IT Enterprise Director, Research Computing

Johns Hopkins, founded in 1876, is America's first research university and home to nine world-class academic divisions working together as one university.

IT@JH Research Computing is seeking an IT Enterprise Director, Research Computing who provides both strategic vision and operational leadership as the head of research computing support for Johns Hopkins University. This role will lead the Johns Hopkins Research Computing program and works in close collaboration with the faculty, central IT and distributed IT leaders, research cores, centers, and institutes to operate and develop new and emerging computing technologies for faculty and research groups across all university academic units.

The Johns Hopkins Bayview Research Computing facility is an enterprise-wide resource designed to support and advance Hopkins research mission through flexible computing, storage, and networking infrastructure. The facility provides high-end computational CPUs, GPUs, high speed storage, and networking. With multi-million-dollar investments in hardware, facility improvements, and staff, the facility continues to grow, supporting Hopkins' cutting-edge research initiatives, including data science and AI.

This role will have an appointment in the University IT organization with direct reporting to the University Deputy Chief Information Officer in addition to dotted line reporting to the Director of the Johns Hopkins Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) Institute.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Continue developing and executing the strategic vision for research computing, aligning with the university's research priorities, including the Data Science and AI initiative.
• Communicate a clear vision for the program’s growth and value.
• Collaborate with schools, departments, research centers, and faculty to identify emerging computational needs and opportunities. Identify opportunities for innovation and growth.
• Align the facility’s goals with the university’s overall research strategy.

Service Excellence

• Drive service improvements with a strong focus on faculty needs, ensuring research computing services are responsive to emerging research and technology opportunities.
• Evaluate and improve services through fact-based measurement, service level definitions, sound financial practices, security policy, and effective user-focused and faculty-centric governance processes.
• Ensure continuous alignment with institutional research priorities and discipline-specific computing requirements.

Trusted Partner

• Build strong collaborative relationships with faculty, providing reliable expertise to address research computing needs.
• Assist faculty in drafting research proposals, identifying computational solutions, and resolving technical challenges.
• Act as a strategic advisor, ensuring sustainable, cost-effective solutions for faculty research projects.
• Collaborates with other technical leaders and services providers including the secure research computing group.

Research and Scholarship

• Lead the preparation and submission of major grant proposals for computing infrastructure and research projects.
• Collaborate with faculty and researchers to craft compelling grant narratives that align with institutional priorities and funding agency goals
• Co-author high-impact publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, demonstrating the institution's leadership in research computing
• Cultivate relationships with internal and external partners (industry, government labs, other academic institutions) that can lead to joint publications and expanded research opportunities

Communication and Engagement

• Foster an engaged community of researchers by facilitating open communication and regular updates on HPC capabilities.
• Articulate complex technical concepts clearly to both non-technical stakeholders and technical experts, ensuring alignment between researchers and IT services.
• Actively listen to faculty feedback and adjust services to meet evolving research needs.

Technical and Service Expertise

• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of research computing systems and their associated components, whether on-premises or in the cloud.
• Provide expert leadership in computational computing, including AI, hardware, software, and data.
• Serve as an expert with computational tools, software, and programming languages commonly used in research.
• Ensure compliance with federal requirements relevant to university needs, including the evolving AI guidelines.

Resource Management

• Oversee the Bayview computing infrastructure, including HPC clusters, GPU clusters, storage systems, and networking, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security.
• Manage resources efficiently, balancing the needs of diverse research projects while supporting strategic university objectives.
• Optimize resource allocation to support new and existing research programs, including multi-disciplinary projects requiring advanced computational capabilities.

Team Lead

• Recruit, lead, and mentor a diverse team of approximately 13 scientific support and research IT engineer professionals, ensuring continuous professional development and a high level of engagement.
• Build a culture of excellence, aligning the team with Johns Hopkins' core values of innovation, collaboration, and service excellence.

Research IT Thought Leadership

• Lead efforts across the university to design, plan, and implement key research computing services, including data management, computational support, algorithm development, cloud services, and networking.
• Actively participate in the global research computing community, fostering engagement, collaboration, and partnerships with peers and outside organizations.
• Collaborate closely with the secure computing facility and other program, lab, and school-based research computing groups.
• Experience with successful grant applications to major funding bodies in the research computing field.
• Ensure the HPC facility remains at the forefront of emerging technologies and continues to contribute to the university’s research excellence.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field.
• Twelve (12) years of related experience. Eight (8) years of experience at the managerial level.
• Proven track record of managing complex computing environments.

• Expert with HPC, cloud computing, and computational-intensive research.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

• Visionary thinking and adaptability to technological advancements.

• Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Additional education may substitute for experience and additional experience may substitute for education to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a computer science, scientific, or related discipline with a strong computational methods and data management background.
• 10-15 years of demonstrated experience in research computing technology support, preferably in a university context.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in writing and managing large computing grants (>$1 million)
• History of successful grant applications to major funding bodies in the research computing field.
• Knowledge of emerging trends in research computing technologies.

Classified Title: IT Enterprise Director - HPC
Job Posting Title (Working Title): IT Enterprise Director, Research Computing
Role/Level/Range: L/05/LI
Starting Salary Range: $144,900 - $253,700 Annually (Commensurate with experience)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5:00pm
FLSA Status: Exempt
Location: Hybrid/Johns Hopkins Bayview
Department name: ​​​​​​​IT@JH Research Computing
Personnel area: University Administration

The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.

If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at jhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.

The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work. Your recruiter will advise accordingly.

During the Influenza ("the flu") season, as a condition of employment, The Johns Hopkins Institutions require all employees who provide ongoing services to patients or work in patient care or clinical care areas to have an annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved medical or religious exception. Failure to meet this requirement may result in termination of employment.

The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.

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