Computational Scientist & Service Delivery Manager

University of Chicago•Hyde Park, IL

21d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC), within the Office of Research, provides advanced computing resources and expertise for computational and data-intensive research. The RCC offers high-performance computing (HPC), storage, visualization, and AI infrastructure, along with scientific consulting, user support, education, and training, and helps researchers use local, national, and cloud-based resources. The Computational Scientist & Service Delivery Manager supports faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students in applying advanced computing technologies to research. This role serves as a multidisciplinary technical expert in AI, HPC, and related technologies, combining faculty engagement and technical expertise with responsibility for delivering high-quality research computing services. The position develops software structures and solutions for scientific workflows and heterogeneous data integration, and may manage staff, including help-desk and research data-science personnel. It also hires, trains, mentors, and manages student consultants. This is a hybrid position requiring three days onsite per week.

Requirements

A college or university degree in a related field.
Five to seven years of work experience in a related job discipline.
Proficiency in one or more programming languages, such as C++ or C.
Proficiency in a scripting language such as Python.
Experience with Linux/Unix environments.
Experience with software design and development methodologies and best practices.
Experience building, installing, testing, and tuning scientific application software.
Experience with compiler optimization techniques, performance analysis tools, and HPC libraries.
Familiarity with job schedulers such as Slurm.
Experience with version-control systems such as Git.
Ability to translate researchers' scientific goals into computational requirements.
Ability to work effectively with faculty and researchers and as part of an interactive team, while taking initiative to achieve project and RCC goals.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to identify and develop expertise in appropriate new technologies or software tools.

Nice To Haves

Ph.D.
Experience mentoring or managing students.
Experience deploying and optimizing workloads on GPU-accelerated systems.
Experience with AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Familiarity with scientific computing libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, pandas, xarray, and scikit-learn.

Responsibilities

Partner with faculty and research groups as a domain expert to identify, develop, and implement computational solutions that advance research.
Troubleshoot, compile, debug, profile, optimize, and port scientific applications and computational workflows on AI and HPC systems.
Contribute to faculty projects through the RCC Consultant Partnership Program, as assigned.
Develop, install, test, and maintain scientific and community software supporting research projects.
Resolve user problems promptly and professionally, and proactively recommend appropriate RCC technologies and services.
Create and maintain technical documentation, user guides, knowledge bases, and documentation best practices and tools.
Manage staff as applicable, set team goals and priorities, and handle performance management and staff development.
Hire, train, mentor, and manage a team of student consultants.
Work with faculty to identify, propose, and execute solutions that support or advance their research.
Contribute to developing and improving RCC systems, services, and operational practices.
Create and deliver tutorials, hands-on workshops, and other training materials.
Assist researchers with grant proposals by describing the role of AI, HPC, and related computational resources.
Participate in the product development life cycle, advising on front-end applications and database back-end schemas.
Analyze high-level system specifications and ensure application development standards are met.
Independently define and document project requirements and provide technical guidance on software design, architecture, and implementation.
Evaluate new technologies and software products for feasibility and suitability for research projects.
Perform other related work as needed.