Posting Details

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Position Information

Position Title Associate Vice President for Research Computing Requisition Number STFR005097 Division/College Information Technology Services Interdisciplinary Division/College Not Applicable Location Boston Main Campus Full-time/Part-time Full Time Grade 17 Posting Date 11/28/2018 Responsibilities

Northeastern University (www.northeastern.edu) seeks a highly motivated leader with exceptional strategic, operational, entrepreneurial, and interpersonal skills and deep expertise in enterprise communication, faculty engagement, and support to join the leadership team of the University’s Office of the CIO as the AVP for Research Computing.

Northeastern University (NU) is an R1 research and teaching institution that receives approx. $160M/year in research grants and contracts.

The Office of the CIO at NU seeks a newly created, AVP for Research Computing (RC). The AVP for RC will be a key strategic partner for NU faculty, research departments, central and distributed information technology organizations, and programs in advancing the NU research mission, and will work alongside the CIO to create the NU Research Computing strategic plan to support faculty research. This will include developing a deep and broad understanding of faculty, students, and staff expectations; understanding the trends and disruptive forces in research computing; building a shared, aspirational research computing support strategy for NU; and developing a plan to bring that strategy to fruition.

Research computing resources including high-performance computing and data storage are increasingly crucial for the cutting-edge research across many domains performed at NU. The AVP for RC will work with faculty to identify key trends in resource needs, including the need for training, and partner with the IT Services infrastructure group and other groups within IT to develop innovative solutions that address emerging or highly specialized needs and maximize the ability of faculty and trainees to perform their research.

Reporting to the University’s Chief Information Officer, the AVP for RC will lead an initial team of four experienced and creative staff. S/he will foster partnerships within NU IT and other service providers to offer relevant and advanced technologies as supported services.

The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in advancing research, a proven track record of being highly collaborative, a history of successful faculty partnerships, and the ability to be an effective and persuasive leader.

•Direct Research Computing consulting services and training efforts: assisting researchers with developing or choosing scientific computing workflows relevant to diverse life science domains, and implementing them effectively with NU or other computational resources.
•Establish the future vision and strategic plan to advance NU RC.
•Participate on various faculty committees, including the Research Computing Committee.
•Ensure proactive outreach to the NU research community, foster direct NU RC relationships with researchers, and across the global Northeastern University community, and peer institutions.
•Working with other NU offices, coordinate data management initiatives including data management planning, best practices, and compliance with funding agency requirements.
•Provide guidance and support to NU core facilities on instrumentation data capture, compute and storage workflows for data analysis and integration, data reduction/visualization processes, and long-term preservation of useful experimental data.
•Guide and oversee the development of policies and practices to allow for effective and efficient use of NU Research Computing and research data resources.
•Work with IT Services to implement compliant, standards-driven computing environment(s) to support the needs of the NU research community
•Staff management responsibilities include building and developing a diverse and effective team; planning and delegating work effectively; communicating and monitoring performance expectations; motivating and developing direct reports, and ensuring compliance with policies and procedures.
•Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

•Masters or Ph.D. in a field with a strong scientific computing component and 5 years of experience working in a large-scale advanced research computing environment, with a minimum of 3 years working in a Research Computing team.
•History of cultivating a collaborative strategy, with the ability to establish and maintain strong relationships, to influence others, and move toward a common vision or goal.
•Direct experience with research data management, tiered storage lifecycle strategies, and usage/cost optimization.
•Knowledge of batch processing, cluster management, and cloud orchestration techniques are essential.

Additional Qualifications

•High-level familiarity with high-performance computing trends and technologies.
•Experience with successful project management and delivery.
•Knowledge of file systems architecture and their effective use for storage and management of research data.
•Superior communication skills coupled with an ability to navigate a complex academic environment and work collaboratively with individuals at all levels.
•Direct experience with research data management, tiered storage lifecycle strategies, and usage/cost optimization.

Additional Information

A criminal background check is required for this position.

Documents Needed to Apply Required Documents

1. Resume
2. References

Optional Documents

1. Cover Letter

Posting Specific Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).