Principal Research Infrastructure Engineer & Team Lead - IT Services - 107907 - Grade 9

University of Birmingham
United Kingdom
Workplace: OnsiteContractGBP 58,225 - 87,974 annuallyFunction: DevOps, Cloud & InfrastructureEducation: bachelorsSkills: ["Communication","Problem-solving","Independent judgment","Organization","Mentorship"]

Lead the strategic design, development, implementation, and operational oversight of critical research infrastructure for BEAR under the Baskerville NCR project. Own lifecycle management and high-reliability operation across HPC/HTC, private/public cloud, large-scale storage, and high-speed networking. Provide line management for a small AIS infrastructure team, act as escalation contact for major incidents, and advise researchers and senior stakeholders on emerging infrastructure needs and new technology adoption.

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FursaFursa
University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
2 days ago

Principal Research Infrastructure Engineer & Team Lead - IT Services - 107907 - Grade 9

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Job Summary

Lead the strategic design, development, implementation, and operational oversight of critical research infrastructure for BEAR under the Baskerville NCR project. Own lifecycle management and high-reliability operation across HPC/HTC, private/public cloud, large-scale storage, and high-speed networking. Provide line management for a small AIS infrastructure team, act as escalation contact for major incidents, and advise researchers and senior stakeholders on emerging infrastructure needs and new technology adoption.
Location: United Kingdom
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Contract · Permanent
Job Function: DevOps, Cloud & Infrastructure
Seniority: Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Provide strategic design and lifecycle management for BEAR infrastructure and associated services, balancing day-to-day operations with multi-year development needs.
  • •Oversee secure, reliable, high-performance operation of ARC research infrastructure, serving as escalation point for complex queries and major incidents.
  • •Line manage and develop a small team of Infrastructure Engineers, setting direction and fostering an inclusive, collaborative culture.
  • •Provide technical leadership for architecture, integration, and service development across HPC, HTC, public/private cloud, and storage platforms, ensuring interoperability and alignment with research needs.
  • •Lead complex infrastructure projects and influence strategic/financial planning, including lifecycle costing with performance, cost, sustainability, and long-term operational impact.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: GBP 58,225 - 87,974 annually
Perks:Paid HolidaySick PayPension SchemeChildcareVolunteering Day

Key Requirements

  • •Degree-level education or equivalent with substantial relevant professional experience in a technical role.
  • •Proven experience designing and delivering specialised, large-scale research infrastructure for computational and/or data-intensive research.
  • •Substantial experience across the lifecycle of at least one of HPC systems, multi-petabyte research storage, low-latency high-speed networking, or private cloud infrastructure (e.g., OpenStack).
  • •Substantial experience as a Linux system administrator and experience with automation/DevOps (versioning, CI/CD, configuration management, infrastructure as code).
  • •Ability to document complex solutions and influence senior stakeholders, with experience leading/mentoring team members (line management advantageous).
Experience:Research computingHPCCloudDevOpsLinuxInfrastructureData-intensive research
Education:Bachelor's
Skills:CommunicationProblem-solvingIndependent judgmentOrganizationMentorship
Tech Stack:UnixLinuxWindowsCloud technologiesHPCHTCHigh performance computingResearch storage systemsNetworkingPrivate cloudOpenStackAutomationDevOpsVersion controlCI/CDConfiguration managementInfrastructure as codeAgileITILIdentity and access management

Company Brief

University of Birmingham
A major UK research university offering undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs across a wide range of disciplines; known for research, teaching excellence, and international partnerships.
Industry: Higher Education
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 500M to 1B
Growth: Government & Public Sector
Funding: Government Funded
Headquarters: Birmingham, United Kingdom
Founded: 1900
WebsiteLinkedIn