Job Opportunities

Research Computing User Support - Student Assistant

Application deadline is Tuesday, December 1 at 5pm Eastern

 

About this Job:

The Center for Computational Research (CCR) at the University at Buffalo (UB) invites applications for user support student assistants. CCR is a leading academic supercomputing center and is seeking to hire highly motivated undergraduates who wish to work in a dynamic educational and research environment.  CCR provides UB with high performance computing (HPC) environments and an on-premise cloud service that is utilized by over 475 research groups and 1500 users. 

Student assistants working on the user suppor team act as tier 1 technical support representatives that assist in responding to help tickets submitted by users of CCR’s HPC systems.  This is an ideal position for a detail-oriented student that enjoys helping others solve problems.   All work can be done remotely if you have a laptop or desktop computer and a reliable internet connection.  You will interact with CCR staff via Slack and Zoom and communicate with CCR’s users via our help desk portal.  Though your work hours can be flexible, you will be required to set a consistent schedule and must be able to work hours within a regular Monday-Friday 8am-5pm time frame.  A highly motivated student with an excellent work ethic and willingness to learn innovative technology and tools is the ideal candidate for this position.


Duties:

To start, you will be asked to read incoming support tickets, triage the tickets, and get basic information about the requestor’s account for CCR staff to follow up on.  As you build up knowledge, you will take ownership of and respond to tier 1 help requests and assist CCR users with finding information to solve their problems.  You’ll spend most of your time working within CCR’s help desk portal.  As you develop a better understanding of CCR’s systems, you will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of projects based on your interests.  Previous student projects include updating and writing new documentation, creating examples for new users, writing scripts to improve automation of system tasks, teaching new CCR users how to use the systems, developing UB Learns course material, updating CCR’s website, and producing newsletters.


Required Qualifications:

  • Must be a UB undergraduate student registered for at least 12 credit hours.  For summer work, students must be registered for the coming fall semester.
  • Must possess excellent English verbal and written communication skills.  Candidates will be required to provide writing samples as part of the interview process.
  • Must have the ability to translate technical documentation into helpful responses for non-technical users.
  • During academic semesters, students must be able to work 10-15 hours/week within a regular Monday-Friday 8am-5pm time frame.  During the summer, students may work up to 29 hours/week.   CCR does not provide support on weekends, evenings, or holidays; therefore your availability must be during regular business hours.
  • Due to the complex onboarding and learning curve of this job, we ask that all student assistants commit to working in this position for a minimum of one year (December 2027 graduation or later preferred).


Desired qualifications:

  • Existing technical skills are desired but a willingness to learn is most important.
  • Prior customer service experience in any field is preferred. 
  • Linux desktop and command line experience is a plus.

Location:

CCR’s primary location is on the downtown campus at 701 Ellicott Street.  However, most CCR users are not.  This position will enjoy a remote work environment that could incorporate time spent on any of UB’s campuses with remote communications utilizing communication tools such as Slack, Zoom, and CCR’s ticketing system, TeamDynamix.


Pay Rate:

 Minimum starting pay rate will be $18/hr
Additionally, this work may qualify for internship or Honors College credits.

We conduct semester‑based performance reviews to support your development in the role. Merit raises are offered when performance consistently meets or exceeds expectations.

How to Apply:

Email ccr-help@buffalo.edu with the email subject "Student Assistant application" including a brief statement as to why you'd like this job and why you think your qualifications fit the description.  Attach a copy of your resume.

Application deadline is Tuesday, December 1 at 5pm Eastern.


Anticipated Timeline:

First round interviews: December 3-9
Second round interviews: December 10-15
Offer letters sent: December 16
Start date: Monday, January 4