This is the position of IT Specialist (Systems Administration) for the Facilities Systems Team (FST) of the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC). The CXC is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under contract to NASA, and is organized and managed within SAO’s High Energy Astrophysics Division. The FST is part of the CXC’s Operations Control Center (OCC), which carries out mission operations for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA’s Great Observatories.      

Duties

 The purpose of the position is to support FST and GOT, participate in planning for the OCC operations and to act as Security/Safety Officer. 

Requirements

• Pre and Post appointment background check
• May be required to serve a one-year probationary period
• Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer required for salary payment
• First consideration may be made 14 days after the opening date

Qualifications

For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. and Candidates for grade 14 must possess minimum of one year of specialized  experience equivalent to at least the grade 13 in the normal line of progression for this occupation which should demonstrate  24/7 situational awareness for Linux IT systems; expert experience monitoring all IT systems for health and network connectivity and availability, to include experience with IT monitoring tools and applications; experience providing network and system administration in support of initial triage and incident response to identified outages; and experience providing web development, web/portal administration, and web services standards and development.  Candidates must possess hands-on experience with CentOS and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers and workstations, Cisco (or similar) networking equipment including layer 3 switches, with a fundamental understanding of switched IP networks. Candidates should have experience setting up and configuring NetApp, AlienVault, creating VMware virtual servers as well as backups and disaster recovery.  Experience with VMware and vSAN is a required.  Candidates must have the ability to express themselves both orally and in writing and the ability to work effectively as a team member in an operations environment.  Candidates must have skill in leading the organization of a large complex system of computers into a functional network; skill in leading network and system design and working with numerous and varied complex external interfaces; skill in developing and maintaining procedures; skill in interfacing with external groups as a lead. Skill working in a mixed environment with Windows and Linux is key.  Experience with both ground and flight operations of a spacecraft is required, as is skill in troubleshooting satellite communications issues, especially in the ground link.

Contacts

• Address SMITHSONIAN Human Resources 60 Garden Street Mail Stop 17 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 United States
• Name: Mary Hebert
• Phone: 617-496-7816
• Email: [email protected]