Job Description

The Director of Operations will have primary responsibility for the day-to-day operations of ARC resources and services. This position will be one of the senior leaders within Advanced Research Computing (ARC). This role will be responsible for leading the design, procurement, and commissioning of new resources/services, developing and negotiating Service Level Agreements with the principal stakeholders. The Director of Operations will be responsible for the development, monitoring, analysis, communication of operational performance metrics and proposing corrective actions as needed. When corrective action plans are developed, the Director of Operations will have primary responsibility for ensuring they are completed in a timely fashion and that the anticipated improvements are achieved (or follow-on plans developed).

The Director of Operations will advise ARC and Division of Information Technology (DoIT) on the operational consequences of budget, schedule, personnel, and technology decisions/tradeoffs. The Director will also be responsible for developing service designs, schedules, and operational parameters to optimize the benefit of ARC resources and services to the Virginia Tech research community within the constraints given.

A key aspect of the Director of Operations responsibilities will involve communication and collaboration with Virginia Tech researchers and scientists both to communicate reasonable expectations of current ARC services and resources, as well as to determine the needs, value, and impact of proposed additions, upgrades, or removal of current services and resources.. This will involve a liaison and translation function between the science and usage needs and contexts understood best by the VT researchers and the technology and operational tradeoffs necessitated by the current (and anticipated) state of technology. This will require excellent communication skills as well as strong technology development awareness and forecasting skills.

Responsibilities:
* Develop and maintain Service Level Agreements for all ARC services and resources as well as any custom agreements or configurations.
* Develop, monitor, and maintain operational performance metrics to ensure and communicate evidence of high operational efficiency and reliability within the levels promised by the SLAs.
* Develop, monitor and maintain operational procedures for the full lifecycle of ARC services and resources - from design to surplussing.
* Stay abreast of technology changes and conduct research in the implementation of new technologies in an effort to maintain security and integrity of all servers and databases for both internal and customer data
* Development grant proposals, white papers or other communications to obtain necessary funding and publish research results.
* Develop and monitor operational budgets for the operations and maintenance of ARC resources and services.

Required Qualifications

* Doctorate in Computer Science or closely related field, or bachelor's degree and experience that equates to a doctorate.
* Demonstrated professional experience managing high performance research computing infrastructures and teams.
* Demonstrated creativity, independence, and high motivation with excellent communication and documentation skills.
* Strong leadership and mentoring skills.
* Exceptional customer relationship skills, consensus building skills, and ability to establish effective working relationships in a diverse environment.

Preferred Qualifications

* Significant experience administering or optimizing workflows for high performance research resources.

Appointment Type

Regular

Salary Information

$125,000 - $150,000

Review Date

11/14/2023

Additional Information

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

About Virginia Tech

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a hands-on, transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the world, Virginia Tech is an dedicated to knowledge, discovery, and creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse enrollment of more than 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in eight , a , a college, , and . The university has a significant presence across Virginia, including the in Northern Virginia; the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke; sites in Newport News and Richmond; and numerous and . A leading global research institution, Virginia Tech conducts more than $500 million in research annually.