National Lab Systems Administrator (IT and Studio)

Right to work: Please note that it will not be possible for the University to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to the successful candidate for this position. Therefore, the appointable candidate will need to be eligible to work in the UK or have leave to remain in the UK and associated right to work for the duration of their employment with the University, in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Full-Time, Permanent.

We are seeking an experienced systems administrator to join our CoSTAR National Labs studio team.

This role is responsible for the configuration, maintenance and reliability of the studio’s core technical infrastructure, including compute, storage, networking and media systems. The post holder will ensure that all underlying systems are stable, secure and capable of supporting a wide range of production and R&D activity, including virtual production workflows.

The Systems Administrator will act as a key point of technical expertise for infrastructure and systems, working closely with the wider technical team to support integrated, multi-system environments.

What is the CoSTAR Stage?

The CoSTAR Stage at Pinewood Studios will be a state-of-the-art Converged Media Production Stage, purpose-built as a flexible and reconfigurable R&D environment at the heart of the UK's globally recognised centre for screen production. The Stage is designed to be modular and adaptable, supporting a wide range of production formats and creative applications within a single collaborative space. Its infrastructure includes LED and projection display systems, motorised rigging, integrated spatial audio, camera and motion tracking, a next-generation ST-2110 IP media network and an advanced AI compute platform. The stage will provide an industry-leading environment for experimentation, prototyping and demonstration across film, television, live performance, immersive media and gaming.

What is CoSTAR?

CoSTAR (Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime) is a £75.6 million investment from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund, delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). CoSTAR establishes the UK’s first national network of research and development (R&D) Labs for the Creative Industries, forming part of the UK’s long-term research infrastructure to support innovation-led growth in some of the country’s most economically and culturally significant sectors.

About the team

We are building a team to operate and maintain the stage and its systems day-to-day, supporting users from the creative industries and academia to carry out groundbreaking research and development projects. We expect the team members to come with the skills and experience needed to work effectively with our core systems and to have the flexibility to thrive in a constantly changing R+D environment. They’ll need the interpersonal skills to work closely with people from a wide range of industries, with varying levels of studio experience: supporting users new to the environment one day and learning from world-leading experts the next.

What you will be doing (see job description for full details):

1. Working with CoSTAR staff and partners to configure, maintain and support studio compute, storage and server infrastructure.
2. Manage operating systems, user access, permissions and system configurations.
3. Maintain reliable file storage, backup and data management processes.
4. Monitor system performance and ensure stability across all core infrastructure.
5. Work with studio colleagues to maintain reliable connectivity between systems.

You should apply if you:

• Enjoy working in a fast-moving, agile environment, both independently and as part of a team.
• Have significant experience and technical understanding of IT networks, compute, storage and server infrastructure.
• Have solid understanding of networking fundamentals and IP-based systems.

This is a full-time, permanent role and is available immediately.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is a priority for CoSTAR. As such, we actively welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are especially keen to recruit people from groups currently under-represented in creative technology including women, non-binary and disabled people and ethnic minority/ global majority candidates.

We also aim to remove barriers to our recruitment process and invite applicants to contact us on recruitment@rhul.ac.uk if you require any reasonable adjustments or support with your application.

The post will be based at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and the post holder will be expected to mostly work on site.

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact harpreet.gahir@rhul.ac.uk

The RHUL Recruitment Team can be contacted with queries by email at: recruitment@rhul.ac.uk

Please quote the reference: 0526-170

Closing Date: 23:59, 14 June 2026

Interviews may be online and / or in person at the Royal Holloway campus and are expected to take place between 23 June and 17 July 2026.

The university has adopted hybrid working for some roles therefore some remote working may be possible for this role.

Royal Holloway is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and encourages applications from all people regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, parental status, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or trans status or history. More information on our structures and initiatives around EDI, including information on staff diversity networks, can be found on our Equality and Diversity Intranet page.