Interim Director of Research Computing

Position Overview
This role will focus on stabilizing operations, improving service delivery, strengthening organizational governance, aligning resources with institutional priorities, and establishing sustainable management practices.
The successful candidate will provide decisive leadership, assess current operations and technology capabilities, implement corrective actions, and prepare the organization for a smooth transition to a permanent Director.
Key Responsibilities
Provide executive-level leadership for Research Computing operations, technology infrastructure, and related services.
Stabilize departmental operations while maintaining continuity of critical IT and research computing services.
Lead organizational transformation, change management, and culture improvement initiatives.
Supervise managers, professional staff, technical staff, and student employees.
Establish clear performance expectations and maintain accountability across the organization.
Make timely operational, staffing, and resource allocation decisions.
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of research technology infrastructure, services, processes, projects, and budget requirements.
Evaluate organizational effectiveness and recommend appropriate structural and operational improvements.
Establish and mature governance, communication, and decision-making processes.
Align Research Computing services and resources with university and Division of IT strategic priorities.
Establish and improve operational procedures for customer engagement and support.
Leverage service desk/ticketing systems for support requests, customer communication, task tracking, project management, and reporting analytics.
Develop and monitor departmental priorities, performance metrics, service levels, and organizational outcomes.
Coordinate departmental budgets and strategic resource allocation with executive leadership.
Ensure compliance with university policies, security standards, audit requirements, and applicable regulatory obligations.
Identify and remove organizational barriers that impact productivity, innovation, collaboration, and service delivery.
Provide executive-level reports, assessments, recommendations, and status updates to senior leadership.
Develop lifecycle budgets, strategic priorities, professional development plans, and organizational recommendations.
Recruit, mentor, coach, and develop team members as appropriate.
Establish succession planning and comprehensive transition documentation for the incoming permanent Director.
Ensure the Research Computing organization is operationally and organizationally prepared for permanent leadership.
Required Qualifications
1. Organizational Transformation & Change Management
8 years of experience leading organizational transformation, change management, and service delivery optimization.
Proven experience managing organizational change and improving operational effectiveness.
Demonstrated ability to assess organizational challenges and implement sustainable corrective actions.
2. Technology Project Leadership
8 years of experience leading large, complex technology projects.
Strong experience managing multiple technology initiatives, priorities, resources, and stakeholders.
Ability to align technology projects with organizational and institutional objectives.
3. Personnel Management & Leadership
8 years of experience in personnel management, coaching, mentoring, and performance accountability.
Experience leading technical and professional teams in complex organizational environments.
Strong ability to establish performance expectations and drive accountability.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with research cyberinfrastructure and research computing environments.
Experience with High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
Experience with high-speed storage and networking technologies.
Experience implementing IT governance and operational maturity frameworks.
Experience leading organizational change within higher education institutions.
Experience working with research technology teams and academic stakeholders.
Experience with service management, operational processes, and customer engagement models.
Education & Certifications
Required
Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
Preferred
Master's degree in Science, Technology, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
ITIL certification or training.
Cloud infrastructure experience or certification with AWS and/or Microsoft Azure.
AI infrastructure experience with AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud.
Carpentries Instructor certification/training.
Training or hands-on experience with HPC technologies such as:
o Slurm
o InfiniBand
o HPC clusters
o High-performance storage
o High-speed research networks