Research Computing Facilitator

Job Summary:

The Center for High Throughput Computing's (CHTC) Research Computing Facilitation team introduces researchers to large-scale computational approaches and enables their use of large-scale computing systems like CHTC's in-house clusters and the Open Science Pool and PATh Facility (operated by the NSF Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing project). This role provides support in many forms, including one-on-one consultation, collaborative problem-solving, documentation and training, and community building. There are also opportunities to provide feedback within collaborating teams to continuously improve the user experience of system features.

The preferred applicant will be able to learn unfamiliar technologies and successfully collaborate with their teammates and other teams in the organization. They will also be able to communicate about technical concepts to a general audience, have prior experience and interest in enabling the work of others, and have a desire for continuous learning. New team members will be supported in learning about high-throughput technologies and supporting High-Throughput Computing workloads.

Responsibilities:

Engages researchers in the use of various state-of-the-art cyber infrastructure (CI) systems, tools, and software to enable research productivity. Partners with researchers to co-create and co-learn relevant computing and data capabilities. Informs and contributes to projects with technical teams to ensure delivery and improvement of research CI services, contributes to strategy for engaging with faculty research groups and building facilitation capacities, and participates in cross-functional management teams and projects. Informs partnerships with other technology groups, internal and external, and contributes to communication with stakeholders.

• 45% Engages with researchers in their selection and use of relevant CI systems, tools, and computing strategies. Contributes to facilitating the design and debugging of research workflows alongside researchers
• 20% Connects and coordinates interactions between researchers and technology providers. Provides regular communications to and/or collaborates with the systems and software/data professionals regarding service enhancements
• 20% Contributes to the design and content development of documentation, training content, and/or advanced curricula, and instructs at workshops
• 5% Communicates and collaborates with internal collaborators and/or potential external collaborators around facilitation and relevant service models
• 5% May provide consultation and expertise for aspects of research proposals specific to research CI. May serve as a project contributor for a research proposal or Co-Principal Investigator on proposals around facilitation functions
• 5% May contribute to regular communications with researchers and internal stakeholders

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion

Education:

Required
Master's Degree with research experience OR a Bachelor's degree with at least 2 years working in a research environment.

Qualifications:

Required:
- Experience using the Unix shell.
- Familiarity with at least one scripting or programming language besides Unix, i.e. Python, or R.
- One year of experience in communicating complex research or technical topics to a novice audience, as an instructor, teaching assistant, research computing facilitator, or similar roles.
- Demonstrated interest and prior experience in facilitating education of others to enable their work.

Preferred:
- Teaching experience in a research or compute-intensive area, contributions to computation focused training efforts (for example: Software Carpentry) or experience in research computing facilitation.
- Experience and demonstrated interest in teaching, curriculum development, and/or formal communication activities.
- Experience and demonstrated interest in community building and mentoring.
- Experience using version control software (Git, GitHub, GitLab).
- Prior usage of large-scale, batch computing systems.
- Familiarity with campus research computing centers/services or the OSG Consortium.
- Experience using computation in a research domain, especially climate science, bioinformatics, social sciences or humanities
- Significant experience with applications of computing for research purposes. Examples include: Data pipeline development and execution, Installing and running scientific software on Linux, Executing machine learning workloads on GPUs

Work Type:

Full Time: 100%

It is anticipated this position requires work be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location.

Appointment Type, Duration:

Ongoing/Renewable

Salary:

Minimum $71,994 ANNUAL (12 months)
Depending on Qualifications
Actual salary will depend on experience and qualifications. Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays and paid time off; competitive insurances and saving accounts; and retirement benefits.

Additional Information:

The Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) seeks a Research Computing Facilitator to support the goals of a diverse set of researchers who use computing for their research. This is an ideal position for an academic researcher who has used computational approaches in their own work and is strongly motivated to support and empower the work of other researchers through access to large-scale computing resources.

At UW-Madison, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role, we encourage you to apply.

How to Apply:

Please click on the "Apply Now" button to start the application process.

Applications must be submitted by 11:55 pm on the deadline date. To apply, please upload a cover letter and resume. Your cover letter and resume should address how your skills, knowledge, and abilities are transferrable to the qualifications of this role. Additional materials submitted other than your cover letter and resume will not be considered.

This position will have a two-step interview process. Once final applicants are identified, they will be asked to provide names and contact information for at least three professional references, including a current/most recent supervisor.

We are committed to reducing bias in the recruitment process and utilize a redacted application process, which is the practice of removing personally identifiable information from application materials, before the screening of applicants begins. This may include, but is not limited to, name, gender, age, address, and photos.

For questions on the position, contact: Christina Koch, chtc-jobs@g-groups.wisc.edu 

Contact:

Christina Koch
ckoch5@wisc.edu
608-316-4041
Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Official Title:

Research CI Facilitator II(RE078)

Department(s):

A48-COL OF LETTERS & SCIENCE/COMPUTER SCI/COMP SCI

Employment Class:

Academic Staff-Renewable

Job Number:

306270-AS

 

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, click here

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website: https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require you and your references to answer questions regarding sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

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