Where You Will Work:

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) that manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation. UCAR is a nonprofit consortium of more than 115 North American colleges focused on research and training in the Earth system sciences. UCAR provides a voice for our members, in collaboration with the broader community, to convey the value of our research, education, and partnerships to policymakers and decision makers.

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a world-class center leading, promoting and facilitating innovation in the atmospheric and related Earth and Sun systems sciences. Established in 1960 by the National Science Foundation, composed of seven labs with expertise in multiple fields of Earth system sciences, NCAR provides the university community with world-class facilities and services that are beyond the reach of any individual institution.

This position is a senior leadership position within UCAR and NCAR. As an Assistant Director for NCAR, the NCAR Assistant Director responsible for Research IT will report to the NCAR Directorate and work in coordinated cooperation with the UCAR Chief Information Officer (CIO) and CISL Director. The position will serve on appropriate technical and governance committees serving the IT and RCD communities across UCAR and NCAR.

The Assistant Director for RIT will lead a group of IT professionals with deep, long-term experience working in individual research labs, and will be expected to transform that group into a cohesive team that can successfully work across lab boundaries, sharing knowledge, experience, solutions, and workloads.

While continuing to successfully support technology solutions already in place across the labs, NRIT will develop solutions to unmet and/or emerging research needs. These solutions will frequently involve partnerships with EIT and CISL for foundational IT services, cloud services, supercomputing services, and large-scale data services. Solutions may also include partnerships with nonprofit organizations or universities, commercial entities, custom internally-developed cyberinfrastructure, other options, or any combination of strategies that prove useful and practicable. The ability to develop innovative solutions in a fast-paced environment supporting a rich array of important research is critic.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our organization is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment and fostering a culture where everyone feels welcome and supported. To learn more about these efforts, visit the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan and our Diversity & Inclusion: A Welcoming Workplace site.

Education and Years of Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a computer science or technical field, or equivalent experience

• 8-10 years of progressive experience in support of complex research-oriented technologies

• 8-10 years of progressive experience working with organizational leaders and leadership teams

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills and demonstrated ability to communicate with, identify the needs of, and build working relationships with scientific and administrative colleagues across the varied research disciplines represented within the NCAR labs.

• Ability to establish realistic goals and deliver work on schedule and within budget.

• Familiarity with multiple areas of research IT within an academic or research-oriented organization. Such areas might include research computing, cloud computing, high performance computing, cyber-infrastructure, cybersecurity, and/or data security.

• Advanced knowledge of one or two areas of research IT and its design, deployment and operations within a research-oriented organization.

• Strong organizational and people management skills and ability to establish training and development goals and objectives through directing and developing staff members.

• Demonstrated success with service management.

• Demonstrated experience in a complex organizational environment requiring regular collaboration and cooperation to accomplish organizational goals.

• Understands and values diversity and the importance of inclusion as demonstrated through a commitment to apply and incorporate the differences, complexities, and opportunities that diversity brings to an organization and ability to work with a dynamic diverse faculty, staff and students.