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High Performance Computing Specialist
- Nieuwe Universiteitsgebouw (NU)
- 0.8 / 1
- ICT
- Publishing date03-06-2026
- Amsterdam
- Information Technology
- Associate / Bachelor
High Performance Computing Specialist
- Nieuwe Universiteitsgebouw (NU)
- Amsterdam
- 0.8 / 1
- Information Technology
- ICT
- Associate / Bachelor
- Publishing date03-06-2026
Your function
As a High-Performance Computing (HPC) Specialist (HPC), you will be the person of contact within the IT for Research team for all questions regarding high performance computing. You will manage and innovate the local HPC Cluster ‘ADA’ and advise researchers how they can use the cluster in the most efficient manner. Additionally, you will be the person of contact for other HPC specialists outside of the VU and organise the HPC course every year, where researchers get the opportunity to further develop their computing skills.
Your duties
- Further developing and maintaining our HPC cluster environment ‘ADA’.
- Supporting and advising researchers in using ADA and HPC applications.
- Selecting and ordering high performance hardware.
- Organise a yearly HPC course in collaboration with EuroCC and SURF.
- Maintaining relationships with other institutions with their own HPC cluster.
- Be the person of contact within the VU for providing access to (inter)national HPC infrastructure, especially Snellius.
- Advising your colleagues and manager(s) regarding all high performance computing related matters.
Your profile
You have the following knowledge or experience:
- Linux (cluster) configuration tools (e.g. Warewulf, trinityX, ansible)
- Scheduler software (e.g. Slurm, PBS)
- Bash and Python scripting
- Networking (e.g. Ethernet, Infiniband)
- (Parallel) Storage Systems (e.g. NFS, BeeGFS, Ceph)
- High performance computing workflows (e.g. parallel programming, high throughput computing)
Additionally, you are:
- Proactive and independent
- Strong organisational skills
- A good team player
- Curious
Nice-to-have:
- Experience in using HPC systems
- Experience with updating and upgrading large scale IT infrastructure
- Experience with C, C++ and/or Rust
- Experience with containerised applications (e.g. apptainer, docker, podman)
- Experience with giving courses or workshops
As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.
We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.
What do we offer?
A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:
- a salary of minimum € 3.546,00 (Scale 10) and maximum € 6.433,00 (Scale 11) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Engineering and Application Manager 2, Engineering and Application Manager 3. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
- a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year.
We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:
- A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
- 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
- space for personal development
- hybrid working enables a good work-life balance
- optional model for designing a personalized benefits package
About us
About the department, institute, project
IT for Research ensures that researchers at VU have access to the right tools, infrastructure, and expertise to help them get the most out of their research. In addition to HPC, you will work closely with colleagues responsible for scientific data storage (SciStor) and the virtual machine platform (SciCloud).
Information Technology
We at Information Technology (IT) have the responsibility of ensuring a worry-free digital environment for researchers, students and staff. We facilitate teaching and research with IT resources, advise on IT products and services, and keep the application landscape for work and study up-to-date. We ensure that the university’s IT facilities are up and running 24/7.
At the same time, we focus on the future of digital – everything from the smart campus and cyber security to open science and artificial intelligence. Along with the faculties and service departments, we look ahead to ask: how can we prepare now for tomorrow’s questions? Together we look for better and better ways to support the university’s ambitions in the areas of education, research and valorisation.
Are you interested in joining IT? Working in IT means operating on a complex, often hectic and challenging playing field, where both development and management demand your attention. We give you plenty of scope to show initiative and take responsibility. Learning from one another is key, while remaining focused on results. In Information Technology, you will join over 200 colleagues spread over 4 departments.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct
We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.
Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.
We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.
Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.
Interested
Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the excellence of our services? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application, even if you don't meet all requirements.
Submitting a diploma, a reference check and a Certificate of Conduct (CoC) are part of the application procedure.
Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.
Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.
Your function
As a High-Performance Computing (HPC) Specialist (HPC), you will be the person of contact within the IT for Research team for all questions regarding high performance computing. You will manage and innovate the local HPC Cluster ‘ADA’ and advise researchers how they can use the cluster in the most efficient manner. Additionally, you will be the person of contact for other HPC specialists outside of the VU and organise the HPC course every year, where researchers get the opportunity to further develop their computing skills.
Your duties
- Further developing and maintaining our HPC cluster environment ‘ADA’.
- Supporting and advising researchers in using ADA and HPC applications.
- Selecting and ordering high performance hardware.
- Organise a yearly HPC course in collaboration with EuroCC and SURF.
- Maintaining relationships with other institutions with their own HPC cluster.
- Be the person of contact within the VU for providing access to (inter)national HPC infrastructure, especially Snellius.
- Advising your colleagues and manager(s) regarding all high performance computing related matters.
Your profile
You have the following knowledge or experience:
- Linux (cluster) configuration tools (e.g. Warewulf, trinityX, ansible)
- Scheduler software (e.g. Slurm, PBS)
- Bash and Python scripting
- Networking (e.g. Ethernet, Infiniband)
- (Parallel) Storage Systems (e.g. NFS, BeeGFS, Ceph)
- High performance computing workflows (e.g. parallel programming, high throughput computing)
Additionally, you are:
- Proactive and independent
- Strong organisational skills
- A good team player
- Curious
Nice-to-have:
- Experience in using HPC systems
- Experience with updating and upgrading large scale IT infrastructure
- Experience with C, C++ and/or Rust
- Experience with containerised applications (e.g. apptainer, docker, podman)
- Experience with giving courses or workshops
As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.
We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.
What do we offer?
A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:
- a salary of minimum € 3.546,00 (Scale 10) and maximum € 6.433,00 (Scale 11) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Engineering and Application Manager 2, Engineering and Application Manager 3. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
- a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year.
We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:
- A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
- 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
- space for personal development
- hybrid working enables a good work-life balance
- optional model for designing a personalized benefits package
About us
About the department, institute, project
IT for Research ensures that researchers at VU have access to the right tools, infrastructure, and expertise to help them get the most out of their research. In addition to HPC, you will work closely with colleagues responsible for scientific data storage (SciStor) and the virtual machine platform (SciCloud).
Information Technology
We at Information Technology (IT) have the responsibility of ensuring a worry-free digital environment for researchers, students and staff. We facilitate teaching and research with IT resources, advise on IT products and services, and keep the application landscape for work and study up-to-date. We ensure that the university’s IT facilities are up and running 24/7.
At the same time, we focus on the future of digital – everything from the smart campus and cyber security to open science and artificial intelligence. Along with the faculties and service departments, we look ahead to ask: how can we prepare now for tomorrow’s questions? Together we look for better and better ways to support the university’s ambitions in the areas of education, research and valorisation.
Are you interested in joining IT? Working in IT means operating on a complex, often hectic and challenging playing field, where both development and management demand your attention. We give you plenty of scope to show initiative and take responsibility. Learning from one another is key, while remaining focused on results. In Information Technology, you will join over 200 colleagues spread over 4 departments.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct
We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.
Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.
We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.
Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.
Questions about the vacancy?
Patrick Bhairosing
Interested
Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the excellence of our services? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application, even if you don't meet all requirements.
Submitting a diploma, a reference check and a Certificate of Conduct (CoC) are part of the application procedure.
Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.
Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.