Director, Research Computing

Department: Office Rsrch Innov and Econ Impact

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The Office of Research Computing supports the research cyberinfrastructure needs of the university’s research and education community. Reporting to both the Vice President for Information Technology and the Vice President for Research, the office provides support for cutting-edge research technology infrastructure and activities, serving as a primary contact for research customers, coordinating the activities of research technologists and the adoption of research technologies (including software), fostering self-help communities, and maintaining a sustainable research lab support model.

About the Position:

The George Mason University Director of Research Computing leads the mission, vision and strategy for cyberinfrastructure (CI) services and investments in alignment with the strategic vision of the University, Office of Research and ITS. The Director is responsible for recruiting, training, and retaining a team that designs, implements, and monitors the University’s research computing systems. The Director handles the development of high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, cloud implementation, data storage and transfer services for fundamental, sensitive, and secure computing systems, to include GCC and GCC high environments. The Director regularly engages with Academic units, ITS, Library and research leadership on institutional-wide strategy and investments. The Director builds and maintains relationships with the faculty and the various stakeholders to include computing partners in the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance.

Responsibilities:

Leadership

• Develops mission, vision, and strategy for local CI services in alignment with the strategic vision of the University, Office of Research and ITS;
• Focuses on operational effectiveness and sustainability of the CI services institutional-wide;
• Envisions new systems and solutions to drive efficiencies of research teams and recommends changes to existing processes when appropriate to support research initiatives;
• Collaborates with university stakeholders to identify emerging trends and technologies in research computing and data, develop strategies to leverage these new technologies for research capabilities;
• Assists with grant proposals for sponsored opportunities that will promote/enhance research computing systems; and
• Represents the university in regional and national research computing consortiums. 

 Management & Support

• Recruits and develops a team of CI members that can keep up with the pace of researchers needs including the secure research requirements;
• Oversees the design, implementation, and maintenance of Mason’s research CI to support diverse research needs;
• Ensures the security, reliability, and scalability of research computing infrastructure to meet the demands of current and future research projects;
• Develops and implements policies and procedures governing the use of research computing resources, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards;
• Establishes and maintains user support mechanisms to assist researchers in effectively utilizing computing resources; and
• Creates infrastructure roadmaps, provides budget projections for the CI investments. Writes proposals to NSF for funding CI hardware and personnel.

Partnership/Collaboration

• Builds and maintains the relationship with various stakeholders (professors, researchers, staff, government agencies, vendors);
• Collaborates with peer institutions and sister institutions within the Commonwealth of VA; and
• Regularly engages with other Academic units, ITS, Library and Research leadership on institutional-wide strategy and investments.

Communications/Reports

• Regularly provides reports/metrics to stakeholders regarding usage, growth, and changes to CI services; and
• Defines and tracks return on investment.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field or the equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Experience working with sensitive and CUI data;
• Experience or knowledge in supporting cloud based computing platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS;
• Broad knowledge of deployment and management of High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems, including CPU, GPU, storage, file systems, networking, visualization, job schedulers (e.g., Slurm) and scientific applications;
• Demonstrated knowledge of GPU, parallel, and distributed computing;
• Understanding of data security and compliance standards and regulations (e.g., CUI, FAR, DFARS, HIPAA);
• Demonstrated consulting and customer service skills and be comfortable directly. interacting and facilitating research with university faculty, students, and staff across the various academic disciplines; and
• Must be eligible to receive unclassified technical data pursuant to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Terminal degree in a related field;
• Experience managing a High-Performance Computing program working in a university setting;
• Project management experience; and
• Familiarity with virtualization technologies and container orchestration (e.g., Singularity/Apptainer, Docker etc.).

Instructions to Applicants: 

Applicants should address each of the required and preferred qualifications in their resume and/or cover letter.

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Director, Research Computing at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent with Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: November 4, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  November 25, 2024

Open Until Filled:  Yes