Head of IT and Scientific Computing

About BIIE

The Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering (BIIE) is a new interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to innovation in immune engineering. Founded in 2025 through a generous endowment from Fondation Botnar the BIIE supports scientists in taking on some of the worlds most challenging problems in immunology and global health. The institute unites experts across immunology biomedicine bioengineering computational biology artificial intelligence and machine learning creating a unique multidisciplinary environment with a mission to make a lasting impact and to train future leaders in immune engineering. BIIEs cuttingedge research spans systems immunology synthetic biology and computational immunology all underpinned by advanced scientific computing and data analysis.

Position Overview

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Head of IT and Scientific Computing to lead the development of BIIEs IT strategy and research computing infrastructure. In this senior role you will provide overall leadership for the institutes information technology operations and highperformance computing (HPC) resources ensuring they align with and support BIIEs scientific mission. You will oversee everything from everyday IT services to specialized scientific computing platforms building a robust secure and stateoftheart infrastructure that empowers our researchers to achieve breakthroughs in immune engineering. This is an exciting opportunity to shape a worldclass IT environment from the ground up working closely with both scientists and administrative staff to enable groundbreaking discoveries and innovation.

Tasks

• IT Strategy & Leadership: Develop and implement a comprehensive IT and scientific computing strategy for BIIE aligning technology initiatives with the institutes research goals and growth plans. Provide guidance to senior management on the most effective IT policies and investments ensuring that BIIE remains at the forefront of technological innovation in research computing.
• Infrastructure BuildOut: Lead the design deployment and maintenance of the institutes IT infrastructure including highspeed networks servers and virtualization environments largescale data storage systems and highperformance computing clusters. Ensure this infrastructure is robust scalable and capable of supporting the demanding dataintensive workflows of BIIEs scientists.
• Scientific Computing Support: Provide worldclass scientific computing facilities to the research teams. This includes managing HPC resources (compute clusters GPU servers etc. optimized for highthroughput data analysis and machine learning tasks as well as implementing advanced storage and backup solutions for large datasets. You will enable researchers to translate their scientific ideas into wellsupported computational workflows removing technological barriers to discovery.
• Data Security & Compliance: Ensure robust data security integrity and privacy across all IT systems. Implement and routinely test backup procedures and disaster recovery plans to safeguard critical research data. Maintain compliance with best practices and relevant regulations for data protection especially in a biomedical research context and enforce policies to maintain a secure computing environment.
• IT Operations & User Support: Oversee daytoday IT operations including networks and connectivity laboratory and office computing software applications and databases supporting research and administration. The Head of IT will interface with both scientific and administrative staff to understand their needs and ensure prompt effective support for hardware software and data workflows. Foster an IT service culture that is responsive and userfocused enabling staff and scientists at all levels to work efficiently with technology.
• Team Management and Development: Manage and mentor a team of IT professionals and scientific computing support staff. Set clear goals delegate responsibilities and cultivate an environment of continuous learning and improvement. Build an inhouse team with the skills and motivation to maintain reliable IT services and to develop innovative solutions for new research challenges.
• Strategic Projects & Innovation: Identify opportunities for technical improvements and drive the evaluation and adoption of new technologies (e.g. cloud computing virtualization AI tools) that could enhance BIIEs IT capabilities. Plan for the institutes medium and longterm computing needs ensuring that our IT infrastructure and services scale with the growth of the institute and remain best in class to support cuttingedge science.
• Budgeting and Vendor Management: Develop and manage the IT department budget ensuring efficient use of resources. Oversee procurement of IT equipment and services and manage relationships with external vendors and partners (e.g. cloud service providers hardware suppliers institutional IT collaborators) to leverage additional resources as needed.

Requirements

Education:

• Advanced degree in Computer Science Information Technology Engineering or a related field is required. A Masters is expected and a PhD is a strong plus for understanding the complexities of scientific research. Equivalent experience with a strong track record in IT leadership may be considered.

Experience:

• IT Leadership in Research Environment: 5 years of progressive experience in IT and scientific computing with at least 3 years in a leadership role. Experience working in a scientific research or academic environment is highly preferred. You should have a demonstrated ability to collaborate with researchers understand their computational needs and support a researchoriented dataintensive work culture.
• Infrastructure & Systems Management: Proven experience managing complex heterogeneous IT infrastructures including enterprise networks servers (physical and virtual) and largescale storage systems. Handson expertise in maintaining highavailability highperformance systems is required. Experience with virtualization technologies and supporting diverse operating systems (Linux Windows macOS) in an enterprise or lab setting is expected.
• HighPerformance Computing: Strong background in highperformance and scientific computing. Experience deploying or running HPC clusters or cloud computing environments for dataintensive applications is required. Familiarity with job schedulers (e.g. Slurm) parallel computing GPU acceleration and managing HPC workflows is a plus. Candidates who have managed HPC resources in either onpremise clusters or using cloud services (AWS Azure) will be well suited for this role.
• Cloud and Emerging Technologies: Knowledge of cloud computing platforms and hybrid cloud architectures for research IT is highly desirable. Practical experience in integrating onpremises infrastructure with cloud services (for compute storage or collaboration) is a plus. Interest or experience in modern data technologies such as containerization scalable databases or AI/ML infrastructure will be beneficial.
• Security & Data Management: Solid understanding of IT security best practices and data governance. Experience implementing data security measures backups and disaster recovery in an environment handling sensitive or valuable research data is required. Familiarity with compliance standards relevant to biomedical data (e.g. data privacy regulations) is an advantage.
• Project Management & Soft Skills: Demonstrated project management skills and the ability to lead complex IT projects from planning to . Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential you should be adept at conveying technical concepts to nontechnical stakeholders and at partnering with scientists to develop solutions. We seek a proactive resourceful leader with strategic thinking abilities and a handson attitude to problemsolving. A passion for enabling scientific innovation through technology is a must.

Joining BIIE as the Head of IT and Scientific Computing offers a unique opportunity to have a profound impact on a growing institute at the forefront of biomedical innovation. You will be a key contributor to groundbreaking research in immune engineering directly enabling discoveries that could transform healthcare and save lives.

If you are an experienced IT leader with a passion for science and innovation we encourage you to apply and join us in building a worldclass computing environment at BIIE. Together we will empower researchers to push the boundaries of immune engineering and make a real difference in the world.