Director of Research IT

Towson University•Towson, MD

About The Position

The Director of Research IT helps develop and implement a Research IT strategy aligned with institutional research priorities and enterprise technology roadmaps. The role establishes governance structures, standards, and processes for research-related services and technologies, and partners with institutional leaders and stakeholders to align policies, procedures, and investment decisions affecting research cyberinfrastructure. The director guides evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies, promotes shared solutions, and works to reduce duplicated effort across colleges, labs, and distributed IT units. As the primary liaison between researchers and OTS for research technology strategy, planning, and coordination, the director builds relationships across the research community and administrative partners. The role supports grant proposal development, technology planning, budgeting, and compliance alignment; leads a Research IT community of practice; represents Research IT in institutional and external forums; and communicates strategy, service updates, and outcomes. The director develops standards for research IT consultations, leads or participates in consultations, supports OTS staff who conduct them, and evaluates their effectiveness. In partnership with OTS service and process owners, the role informs research-supporting service design and operations, oversees alignment with security, compliance, and regulatory requirements, monitors service performance and operational health, and coordinates research facility and infrastructure planning. The director also guides vendor purchasing and assists with budget monitoring and forecasting under the guidance of the CTO and CIO. The role builds research IT capacity through staff skill development, standards, training, documentation, and external engagement. It defines and tracks performance indicators, reports outcomes to leadership, benchmarks institutional capacity, identifies staffing and technology risks and opportunities, and contributes to long-term workforce and capability planning.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least five years of progressive experience in research-supporting technology environments.
Experience partnering with academic researchers, research administrators, or comparable stakeholders in complex environments.
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
Familiarity with research cyberinfrastructure, high-performance computing, cloud-based research platforms, and/or research data management practices.
Ability to influence without direct authority and lead through collaboration, facilitation, and/or communities of practice.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (Master’s or higher).
Research experience including significant application of computation methods, data analysis, or other use of research IT resources.
Instructional and/or teaching experience, including computational and/or data science skills.
Experience in higher education, healthcare research, or similarly regulated research-intensive environments.
Prior contribution to technology strategy, governance frameworks, and/or cross-functional processes.
Experience supporting sponsored research, including technology planning for grant proposals.
Understanding of information security, data protection, and compliance/regulatory requirements in a research setting.
Experience contributing to organizational design, workforce planning, or service portfolio development in IT.

Responsibilities

Assist in developing a comprehensive Research IT strategy aligned with institutional research priorities and enterprise technology roadmaps.
Assist in establishing governance structures, standards, and processes for research-related services and technologies.
Partner with OTS leadership, the VP for Research, OSPR, the Library, and other stakeholders to align policies, procedures, and investment decisions affecting research cyberinfrastructure.
Guide evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies, including advanced computing, AI/ML, and secure research environments.
Promote shared solutions and reduce duplicated effort across colleges, labs, and distributed IT units.
Serve as the primary liaison between researchers and OTS for research technology strategy, planning, and coordination.
Build and sustain relationships with researchers, faculty, research staff, department IT, building coordinators, and administrative partners.
Collaborate with OSPR and others on grant proposal development, technology planning, budgeting, and compliance alignment.
Establish and lead a Research IT community of practice to foster collaboration, shared learning, and coordinated communications.
Represent Research IT in institutional committees, working groups, and external collaborations as appropriate.
Partner with college liaisons and IT leaders to increase research technology awareness and readiness across distributed units.
Maintain relationships and participate in external research IT organizations and communities, including CaRCC, federally funded computational resources and programs, peer organizations, and MDREN.
Assist in developing and sustaining a method for tracking and reporting researcher engagement with Research IT.
Communicate Research IT strategy, service updates, and outcomes through structured communications channels and engagement forums.
Build standards for research IT consultations to support structured intake, requirements gathering, and solution alignment.
Lead and significantly participate in research IT consultations; provide guidance to OTS staff handling consultations.
Evaluate the effectiveness of research IT consultations and recommend and implement adjustments.
Partner with OTS service and process owners to inform the design of research-supporting services and operations.
Oversee alignment of research IT services with security, compliance, and regulatory requirements, including federal sponsor requirements, data protection frameworks, NIST, CUI, and CMMC.
Monitor and report on research-related service performance, risk posture, and operational health with relevant IT teams.
Coordinate technology planning for research facilities and infrastructure with institutional stakeholders.
Align and coordinate development of secure, scalable, and sustainable research technology environments across the institution.
Guide vendor purchasing of research-related technology and services, seeking approval and working under the guidance of the CTO and CIO.
Assist in budget monitoring and forecasting for research-related technology and services in the OTS portfolio, under the guidance of the CTO and CIO.
Coordinate development of research IT-related skills and capabilities among OTS staff, including for this position.
Develop institutional research IT capability through standards, training, documentation, and skills development initiatives.
Use and participate in external organizations and communities, such as CaRCC, to support standards and skills development.
Define and track key performance indicators and outcome metrics for research IT services, reporting regularly to leadership.
Use external benchmarking, including CaRCC, to measure and compare Research IT capacity and capability.
Identify and communicate staffing and technology capacity risks and opportunities for meeting institutional research IT needs in the short and long term.
Contribute to long-term workforce and capability planning for research IT, including recommendations for future staffing and organizational design.