. Your covering letter should explain why you are applying for the job and what skills and experience you can bring to the role.

We review CVs as we receive them and interview as soon as we have applications that look like a good match. We do not use closing dates. So, please apply as soon as possible to avoid missing out on this role.

If you have any queries, please contact com.

Everyone is welcome at Riverlane. We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from eligible and suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity/paternity.

Women and other underrepresented groups may be less likely to apply for a role unless they meet all or nearly all of the requirements. If this applies to you, we still encourage you to apply - you may be a great fit, even if you don’t meet every single qualification. We’d love to hear from you.

If you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process so you can do your best, please let us know. We will be happy to help.

GDPR notice: Riverlane collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. If you are a European Job Applicant see the privacy notice for further details.

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