Associate Director, Research, Operations, and Infrastructure

University of Chicago•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director of Research Operations and Infrastructure for Chicago Booth Information Technology oversees daily operations, project management, and maintenance of reliable network, server, and storage infrastructures, including high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. This role supports data center services and email to ensure high availability in a 24/7 environment. Working collaboratively with faculty and researchers across various departments, the Associate Director develops tailored technical solutions to support and advance cutting-edge scientific research. The position manages research support staff, develops team capabilities, and leads succession planning for IT operations.

Requirements

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in a related field.
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in technical fields such as computer science, engineering, or data science.
Master’s degree.
At least ten years of relevant experience.
Supervisory or team management experience.
Higher education industry experience.
Proficient managing networked servers with knowledge of switches and firewalls, network services, system utilities, hardware installation, and operating/application system installation.
Proficient managing high-performance computing (HPC) systems, clusters, and advanced research computing infrastructure.
Strong understanding of research computing needs, including large-scale data management, analysis, and scientific workflow and job scheduling architectures.
Familiarity with various programming languages and tools commonly used in research, such as Python, R, MATLAB, Jupyter, and Slurm.
Demonstrated project management skills to achieve results for multiple, simultaneous projects with competing demands.
Work independently, identify opportunities for innovation, and recommend effective technological changes.
Outstanding leadership and collaboration skills to work effectively with researchers, students, and IT professionals across multiple disciplines.
Deal with confidential and sensitive research data with tact, discretion, and strict adherence to security protocols.

Responsibilities

Leads day-to-day operations and project management for systems and network infrastructure, including hosted Windows and Linux departmental servers; application, database, email, file, and backup services; and core infrastructure services such as DNS, DHCP, and Active Directory.
Leads and manages a team of system administrators and research support staff, taking responsibility for assigning work, managing workflow, and creating professional development opportunities.
Manages and maintains the enterprise storage and storage area network (SAN) environment including troubleshooting, performance planning, capacity, and continuity planning.
Enhances the focus on security administration by working closely with the Booth Information Security team to maintain continuous risk assessments, review critical systems and identified threats, and produce operational policies/procedures documentation.
Collaborates directly with faculty, research teams, and leadership to understand their unique computational needs and develop tailored technological solutions.
Assists in the planning, design, and implementation of new systems, storage, automation, and virtualization technology.
Develops and implements strategies to advance research computing capabilities, while assessing and evaluating existing infrastructure to recommend necessary improvements.
Develops project plans, forecasts budget needs, and manages financial resources effectively to optimize operations and cost-effectiveness.
Represents the University's research computing interests by fostering partnerships with external organizations, national HPC centers, and other internal IT departments to enhance overall capabilities.
Maintains Booth's Disaster Recovery infrastructure and documentation, ensuring systems and applications are adequately protected according to their SLAs, and run bi-annual Disaster Recovery tests.
Ensures the implementation of approved best practices and information technology policies that result in the highest quality systems administration.
Manages the creation of standards and procedures to maintain production servers that run the operating system.
Manages the installation, configuration, and maintenance of operating systems and utility software.
Performs other related work as needed.