Research Fellow – National HPC Service Support Lead, Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) (University of Galway 071-24)

28 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

University of Galway

Research Field

Computer science » Other

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Ireland

Application Deadline

21 May 2024 - 17:00 (Europe/London)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time specific purpose position of Research Fellow - National HPC Service Support Lead at the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC), University of Galway.  

 

The position is available immediately until contract end date 31st December 2025 (like all other positions funded under the Centre’s core funding, are aligned to funding cycles (the current funding cycle is 2021-2025), with expectation of continued funding for the period 2026-2030). This position will be based at our Dublin location. 

 

Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) 

ICHEC is Ireland’s national centre for High-Performance Computing (HPC) providing digital infrastructure capabilities and expertise through R&D engagements and skills development programmes to academia, industry and public sector organisations. 

With a highly ambitious leading-edge Strategy for 2021-2025, ICHEC provides infrastructure services and expertise in HPC and data intelligence to develop efficient platforms, solutions and services based on technologies including AI, high performance data analytics, Earth Observation, quantum computing and cybersecurity across a broad range of domains including materials and environmental sciences, engineering, healthcare, agriculture, energy, astrophysics, applied mathematics, financial services, ICT and others. 

ICHEC works in close partnership with a number of national and international researchers, enterprises and public authorities for joint R&D, skills development, and provisioning HPC and data services to accelerate their digital transformation and green transition. 

At the core of ICHEC’s Mission is the ambition of placing the Irish research community in a position to compete with global leaders in Research & Innovation, through the delivery and operation of advanced platforms for compute and data. These services are provided under the auspices of the National Service, for which ICHEC is now seeking to fill the leadership position.   

For more details reach out to our Centre Director, J.-C. Desplat or visit www.ichec.ie . 

 

Job Description: 

The primary function of this leadership position is to maximise the impact of the National HPC Service. This is a role for a highly-motivated, enthusiastic and proactive solutions-orientated person with a creative and analytical mind, embracing continuous service improvement. You will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership, management and development of a diverse team of HPC specialists and the operational management of our service catalogue and related systems. You will need to demonstrate highly developed inter-personal skills, the ability to understand the research culture and have sufficient technical knowledge to explain in lay language how HPC and related technologies can help researchers step up their ambition and global competitiveness. 

 

Duties: 

Success will be assessed on the basis of: 

• Improved scientific output, both in terms of volume and excellence. 
• Heightened levels of satisfaction from the research community. 
• Successful on-boarding of emerging communities (e.g., in healthcare, the humanities, etc.) 
• Successful leveraging of international open access programmes such as the EuroHPC open access calls.  

In the performance of her/his role, the successful candidate will be expected to: 

• Take a user-centric perspective of the service, placing researchers’ needs at the core her/his considerations.    
• Align service delivery to relevant national strategies, including (but not limited to) those on Research & innovation (“Innovation 2030”) and Artificial Intelligence (“AI, here for Good”). 
• Oversee and coordinate user support requests via the Helpdesk and other sources. This will involve some technical understanding of the HPC systems, applications, workflows and policies involved in order to be able to effectively triage and bring together the right people to address the requests optimally. An effective problem-solving approach will be required to distill the essential aspects of the support requests and to provide a clear path towards an effective solution. 
• Develop and nurture constructive relationships with relevant actors of the national Research & Innovation ecosystem, including PIs, SFI Research Centres, domain-focused communities and HEIs.  
• Identify EU-level initiatives that would benefit the national community and putting in place the necessary awareness and when required programmes to leverage those. Examples of this include ICHEC’s Academic Flagship and Digital Innovation Flagship Programmes which successfully leveraged the EuroHPC network of National Competence Centres. 
• Identify emerging domains that could benefit from access to the National HPC Service and be pro-active at on-boarding them. This will involve evangelising on the benefits of modern (data-centric) HPC, the definition of personalised plans for on-boarding and follow ups. 
• Establish a close relationship with the Chairs of the Science and Users Councils. Engage fully with the Science Council to streamline access to the National HPC Service without compromising the high standards of quality; engage fully with the Users Council to develop new activities in support of the Service and establish a high quality and always on communication channels with users of the Service.  
• Manage communications with users and other stakeholders during service outages. 
• Liaise with other relevant ICHEC Programmes and functions, e.g.,  
• With the PR & Comms team to maximise visibility of users of the National Service.  
• With the Skills Programme to define training requirements in support of the National Service. 
• With the Lead of the EuroHPC Irish National Competence Centre, ensuring that relevant activities and opportunities within the EuroCC network are suitably publicised to Irish researchers. 
• With the Infrastructure team, to discuss service specification and configuration. 
• Any other duties assigned commensurate to this level of post 

The postholder will lead a team of c. 6 FTEs initially and report to the Centre Infrastructure Manager.  

 

Qualifications/Skills required:  

Essential Requirements:  

• An MSc. with 10+ years full-time experience in a relevant domain such as leadership and service improvement, computational sciences or equivalent professional experience post primary degree. 
• Experience in Team Leadership positions with demonstrated decision-making skills and leadership ability to assist with management of project portfolio and support operations.  
• Demonstrable understanding and experience of Technical Computing.   
• Broad understanding of technologies such as Big Data and Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. 
• Ability to “learn fast”, synthesise new information and “connect the dots”.  
• Proven ability to provide formal documentation and briefings. 

 

Desirable Requirements:  

• Exposure to the Lean or PRINCE2 project management frameworks. 
• Prior knowledge of online contents sharing platforms such as GitHub. 
• Prior experience of change management. 
• Programming skills in either Fortran or C/C++. 
• Prior experience as a user of HPC services. 

 

Salary: Research Fellow salary scale €61,318 - €80,048 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.  

 

The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale (subject to the project’s funding limitations), where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale. 

 

(Research Salary Scales - University of Galway)  

 

Start date: Position is available immediately. 

 

Continuing Professional Development/Training:  

Researchers at the University of Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans. The University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia.  Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment - see HERE  for further information. 

 

Further information on research and working at University of Galway is available on Research & Innovation at the University of Galway . 

 

For information on moving to Ireland please see www.euraxess.ie   

 

Further information about ICHEC is available at www.ichec.ie  

 

Informal enquiries concerning the post may be made to [email protected]   

 

To Apply: 

Applications to include a 1-page motivation letter, CV (max. 3 pages), and the contact details of three referees should be sent, via e-mail (in a single PDF only) to [email protected]   

Please put reference number University of Galway 071-24 in subject line of e-mail application. 

 

Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (Irish Time) on 21st May 2024 

 

A We reserve the right to re-advertise or extend the closing date for this post. 

 

University of Galway is an equal opportunities employer. 

 

All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment  

Requirements

Research Field

Computer science » Other

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

University of Galway

Country

Europe

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

State/Province

Ireland

City

Galway

Website

https://www.universityofgalway.ie/

Street

University Road

Postal Code

H91 TK33

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED