A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

The Academic IT division within Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) seeks a Research Computing specialist for their Academic Computing team to provide high performance computing (HPC) consultations, training, and support for Michigan Medicine affiliates. This role will work closely with Michigan Medicine researchers, proactively seeking to understand their needs, and advocating for the research community within HITS. Gather technical requirements with cross-functional teams to provide robust and sustainable solutions for research needs utilizing existing services where applicable. Contribute by identifying and quantifying customer requirements and delineating the gaps between customer requirements and the capabilities of existing technology.

Michigan Medicine improves the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally.  Our mission is guided by our Strategic Principles and has three critical components; patient care, education and research that together enhance our contribution to society.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Operational/Production Support (60%)

• Collaborate with members of the Academic Computing team coordinating teamwork assignments.
• Help researchers subscribe to the shared campus high performance computing resources.
• Assist with the provisioning of accounts on the shared campus high performance cluster.
• Troubleshoot research customer issues with file services and system access.
• Assist with user management as appropriate within Linux and Active Directory groups.
• Build and install research software packages on the shared campus high performance computing clusters.
• Troubleshoot research software installation and usage on the shared campus high performance computing cluster.
• Consult with researchers on appropriate technologies for compute-intensive research.
• Troubleshoot customer job submission scripts on the shared campus cluster to identify problems.
• Diagnose and troubleshoot cluster job failures.
• Monitor and ensure the production support requests are following healthy ticket practices.
• Assist in the development and delivery of end-user training for constituents, helping shift workflows from devices in the lab to the shared campus cluster or datacenter.
• Contribute by identifying and quantifying customer requirements, delineating the gaps between customer requirements and the capabilities of existing technology.
• Participate in workgroups, governance committees, and projects, as assigned.
• Provide recommendations to the Academic IT Devices & Computing Manager around performance, resources, and team procedures modifications.
• Understand security policies and procedures (e.g., SPG 601.27, HIPAA, FISMA, FERPA).
• Seek an understanding of research and educational IT needs and influence as necessary closer alignment to safe computing practices (SPG 601.27).

Relationship Building/Communications (30%)

• Work closely with manager to determine priorities and scope of work.
• Connect academic customers to appropriate service providers that fall outside the scope of the team.
• Maintain an excellent working relationship with peers and trusted service providers who the team partners with to deliver services.
• In the performance of all job duties, at all times, be responsible for delivering optimal customer service and providing clear concise communications.
• Proactively manage customer expectations and provide clear and timely communication.
• Communicate directly with academic and research stakeholders, trusted service providers external to HITS, and any required vendors to ensure that services are accurately aligned to the business needs of our academic and research customers.

Service Improvement/Reporting Analysis (5%)

• Understand academic and research workflows, providing secure and supportable solutions to our faculty and staff we support.
• Partner with technical peers across Michigan Medicine, and the University, to identify or develop solutions while being mindful of existing IT services.
• Stay current with advances in relevant technologies. Responsible for maintaining and sharing knowledge of policies, procedures, hardware, software, and technical services.
• Develop and document procedures and maintenance plans for the team.

Project/Management (5%)

• Be the technical lead for teammates, peers, and other IT staff on assigned projects, providing technical guidance, consultation, and support.
• Apply project management skills to advance small-sized projects through deployment.
• Work collaboratively with project stakeholders to ensure good requirements are captured and agreed upon.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 2-3 years of experience

• A bachelor's degree in information systems or a related field and/or a combined experience in information technology field.
• Experience in a related role requiring confidentiality, timeliness, customer service, organization, prioritization, troubleshooting, analysis, problem-solving, and working independently to successfully design services and workflows to implement server, storage, networking, and infrastructure technologies.
• Experience leading customer-focused projects.
• Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Working knowledge of Linux/*NIX operating systems and command-line interface.
• Ability to convey technical information to novice customers.
• Experience building software in a Linux/*NIX environment.
• Demonstrated ability to consistently meet or exceed expectations for exemplary customer service.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to successfully prioritize and complete multiple tasks within established and changing deadlines.
• Ability to work with many different OS versions (including Linux), older and proprietary systems.
• Demonstrates an understanding of server infrastructure, including TCP/IP networking, virtualization environments, or enterprise application design and delivery.
• Proficient in one or more programming languages, scripting languages, or automation platforms.
• Experience in developing, managing, running, and improving information technology services.
• Familiarity with research systems, complex peripherals, large data sets, data and analysis methods, research applications, and older computing hardware.
• Demonstrated effective and creative problem solving; flexibility when collaborating with customers, team members, support teams, external vendors, and technical organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with internal and external customers in a manner that consistently meets the organizations expectations for exemplary customer service.
• Flexibility to adapt to a changing environment.
• Possess critical thinking skills and be a lifelong learner.
• Experience with Active Directory management tools.
• Experience with HPC environments and tools (e.g. SLURM, Moab/Torque).
• Experience with automated software build tools (e.g. EasyBuild, spack).
• Experience supporting customers in a distributed computing environment.

This position is being offered as a Hybrid position. This position will be 90% remote work. There will be times that it will be appropriate for you to work from home. There will be other times that you will be required to work onsite for meetings, and team collaboration efforts. 

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Benefits  

We offer a benefits package that includes comprehensive training and career development opportunities, generous retirement savings plans, ample paid time off, and a wealth of family care support: https://careers.umich.edu/benefits/ 

Diversity Statement

HITS is firmly committed to advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and belonging, which are core to the culture and values of Michigan Medicine. Our community supports recruiting and cultivating a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan and the world. We strive to create a work culture where each team member feels respected, valued, and safe.

Michigan Medicine conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings.  Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act. Pre-employment drug testing applies to all selected candidates, including new or additional faculty and staff appointments, as well as transfers from other U-M campuses.

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days.  The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.