RCT #187 - Challenging times ahead
Plus: Northwestern University; Massively multiplayer retrospectives; Strategic frameworks framework; How biotechs use software and data to make drugs; Sustainability study; An outbreak’s first 100 lines of code; LLM training without a parallel filesystem
So, yeah.
Here in Canada, we imposed a sudden and blunt cap on international students - college programs are closing down left and right, and even big research institutions are probably going to see ~5-8% drops in income (Canadian colleagues, if you’re not subscribed to the HESA blog, fix that immediately.) The UK is feeling the bite of Brexit and related on international student admissions so that even Russell Group institutions are cutting programs. Australian University funding has a lot of things going on which I frankly can’t even keep track of.
It’s not awesome that our institutions have been put in a position (with varying degrees of eagerness) of so much reliance on international student fees to balance books, but there it is.
We’re seeing big cuts as a result in because our institutions’ expenses are mostly salaries. What’s more, those salaries are contractually obligated to increase over time (which is good). So minor drops in revenue - even revenue not going up by as much as the mandatory cost of living/seniority increases in salary - has to result in cuts of jobs.
Those revenue drops will touch our research parts of the organization too. It’s frankly not great that the research part of our institutional missions are funded to the extent they are by cross-subsidy from the teaching part of our missions, but that’s how we’ve built our institutions, so cuts in teaching revenue will hurt us.
Our research support teams budget is mostly salaries, and cost for equipment of various sorts. Like salaries, which go up (good), new equipment costs go up over time - reflecting the (also good) fact that their capabilities grow from generation to generation. So again, anything less than say a 5% increase in revenue year-over-year means a cut of people, or at very least a relative cut in capability of equipment.
And that’s just the teaching revenue.
New Zealand has slashed research funding for basic research (and zeroed out social sciences research in one of its major funding tools). The new UK government cut more than a billion pounds from technology and AI projects. Canada’s research councils are scheduled for a long-needed funding increase, but that will only happen after an election where it seemed quite likely at least until recently that a different party with likely very different priorities would win. As mentioned before, Australia’s going through some stuff, and I need someone to explain it all to me like I’m five because I just can’t keep track of it all.
And then, hey, did you hear there’s a new president in the US? The sudden and maybe?-now-unfrozen freezes in NIH and NSF, plus everything that’s going on with CDC publications, augers extremely poorly for the funding environment there. I think we can safely assume that international student numbers are going to plummet, as well, and for multiple reasons.
Yes, there’s other issues going on in the world and our communities right now besides the fate of our technical research support teams. But once we stepped up to become manager, our teams become our responsibility.
We care about our team members as individuals. We want them to grow as individuals and professionally and want to support them.
And we genuinely believe that funding and effectively operating teams like ours are one of the best and most cost-effective ways to advance research at scale for a world that desperately needs new insights and better ways of doing things. One of the things we can do to try to keep the world somewhat on its axis is to keep our teams going and advocate for their needs and ongoing work and impact.
Keeping our work funded is part of that. There's other parts, too, especially for my US colleagues, like keeping morale up and supporting individuals. Today let’s focus on keep-the-wheels-on funding issues.
Funding for our teams is vulnerable because our business model is that of nonprofits (#164), even though our operating model is of professional services firms (or utilities - #127). There’s a million worthy things increasingly scarce research funding could go to, and we have to actively make the case for our teams (and even better, help others champion us) because other more visible efforts will always have the advantage of seeming more salient to decision makers.
That means:
Talking to people (and not just sending out surveys #159). Make sure we know what our VPRs priorities are and how we can support those priorities (and how we already are!). We’re not in a position to advocate internally if we don’t know the top few things that our VPR or CIO are trying to advance; all the upheaval now (and NIH funds a lot of international research) is an excellent time to check in with them. Relatedly:
Being aware of what else is going on in the institution. If we’re oblivious to new centres, efforts, or initiatives taking place in our organizations, and unaware of other demands on research funding, we’re not going to be well prepared to make the case for how we can help;
Having the entire research support flywheel mapped out (#176, #177, #178, #179, #180) and be ready to have compelling stories for the whole cycle;
Making it clear that we’re effectively leveraging other teams by collaborating with groups internal and external (#164), maybe sketching out value chains/logic models (#163)
Being aware of what funders are looking for. In this environment, there’s almost certainly going to be increasing emphasis on workforce development and economic spinoffs. This is a great time to start getting testimonials on your training programs, look up previously registered trainees to see who went into industry or started a company, etc;
Talking to researcher clients, for testimonials (like Northwestern has done #186) but also to identify champions, find out what we’re already doing well that has impact (#158) and where we can do better;
Making sure we have good answers to obvious questions like what we’re doing about AI (#183), and clear answers backed up by at-hand numbers about where outsourcing on-prem equipment like cloud is too expensive vs where it could potentially help (it’s buy-vs-lease, not cloud “vs” on-prem #130);
These are febrile and challenging times in research institutions everywhere. If you have questions, want advice, or just want someone to vent at, you can always email me (hit reply or email jonathan@researchcomputingteams.org) or have a quick call with me. I want to know what I can do to help.
With that, on to the roundup:
Managing Teams
Over at Manager, PhD in #178 I talked about systematically collecting qualitative data (which is useful too for those researcher and VPR-office calls!). Plus:
Making high performers feel valued
In praise of raising expectations
Being more visible as an individual
Networking in good conscience
In #177 I talked about positioning yourself for a first-time manager job, plus:
Hypothesizing what's behind behaviour
The value of hard work, and diversity
Project communications tips
Advocating to executives, and
directorship prerequisites
Technical Leadership
RCD Program Story: Northwestern University - Daphne McCanse
Great writeup of an interview with Jackie Milhans at Northwestern, describing the work of Research Computing and Data at Northwestern University, how it’s structured, how it’s handled rapid growth, and how priorities are set and outreach is done.
Massively multiplayer retrospectives - Jade Rubick
As you know, I think retrospectives are to managing teams (Management 201) as one-on-ones are to managing individuals (Management 101) (#137).g
Here Rubick goes through his process for retrospectives for remote teams, which he reports getting much broader participation from, while still being time efficient and useful. He makes use of Google Doc (or equivalent).
He has people have the first ten minutes or so contributing to a Google doc w/ 2 sections:
What went well, who do you want to appreciate?
What didn’t go well, or what was interesting that you observed?
And that 10 minutes includes adding to (not contradicting, not arguing) others comments.
Then a round of dot voting with a handfull of votes per person, where they can add votes (with their initials, an agreed-upon emoji, whatever) to each of the points. Then the top ranked items are discussed, preferably with action items resulting.
The online/google doc aspect means that lots of people who would feel uncomfortable contributing vocally still contribute; it means important topics get covered deeply; it means less urgent topics are still voiced and documented.
I really like this approach and am going to find an opportunity to use it.
Strategy, Positioning, and Marketing
TBM 332: The Last Strategy Framework You'll Ever Need - John Cutler
So you might have already heard that I’m very, very, very, very unhappy with what “strategy” is taken to mean in our community, and how we think about it.
And many of our teams are probably going to find ourselves thinking critically about positioning, prioritization, planning, problem solving, stakeholder engagement, and communication in These Challenging Times (tm).
There’s a sense in which that’s good - these are things that are important enough to be routine parts of our practice - but having to tackle in an emergency isn’t great. Sadly, that’s where many of us are, or will be.
And folks, “strategy” is not synonymous with SWOT charts.
So I want us to briefly talk about “strategy frameworks”. Cutler here has a very good article I’m frankly super jealous of, because I’ve taken a stab at writing something similar more than once and never pulled it off.
There’s nothing magic about any of these strategy frameworks. SWOT isn’t some kind high-powered tool that automatically produces profound insights. (I don’t have anything in particular against SWOT, but it seems to be the only thing that people in our communities have ever heard of.)
As Cutler points out, there’s four basic functions any of these of strategy frameworks have:
Sets of questions to ask (e.g. what are our strengths/weaknesses/etc) and when to answer them
Tools for answering the questions (measures, categories, sets of stakeholders to involve)
Ways to organize/visualize the answers (a map, plot the answers on some 2x2, etc) and gain insights
Instructions on how to implement changes from those insights
And they’re a loop.

Cutler iterates through several frameworks and shows how they fit those boxes. And as he says:
Strategy is not just about frameworks or decision-making tools; it's about negotiating a narrative, identity, and power within the organization [LJD: or in our case, ecosystem]. It's (ideally) about shifting to humility and accepting uncertainty (vs. an ironclad 50-page deck that tries to anticipate objections and squash them), which in turn enables adaptability and probabilistic thinking.
So if you start getting advice about using particular strategy tool, just assess its usefulness. Is it helping you find the questions that are valuable to ask? Is it helping you collect data that would assist you get answers to those? Is it helping you develop insights from those answers? Does it give you suggestions for how to actually make changes based on those insights? A tool that helps you do some of that can be very useful, even if others have never heard of it. A tool that doesn’t is a waste of time for you, even if it might be incredibly helpful to others in different contexts.
(Bonus link: here’s a set of strategy frameworks. FWIW I think the main ones that matter to us are value net for positioning, value chain/wardley map for clarifying operations, lots and lots of conversations with the VPRs office and researchers, and a risk register populated by gaming out lots of bad scenarios).
Cool Research Computing Projects
How biotechs use software to make drugs - Kenny Workman, LatchBio
This isn’t a project, really, so much as a description of a workflow, but I think it’s a really nice walk through as to how a hypothetical biotech developing antibodies for heart disease might use compute and data infrastructure.
Research Software Development
Tales of Transitions: Seeking Scientific Software Sustainability - Johanna Cohoon, Caifan Du, James Howison, Proc. ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
This is an interesting seven-year study of 34 software projects (mostly NSF SI2 projects), how they were organized, and whether they managed to sustain themselves.
They categorized the teams building the software into five categories:
Peer production communities (e.g. community-driven)
From specific labs where they were users
From author groups where they were users
Tool groups where they are primary producers of tools
Business
Peer production (e.g. community driven) software was much more likely to sustain itself (maybe especially if it was “born” peer-production? It’s hard for me to tell). Businesses doing the software kept the software active at a pretty good rate, too. Tool groups did ok; software from lab groups survived maybe 50/50, loose author groups or consortia survived at a much worse rate.
This is an interesting paper and I’ll try to dig into it more. I’d like to see more slices-and-dices of the data, although there may be worries about confidentiality at that point.
An unspoken assumption of some work like this is that all of the projects should survive, that going inactive is a failure. I don’t think that’s true. Some software is useful to a community which can collectively sustain it; some just isn’t. It’s ok for software to be a one-off! Writing some software for a research project, even a research programme, shouldn’t be a commitment on the lab’s part or on the part of the scientific enterprise as a whole to fund further development indefinitely. Just as not all research directions end up being fruitful, not all research software needs to continue existing.
On the other hand, for research funders, I think there's a lot to learn here. Research funders giving grants funding software development, as opposed to funding research projects that happen to develop some software, presumably want to favour efforts that will outlast the particular project. My probably idiosyncratic takeaway from this paper is that such funding should preferentially go to existing software efforts that are community-driven or have a business model associated with them.
Research Data Management and Analysis
From the 100 Day Mission to 100 lines of software development: how to improve early outbreak analytics - Cuartero et al, Lancet
During a 3-day workshop, 40 participants discussed what the first 100 lines of code written during an outbreak should look like.
This is a fascinating read - my attempt to summarize it wouldn’t do it justice, and it’s a short read, so I commend it to you. Even more interesting is to think about how as research data, research software, or research computing teams, we could be ready to support those first 100 lines of code - and the work that follows.
Research Computing Systems
LLM Training Without a Parallel File System - Glenn K. Lockwood
It’s surprising to me the extent to which people with HPC backgrounds assumes that a large, shared-by-everyone parallel file system is an absolutely essential part of a computing cluster, to the extent of reflexively introducing them into cloud clusters wherever they can. Global mutable state is hard and error prone, and I don’t ever think I’ve heard a researcher client say “one thing I really love about this system is sharing the file system with every other user”.
The instinctive assumption of any parallel file system surprises Lockwood, too, who knows more about parallel file systems and other large-scale storage on his worst day than I ever will.
Lockwood describes LLM training, and the role that preprocessing, object storage, and local SSDs play, with lots of diagrams and references to other posts.
As technologies and workloads change, it’s important that we focus on what’s needed and not just what we’ve always done. As Lockwood says, “But parallel files aren't all bad…. I do not advocate for throwing out parallel file systems if they're already ingrained in users' workflows!”
But workloads and requirements differ, and the purpose of our systems are to meet those requirements and support those workloads, not just to replicate the same infrastructure we’re familiar with.
Random
Let’s deprecate “cargo-cult” as a term our community uses. The use is inaccurate, fictionalized, and really uncomfortably problematic.
The free online “Fundamentals of Numerical Computing” book has a new edition and a Julia version, if you’re into that.
C’mon, admit that you want one of these fluid simulation pendants.
Doom running … in a PDF? Sure, why not.
Grist, kind of a typed spreadsheet/database kind of thing.
“Random Access” Memory is a myth.
That’s it…
And that’s it for another week. If any of the above was interesting or helpful, feel free to share it wherever you think it’d be useful! And let me know what you thought, or if you have anything you’d like to share about the newsletter or stewarding and leading our teams. Just email me, or reply to this newsletter if you get it in your inbox.
Have a great weekend, and good luck in the coming week with your research computing team,
Jonathan
About This Newsletter
Research computing - the intertwined streams of software development, systems, data management and analysis - is much more than technology. It’s teams, it’s communities, it’s product management - it’s people. It’s also one of the most important ways we can be supporting science, scholarship, and R&D today.
So research computing teams are too important to research to be managed poorly. But no one teaches us how to be effective managers and leaders in academia. We have an advantage, though - working in research collaborations have taught us the advanced management skills, but not the basics.
This newsletter focusses on providing new and experienced research computing and data managers the tools they need to be good managers without the stress, and to help their teams achieve great results and grow their careers. All original material shared in this newsletter is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Others’ material referred to in the newsletter are copyright the respective owners.
Jobs Leading Research Computing Teams
This week’s new-listing highlights are below in the email edition; the full listing of 361 jobs is, as ever, available on the job board.
Academic Director of Research Computing Infrastructure & Professor, Faculty of Environment, Science, and Economy - University of Exeter, Exeter UK
As Professor, you will be an established scientist with significant contributions to at least one area of Computer Science, including but not limited to High Performance Computing, Distributed Computing, Software Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Cyber-security, Healthcare, Environment and Artificial Intelligence. You will be an innovative and visionary researcher with a strong and current record of research funding and international quality publications. We are particularly interested in individuals whose work demonstrates a high level of originality and rigor, contributing new insights and methodologies that push the boundaries of Computer Science. The post holder will be a leading international figure with the ability to attract world-class academics to their research group. As Academic Director of Research Computing, you will provide senior academic leadership and strategic direction for the research computing landscape at Exeter. By working with both academic user communities and professional services, this role will lead the development of a strategy for advanced research computing (to include high-performance and mid-level compute, along with an effective support model), helping to position the university to take maximum advantage of new technologies, agree the OLA (Operating Level Agreement) need required by the research community and to realise opportunities for efficiency gains and increased cost recovery.
Senior Manager, Research Computing Support Services - Purdue University, West Lafayette IN USA
As a Senior Manager of Research Computing Support Services, you will lead a team of independent minded computational scientists and students to provide computational services to the research community. These services include providing training, consultation, documentation, support to researchers, and access to high performance computing resources. You will implement IT service management best practices to address Purdue researchers’ support requests and delegate appropriately. You will provide direction for the support services related to the NSF funded Anvil project that serves researchers from across the nation. You will develop and manage stakeholders’ communication including, assuring appropriate communications and coordination with management, customers, and partners. You will represent the team on advisory, policy, and project committees, including coordination meeting with other NSF ACCESS resource providers. You will manage professional and student staff while providing regular feedback and guiding their professional development.
Assistant Director, Center for Advanced Computing Systems and Operations - Cornell University, Ithaca NY USA
The Center for Advanced Computing provides computational resources and expertise to Cornell faculty in order to support computational sciences at a high level of functionality. CAC provides HPC clusters and a research cloud as well as storage capabilities to support research applications across the university in a wide range of fields of research. CAC assists Cornell faculty in systems architecture, application workflows, and storage solutions that meet the computational needs of funded projects and participates in leading cyberinfrastructure research projects and partnering with other research computing and data teams in the national cyberinfrastructure community. We are looking for an Assistant Director to join this team.
Acting Director of the Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence Hub - Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Westborough or Boston MA USA
This role is ideal for an ambitious professional who thrives in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. You will leverage your established relationships and expertise in navigating the intricacies of starting up and developing a mission-oriented organization focused on developing and ethically adopting artificial intelligence applications and technologies across the Commonwealth. As part of the commitment of state government to make Massachusetts a national leader in artificial intelligence innovation, the Massachusetts AI Hub is being established at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech). The AI Hub will strive to make AI technology more accessible to small and large enterprises in the state’s key sectors, enable researchers, entrepreneurs, and startups to pursue the development and commercialization of innovative new ideas, and, most importantly, the AI Hub will work to prepare the state’s workforce for the emerging opportunities in AI and will strive to enable all citizens to benefit from the inevitable changes that AI will introduce into society. The Acting Director for the Massachusetts AI Hub is responsible for building and leading this new division at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative; while ensuring it will position Massachusetts to be a leader in applied AI and unlock new economic opportunities for businesses and residents across all regions of the Commonwealth.
AI Platform Service Manager - University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh UK
We are looking for an AI platform Service Manager to join our team and act as product lead on the development, management and strategic direction for a novel platform delivering Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools and services across the University in support of teaching and administration. The AI Platform Service Manager will report directly to the Head of Services but will have a significant degree of autonomy to realize the vision for the new platform. This post is an open-ended (permanent) contract based at EDINA, University of Edinburgh. EDINA is a centre of digital expertise providing EdTech solutions to the higher, further and school education sectors for decades with a national and international reputation. The post is a hybrid one with the Service Manager expected to be on campus in Edinburgh at least one day a week. The team would prefer full time working hours (35hrs per week) however are committed to offering flexible working options such as compressed hours or staggered start/finish times.
Senior Data Lead for the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative - University of Exeter, Exeter UK
We are seeking a Senior Data Lead for the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative. The successful applicant will work with the Director of the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative to develop and lead the UK Functional Genomics Initiative (FGx) Data Coordination Centre (DCC). The Senior Data Lead will be responsible for providing high level oversight, leadership and management of the staff and activity in the DCC. Through close collaboration with the Director, the FGx Executive Board and external partners they will be oversee a team tasked with building and testing bespoke applications for data management and analysis, and develop and maintain robust data management processes for the FGx initiative, maximising the integrity, quality and completeness of the data collected. The post-holder will also have a key leadership and strategic role, as part of the FGx Executive Group, providing senior business and data management expertise and input to drive development of innovative and reliable information systems solutions to underpin delivery of the FGx initiative portfolio and its overall business operation. The Senior Data Lead will oversee the management of data from a wide portfolio of research projects and you may be required to develop expertise in new areas.
Research Program Manager; Quantum Computing, Department of Applied Physics - Yale University, New Haven CT USA
Reporting to the Principal Investigator (PI) and working in close coordination with the Applied Physics Senior Operations Manager, the Research Program Manager provides a high level of administrative and financial support to the PI and the members of the Quantum Computing research group. Develops and maintains accurate budget and forecast models for several large and active grants, including a personnel budget in excess of 30 members with varying reappointment dates. Maintains a list of employees (postdocs and students) and their necessary appointment and reappointment dates. Prepares ad-hoc and develops/maintains custom financial position reports for PI in response to sponsor requests. Prepares materials and assists in report writing. Maintains calendar of important/critical sponsor deadlines for the PI and research group. Assists, as time allows, with support for PI activities and travel.
Engineering Manager, Science Instrument Calibration Software - Space Telescope Science Institute, MD or DE or VA or PA or DC or WV USA
The Data Management Division (DMD) is seeking a manager for the Science Instrument Calibration Software team (SCSB). This position provides leadership, supervision, technical direction and mentorship of a diverse team of software engineers, build engineers, test engineers and astronomers. The SCSB is responsible for the development, operational maintenance, and user-facing support of the calibration pipelines for the JWST, HST and Roman missions. It is also responsible for some of the libraries supporting the pipelines, like the Generalized World Coordinate System (GWCS) and the Advanced Scientific Data Format (ASDF), as well as the Calibration Reference Data System (CRDS). You will work with a team that is passionate about the work they do in support of astronomers around the world.
Lead Architect, Research Computing Infrastructure Work Team - University of Arizona, Tuscon AZ USA
Research and Discovery Technologies supports the University’s research mission by providing the key IT services and infrastructure capacity for the scale of data-intensive research at an R1 institution. Key offerings include High-Performance Computing (HPC), the Controlled and Regulated Research Services Program (CRRSP), and research data management / storage services, Leads the planning, engineering, operations, and maintenance of the University’s Research Computing infrastructure, including but not limited to: HPC Systems, Controlled and Regulated Research Computing environments, and data storage solutions. Infrastructure for Research Computing is both on-prem and in the cloud.
Manager, Strategic Initiatives, Data Science 4 Everyone - University of Chicago, Chicago IL USA
Data Science 4 Everyone is a national initiative working to catalyze the adoption of data science and data literacy as a fundamental component of K-12 education. Our core focus is to raise awareness and work with stakeholders across U.S. education to ensure every student is data literate by high school graduation, and can meaningfully participate in and build a data-driven future. The Strategic Initiatives Manager will provide strategic coordination and operational management for national efforts to advance data science education in K-12 education in core school subjects, particularly Mathematics. The Manager will convert the objectives of major grant projects into action, align U.S. education leaders around common goals, coordinate the work of DS4E and partner organizations, and synthesize research and impact to major philanthropic funders.
Facilities Manager - Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow UK
We currently have a vacancy for one of the key customer facing management roles within our Institute. Our Facilities Manager leads on the delivery of facility & contract management, working closely with our research colleagues to understand their needs, being adaptable and flexible to change whilst striving for excellence in our operation.
Large Molecule Research Informatics Project Manager - Sanofi, Cambridge UK
You are an experienced Scientist or Informatician with a proven track record of leading cross-functional Biological Drug Discovery projects with a strong understanding of laboratory process and data collection principles. You thrive in collaborative environments, driving innovation and ensuring project goals align with organizational strategies. Your expertise bridges the gap between biological research and digital, enabling the seamless integration of cutting-edge laboratory techniques and data analysis to accelerate drug discovery and development.
Group Lead of Genome Editing Team - KWS Research Centre, St Louis MO USA
We are looking for a dynamic, innovation focused Group Lead of Genome Editing Research. The full-time position is located at the KWS Gateway Research Center in St Louis, MO. You will lead a multi-national research team working at the interface of basic and applied research in different crops. You will be responsible for the team strategy and the development, implementation, and application of genome editing technologies according to KWS´s business needs.
Core Facility Manager (SRI) - Biological Sciences - Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto ON CA
A position is available for a Core Facility Manager of a Stem Cell and Organoid Core Facility in an academic research hospital that offers a collaborative environment with diverse expertise. We are looking for a dynamic and motivated individual to be responsible for the organization and smooth running of the facility, overseeing pluripotent stem cell production and maintenance and organoid production, ensuring that required safety standards are met, and supporting and assisting academic researchers with ongoing research projects.
Manager - Special Projects Genomics - Cancer Care Manitoba, Winnipeg MB CA
Under the leadership of the Chief of Research Administration and Operations, the Manager - Special Projects Genomics is a collaborative leader who will use their business, management and research experience and qualifications to support the efficient and effective operation of the Genomics laboratory, Shared Health Diagnostic Services and for efficient and effective collaboration between Shared Health Laboratory Services and CancerCare Manitoba as it relates to the Genomics and Bioinformatics Platform. The Manager - Special Projects Genomics will work directly under the supervision of the Genomics Medical Director, Shared Health Diagnostic Services, and closely with the Shared Health and CCMB research managers, scientists and clinicians
HPC Systems Engineer Lead - Podtech Data Centers, Vancouver BC CA
Lead the deployment and maintenance of HPC clusters, ensuring they operate effectively and maximise availability. Integrate and manage HPC software components such as Kubernetes, Slurm, cluster management software, and any infrastructure required to operate the HPC environment. Stay abreast of advancements in HPC, Kubernetes, and associated technologies, bringing innovations into our operations and product options. Collaborate with technical teams to establish and implement best practices for system maintenance and optimization. Draft comprehensive documentation, including system designs, operational procedures, and best practice guidelines. Facilitate the selection and integration of relevant management tools to monitor, troubleshoot, and enhance HPC operations. Provide technical leadership and training to other team members, fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement.
Manager, Core Services (Biorepository) - University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore MD USA
The Program for Personalized and Genomic Medicine and Institute for Clinical and Translational Research is seeking a Manager for the University of Maryland Biorepository. The Core Services Manager of the UM Biorepository will lead the strategic and operational management of the facility, which supports large-scale studies in genomics and 'omics' science. This position involves ensuring high standards in the processing, storage, and distribution of biospecimens and managing the integration of data from electronic health records and study-specific data collection. The Core Manager will actively solicit new users of UM Biorepository services and enhance the capability of the repository to support multidisciplinary research impacting a broad range of health issues.
Director, Laboratory for Genomics Research - University of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA USA
UCSF seeks an outstanding individual to assume the role of Director of the Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR). The Director will have prime responsibility in organizing and overseeing all research and development efforts in advancing functional genomics technologies within the LGR, with a particular emphasis on the use of CRISPR-Cas based approaches to target discovery and validation within the context of genomic medicine. This will include the development and deployment of cutting edge functional genomic tools including single-cell RNA seq approaches, high content imaging, and robotic-enabled pooled and arrayed screens as well as modeling of disease and other complex biological phenomenon in cellular systems including 2D and 3D cultures. Working with the support of an Alliance Manager, the Director will bear primary responsibility for all aspects of scientific collaboration between the LGR and GSK, as well as the LGR and UCSF and UC Berkeley. The Director will serve on the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) as a voting member, and share scientific strategy leadership responsibilities with other members of the JSC.
Principal Research Software Engineer, National Deep Inference Fabric - Northeastern University, Boston MA USA
We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Research Software Engineer with experience in Machine Learning and Large Language Model interpretability research methods, to assist in developing the National Deep Inference Fabric, an open-source deep learning interpretability research computing infrastructure project. You will be responsible for full stack development, doing both back-end and front-end software development to help create a robust, high-throughput, highly usable, and flexible multi-tenant AI inference service to enable research nationwide. Some of the day-to-day activities include solving security, stability, integration, and performance issues involved in providing a large-scale research inference service for open-source AI models.
Lead Genomics Data Scientist - Genomics England, London UK
We are looking to hire a Lead Genomic Data Scientist to join our Bioinformatics Consulting team at Genomics England and lead on a range of cancer genome analysis and interpretation projects in collaboration with and on behalf of our external researchers and industrial partners. The role of the Lead involves a harmonious blend of technical leadership and people management, with a primary focus on enhancing customized cancer genome analysis within our research environment. Drawing upon a robust understanding of biomedical challenges and a commitment to producing high-quality code, the Lead Genomic Data Scientist plays a direct and influential role in crafting solutions and products. These outcomes are specifically designed to cater to the distinct requirements of our researchers and industrial collaborators, thereby contributing significantly to the advancement of our objectives.
Senior / Principal Statistician - Bioinformatics & Biostatistics - The Francis Crick Institute, London UK
The Francis Crick Institute seeks to recruit a collaborative and self-motivated Statistician with excellent technical skill and extensive experience analysing complex data sets in a biological research environment, at either Senior or Principal level. In this role, you will be working as part of the Bioinformatics & Biostatistics Scientific Technology Platform (STP), a talented and dynamic team to provide statistical analysis expertise to help Francis Crick research groups achieve their research ambitions.
Quantum Research Manager - IBM, Hursley or Warrington UK
engineering and science. This effort includes advancing the entire quantum computing technology stack and exploring applications to make quantum computing broadly usable and accessible. With a worldwide network of Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, researchers, educators, and enthusiasts, we are committed to driving innovation for our clients in the IBM Quantum Network and the Qiskit Community. We seek a Senior Research Scientist with an outstanding track record in quantum computing to join IBM Research UK and to manage and develop a growing team of researchers. Experience with applications to quantum simulation and/or quantum chemistry is desirable.
Assistant Director, Genomics Shared Resource - Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer CEnter, Buffalo NY USA
The Assistant Director, Genomics Shared Resource assists in the operation and direction of the Genomics Shared Resource under the direct supervision of the Facility Director and is responsible for day-to-day facility operations and may represent the Facility Director as needed. The Assistant Director, Genomics Shared Resource supervises all facility staff members whose primary focus is to generate and process genomic-based data using start-of-the art technologies including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), Single Cell Sequencing, microarray, and companion validation platforms. The Assistant Director meets with investigators to help design research projects and advise on best genomic technology to meet scientific needs. The Assistant Director is also responsible for various administrative duties including quotation and billing of services to internal and external investigators, overseeing service contracts, and serves as a facilitator of information to participating laboratories.
Principal Software Engineer (Bioinformatics) - Broad Institute, Cambridge MA USA
The Broad Institute, Genomics Platform is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for our Data Analysis & Operations team. This position will be instrumental in the development of our high scale cloud-based orchestration platform for running genomics pipelines and performing data delivery. An ideal candidate will help design, build, and maintain the necessary infrastructure needed to support new and existing projects on the platform, for both internal and external stakeholders. This is a fast-paced role that sits in the intersection of engineering, science, and business. A successful candidate will need to work effectively across multiple departments, partners, and with a wide community of computational biologists and medical/cancer geneticists. We’re looking for a team player that thrives on opportunity, adjusts well to change, and has the passion to make themselves, their teammates, and our partners better.
Director, Data Quality and Information Management - IC/ES, Toronto ON CA
ICES is a world-leading health research and analytics institute. Reporting to the Senior Director, Research, Data and Financial Services, the Director, Data Quality and Information Management (DQIM) assumes overall responsibility for the integration of all health administrative data and other data at ICES. The Director, DQIM also oversees the work of making data research-ready; data quality initiatives; and other data science and related initiatives.
Lead Software Developers, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics - University of Toronto, Toronto ON CA
Under the direction of the Canadian Data Intensive Astrophysics Platform (canDIAPL, pronounced “candy apple”) co-PIs Renee Hlozek and Kristine Spekkens, and in close collaboration with the Project Manager at the University of Toronto, the incumbent is responsible foracting as the lead software developer for the “Real Time Analysis” or “Dynamic Data Sets” component of CanDIAPL, which is a major scientific nationwide project funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to convert the enormous raw data streams from next-generation optical and radio telescopes into sophisticated digital databases that astronomers can use to make new discoveries.
Data Lead/Bioinformatician - Queen Mary University of London, London UK
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a person to lead Data Management requirements for the Barts BioResource in preparation for relaunch, expansion and beyond. They will plan and deliver data management initiatives to address retrospective and prospective data for legacy cohorts. The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing and managing those data systems, ensuring the integrity, availability and security of Barts Bioresource data. The purpose of the Barts BioResource is to establish and grow a dynamic health data repository and linked biobank of consented patients managed by Barts Health NHS Trust to allow research into health and disease. The Barts BioResource relies on the donation of human blood, saliva, swabs, urine, faeces and soft/solid tissue.
Field Day Lab Project Manager - University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison WI USA
Field Day Lab (FDL) at Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) is looking to hire a new project manager (PM) to assist in developing a Project Execution Plan (PEP) for a new technical and service research infrastructure for conducting educational research using data from learning games. The outcome of the project will be a full submission to the National Science Foundation Research Infrastructure 2 program (MSRI). A current call for proposals has not been issued, but based on the 2023 call, a deadline of Late Fall 2025 is expected. The new project manager will primarily work with the proposed research infrastructure's PI, David Gagnon, but will also leverage the expertise of researchers, other research infrastructure projects, and a wide array of experts nationally.
Senior Manager Engineering, Posit Package Manager - Posit, Remote USA
Posit Package Manager provides a secure, reliable, and scalable way to distribute and manage R and Python packages across an organization. Built-in vulnerability scanning and management bolsters security and compliance efforts. It can provide an air-gapped source of CRAN, PyPI, and other packages for high-security environments. We are striving to develop the best multilingual package manager for data scientists. We also provide an important free tool to the data science community through Posit Public Package Manager. *Managing a team of individual contributors and leading them in shipping value to our customers. Maintaining the software development process, identifying and eliminating bottlenecks to empower the team to deliver with the least amount of friction. Adding to cohesive, high-performing teams through strategic hiring
IT and Computing Manager, Faculty of Mathematics - University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
The Faculty of Mathematics comprises two closely-linked departments; the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) and the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS). The Faculty of Mathematics is looking to appoint an experienced IT and Computing Manager with proven strategic leadership skills to create and implement a new vision for IT services in support of its academic mission. Working with colleagues across the Faculty and the wider University, the IT and Computing Manager will ensure that IT services provide a digital environment that will enable the Faculty to fulfil its goals in research, teaching and learning as well as providing the tools to support delivery of the Faculty's professional services and administrative functions. The role holder will have the vision and strategic leadership skills necessary to review existing provision and plan future developments to support the current and future needs of this research-intensive academic institution with an international reputation for excellence.
Director, AIML & Scientific Computing Optimization - Hackajob (recruiter), London UK
The Onyx Research Data Tech organization is GSK’s Research data ecosystem which has the capability to bring together, analyze, and power the exploration of data at scale. Their Compute/AIML Performance and Optimization Engineering team is focused on optimizing first-in-class Compute and AIML platforms that accelerate application development, scale up computational experiments, and integrate all computation with project metadata, logs, experiment configuration and performance tracking over abstractions that encompass Cloud and High-Performance Computing. A Director of Compute/AIML Optimization Engineering is a deeply technical leader. They consistently deliver major compute and AIML platform features and solutions with cross-organizational impact and value. They are recognized as expert in software engineering, scientific computing, and applications with deep understanding of performance and optimization, within the Onyx team, across R&D Digital & Tech, and even externally. They can work closely with -- and have strong technical knowledge of – underlying platform dependencies such as DevOps, Infrastructure and Cloud and can enable collaborations and help drive the requirements across other Onyx engineering teams that results in improved performance and better user experience.
Software Engineering Manager - Libraries - NVIDIA, Santa Clara or Remote CA USA
We are looking for a software engineering manager to lead our development efforts for math libraries in the AI, HPC, and Quantum Computing (QC) domains. In this role, you will lead an engineering team designing, developing, and optimizing software to accelerate various elements of the software stack. Ideal candidates will not only have experience leading software product engineering teams, but also be motivated to advance the state-of-the-art in a variety of accelerated computing domains. If this sounds exciting, we would love to meet you!