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HPC Systems Administration Specialist

Argonne National Laboratory · Lemont, IL · $69,750–$108,810 a year · Full time

Posted Aug 26, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a time you worked closely with a domain scientist to tune their code.

What they are checking: Whether they can collaborate with researchers and translate between science needs and system details.

Tell me about a time a fix you made caused a new problem. What did you do next?

What they are checking: Whether they own their mistakes and roll back or repair quickly on systems many people use.

How do you document software environments so users and other admins can understand them?

What they are checking: Whether they write documentation that reduces support load and helps the whole team.

What would you do

A researcher says their application runs much slower after a software stack update. What do you do?

What they are checking: Whether they can track down performance regressions and work with the application owner to fix them.

Several teams ask for conflicting changes to the software environment in the same week. How do you handle it?

What they are checking: How they prioritize and communicate when users' needs compete on shared systems.

About the work

How do you structure Spack environments across several systems so they stay consistent but still support very different applications?

What they are checking: Whether they have real experience managing Spack at scale, including environments, views and concretization.

A scientific code builds fine on CPUs but fails to compile for the GPU nodes. Walk me through how you'd debug it.

What they are checking: Whether they can work through compiler, flags and dependency issues on heterogeneous exascale hardware.

What problems have you run into with CMake when building large scientific software, and how did you fix them?

What they are checking: Whether they have hands-on build system experience beyond following install instructions.

How do you decide which versions of a library to provide as defaults on a shared supercomputer?

What they are checking: Whether they balance stability for current users against new features others need.

How do you test a new software stack before you roll it out to users on a production system?

What they are checking: Whether they use validation and testing so they do not break users' work during upgrades.

What's your experience with MPI libraries and GPU programming models like CUDA, SYCL or HIP?

What they are checking: Whether they understand the parallel stacks that scientific applications on ALCF systems depend on.

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The full job description

As published by Argonne National Laboratory.

Argonne is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research facility, where world-class researchers work alongside experts from industry, academia, and other government laboratories to address vital national challenges in technology and national security. As a member of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) High Performance Computing (HPC) team, you will directly work with first-class supercomputers and emergent technologies alongside scientific staff and research colleagues within the division. In this role, you will be able to significantly contribute to the design and development of new HPC systems, tools, and software stacks. In this role you can expect to: • Assist with the design, development, and advancement of the HPC environment of the ALCF and focus on software integration with the larger software and operational ecosystem at the facility site. • Package & Environment Management: Maintain, configure, and optimize Spack environments across ALCF systems to support a diverse and evolving portfolio of scientific applications. • Compilation & Integration: Build, compile, and validate complex scientific software using modern build systems (e.g., CMake, GNU Make) tailored to heterogeneous exascale architectures (CPUs, GPUs, and accelerators). • Performance Tuning & Collaboration: Work hand-in-hand with application-owners and domain experts after initial compilation to profile, debug, and performance-tune codes for maximum hardware efficiency. • Upstream Engagement & Issue Reporting: Identify software defects or build failures, and effectively report and track issues back to external software developers and open-source communities. • Documentation & Support: Document installation procedures, custom build flags, and optimization strategies, providing expert-level support to open-science researchers relying on your software stack. Position Requirements • HPC Build & Package Tools: Demonstrated experience with Spack, CMake, Make, and managing software dependencies in Linux-based high-performance computing environments. • Compilation & Debugging: Strong proficiency in compiling large-scale scientific applications from source, utilizing various compilers (GNU, LLVM/Clang, Intel, etc.) and MPI libraries. • Performance Tuning: Familiarity with profiling and tuning tools to optimize applications beyond default installations. • Collaboration & Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills with a proven track record of working closely with domain scientists, researchers, and external developers to troubleshoot and refine software. • Core Values: Ability to model Argonne's core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork. • US Citizenship: To perform the essential functions of this position successful applicants must provide proof of U.S. citizenship, which is required to comply with federal regulations and contract. This position can be hired at one of two levels; the selected candidate will be placed at the appropriate level (PT2 or PT3) dependent upon the depth and breadth of relevant knowledge and skills. The minimum requirements for the two levels are as follows: • PT2: Minimum of a Bachelors degree and 2+ years of experience, or equivalent and the expected hiring range for this level is $69,750 - $108,810. • PT3: Minimum of a Bachelors degree and 4+ years of experience, or a Masters degree and 2+ years, or equivalent and the expected hiring range for this level is $86,299 - $134,626. Job Family Professional Technical (PT) Job Profile Systems Integration Admin/Support 2 Worker Type Regular Time Type Full time The expected hiring range for this position is $69,750.00 - $108,810.00. Please note that the pay range information is a general guideline only. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as, but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, business considerations, internal equity, and external market pay for comparable jobs. Additionally, comprehensive benefits are part of the total rewards package. Click here to view Argonne employee benefits! As an equal employment opportunity employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a safe and welcoming workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. Argonne encourages everyone to apply for employment. Argonne is committed to nondiscrimination and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by law. Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne's Legal Department. All Argonne offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes an assessment of criminal conviction history conducted on an individualized and case-by-case basis. Please be advised that Argonne positions require upon hire (or may require in the future) for the individual be to obtain a government access authorization that involves additional background check requirements. Failure to obtain or maintain such government access authorization could result in the withdrawal of a job offer or future termination of employment.

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