Research Infrastructure Engineering Lead

Role: Research Infrastructure Engineering Lead

Location: Birmingham (Hybrid)

Salary: £58,000 - £67,000

Contract: Fixed Term until March 2031

Network IT are working with a leading research-intensive organisation to recruit a Research Infrastructure Engineering Lead. This is a rare opportunity to take on a senior technical leadership role within a world-class Research Computing environment, supporting cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines.

You will play a key role in shaping the future of large-scale research infrastructure, supporting High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), cloud platforms, research storage, and next-generation networking technologies that underpin nationally significant research programmes.

Role Overview

As a Research Infrastructure Engineering Lead, you will act as one of the organisation's senior technical authorities for research infrastructure, combining strategic leadership, technical expertise, and team management responsibilities.

You will lead the design, evolution, and operation of critical research computing platforms, including High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), storage, cloud, and networking services, ensuring they remain reliable, scalable, secure, and capable of meeting future research demands.

Alongside your technical leadership responsibilities, you will manage and develop a team of Infrastructure Engineers, driving innovation, technical excellence, and the successful delivery of complex infrastructure projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development, enhancement, and life cycle management of large-scale research infrastructure platforms
• Oversee the operation and reliability of High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), cloud, storage, and networking services
• Provide technical leadership for infrastructure architecture, integration, and service design
• Line manage and develop a team of Infrastructure Engineers, fostering a high-performance and collaborative culture
• Lead complex infrastructure and research technology projects from design through to implementation and operational support
• Develop technical roadmaps and support long-term investment planning across research computing technologies
• Act as a senior escalation point for infrastructure issues, technical challenges, and major incidents
• Build strong relationships with researchers, academic stakeholders, suppliers, and external partners
• Evaluate emerging technologies and drive innovation across research computing services
• Develop technical specifications, risk assessments, and implementation strategies for major infrastructure initiatives
• Represent the organisation within national and international research and technology communities

Essential Skills & Experience

• Degree-qualified or equivalent, with substantial experience in infrastructure engineering or research computing environments
• Significant experience designing, implementing, and supporting large-scale research or enterprise infrastructure
• Strong expertise in one or more of:
  
  
  • High Performance Computing (HPC)
  • High Throughput Computing (HTC)
  • Large-scale research storage platforms
  • High-performance networking
  • Private cloud infrastructure (eg OpenStack)
• Extensive Linux systems administration experience
• Strong understanding of compute, storage, networking, security, identity management, and research technology ecosystems
• Experience with automation, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and configuration management tools
• Proven experience leading complex technical projects and delivering large-scale infrastructure initiatives
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience mentoring, coaching, and leading technical teams

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience with public cloud platforms supporting research workloads
• Experience supporting national research infrastructure or external research communities
• Familiarity with Agile, ITIL, and structured service management practices
• Experience contributing to funding bids, research programmes, or technical strategy development
• Experience working with GPU-accelerated computing environments