Manager, Research Computing Services

Department: Information Technology

Classification: Info Technology Spec 3

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: On Site Required

Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Pay Band: 06

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department

Enterprise Infrastructure Operations (EIO) is responsible for the deployment, operation, and maintenance of George Mason University’s network, compute, storage, and cloud infrastructure. This includes all inside and outside cable plant, hosting facilities, electronics, and services that support digital communication, data processing, and information storage for university enterprise, academic, and research applications.

About the Position

The Manager, Research Computing Services manages the Research Computing Services team. Research Computing Services is responsible for solution engineering, deployment, maintenance, and operations of the university’s research computing and related infrastructure. This position is responsible for the overall effectiveness of the Research Computing Services team: managing their focus, promoting their development, and ensuring their responsiveness and relevance in an ever-changing technology environment.

Responsibilities

Research Computing Services Team Leadership:

• Provide leadership and direction to the Research Computing Services team, including work planning, prioritization, staff scheduling, performance management, coaching, and professional development;
• Establish team objectives and align resources to support the computing, storage, visualization, and cloud service needs of the university's research community;
• Foster a collaborative and service-oriented culture that promotes technical excellence, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement;
• Monitor team workload and operational effectiveness to ensure timely delivery of services and support; and
• Conduct performance evaluations, identify professional development opportunities, and mentor staff to enhance technical capabilities and service delivery.

Research Infrastructure, Architecture, Operations, and Service Delivery:

• Lead the design, deployment, operation, and continual improvement of research computing infrastructure and associated services;
• Oversee the lifecycle management of high-performance computing (HPC) resources, research storage platforms, GPU-enabled computing systems, visualization technologies, and OpenStack-based private cloud environments;
• Ensure research computing services are secure, reliable, scalable, and capable of supporting diverse computational and data-intensive research workloads;
• Coordinate maintenance activities, system upgrades, capacity planning efforts, and technology refresh initiatives; and
• Evaluate emerging technologies and industry best practices and recommend enhancements that improve researcher productivity, operational efficiency, and service sustainability.

Research Computing, Consulting, and Technical Leadership:

• Serve as the primary technical consultant and subject matter expert for research computing technologies and services;
• Collaborate with faculty, principal investigators, research centers, and other university stakeholders to understand research requirements and recommend appropriate computational solutions;
• Provide technical leadership in areas including Linux computing environments, high-performance storage systems, parallel computing, virtualization technologies, GPU computing, cloud computing, and research cyberinfrastructure;
• Assist researchers in evaluating technology options, estimating computing requirements, and developing solutions that support research objectives; and
• Provide technical guidance for sponsored research initiatives and contribute to the development of technical approaches and infrastructure plans supporting research proposals and grant-funded projects.

Training, Outreach, and Program Development:

• Develop and implement training plans, knowledge-sharing initiatives, workshops, and documentation that improve the technical capabilities of staff and increase adoption of research computing services;
• Promote operational best practices, standard operating procedures, and documentation standards that improve service consistency, knowledge, retention, and operational resilience;
• Identify skill gaps and coordinate professional development opportunities to ensure staff remain current with evolving technologies and industry trends; and
• Engage with researchers and campus stakeholders to increase awareness of available services, gather feedback, and identify opportunities for new or enhanced research computing capabilities.

Administrative and Other Responsibilities:

• Participate in departmental initiatives, strategic planning activities, and special projects as assigned;
• Assist with research computing budget planning, technology evaluations, procurement activities, and vendor engagements related to research computing services and infrastructure;
• Prepare reports, recommendations, presentations, and other materials supporting operational and strategic decision-making;
• Collaborate with other Information Technology Services (ITS) teams to advance infrastructure, cloud, storage, networking, cybersecurity, and research technology initiatives;
• Work outside of normal business hours as required to support maintenance activities, infrastructure deployments, service restoration efforts, and critical research computing operations; and
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or the equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Experience administering Linux server, other multi-user computing system, and/or cloud or virtualized hosting environment;
• Experience in a supervisory, project management, or other team leadership roles;
• Experience providing technical support to researchers;
• Experience leading a cyberinfrastructure implementation project;
• Significant experience in a systems administration/engineering role, providing support in a multi-user environment;
• Knowledge of high-performance computing cluster technologies, both hardware and software, high-speed interconnects like InfiniBand and parallel programming using message passing interface (MPI);
• Knowledge of batch schedulers such as SLURM;
• Knowledge of high-performance storage systems;
• Expert knowledge of Linux server operating system;
• Demonstrated skill of administering a multi-user computing environment;
• Demonstrated team performance skills, service mindset approach, and the ability to act as a trusted advisor;
• Ability to use scripting and other tools to automate processes;
• Ability to quickly understand new systems, services, applications, and technologies, analyze their place in the market and industry, and manage their adoption into university's enterprise technology portfolio;
• Ability to work cooperatively and enthusiastically with a diverse team of people;
• Ability to interact with people to create excellent customer service experiences;
• Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing;
• Ability to lead, motivate, and manage technical staff;
• Ability to effectively prioritize team focus and work;
• Ability to analyze, compare, and align different technology and service offerings to research computing use cases;
• Must be eligible to work in secure computing environments including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI); and
• Must be a citizen of the United States, or a person who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States (a "Green Card" holder), or a person who formally has been granted asylum by the United States (a “protected individual” as defined by US law), or a person whose permanent address is in the United States and who is not a national (including dual-national) of any country which is subject to a US arms embargo.
• Must be eligible to work in secure computing environments including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI); and
• a citizen of the United States, or
• a lawful permanent resident of the United States (a “Green Card” holder), or
• a person who formally has been granted asylum by the United States (a “protected individual” as defined by US law), or
• a person whose permanent address is in the United States and who is not a national (including dual-national) of any country which is subject to a US arms embargo.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in related field;
• Linux Cluster Institute Training (Introductory, Intermediate);
• Red Hat or other Linux System Administration Certifications;
• Other System/Network Administration or Design Certifications;
• Project Management Certification (PMP®);
• Professional Certification in a job-relevant practice area;
• Management and/or leadership training;
• Experience (typically three or more years) in a supervisory role with budget authority;
• Significant experience building scripts or programs to automate system/network maintenance and monitoring tasks;
• Significant experience in a systems architect/design role;
• Experience working in a higher-education environment;
• Working knowledge of system virtualization, hypervisor, and container orchestration and cloud technologies such as Kubernetes and OpenStack;
• Knowledge of state procurement policies and procedures;
• Demonstrated ability administering a Microsoft Windows server, Linux server, other multi-user computing system, and/or cloud or virtualized hosting environment; and
• Familiarity with formal project management methods.

Instructions to Applicants

For full consideration, applicants must apply for the Manager, Research Computing Services at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter resume for review.

Posting Open Date: October 26, 2026

Posting Close Date: November 20, 2026

Open Until Filled: No