Manager, RC Infrastructure

Khalifa University is a world-class, research-intensive institution in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The University’s mission is to seamlessly integrate research and education to produce world leaders and critical thinkers in science, engineering, and medicine, and also to be a catalyst towards Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision for a knowledge-based economy. Khalifa University has two campuses in the city of Abu Dhabi – the KU Main Campus and the Sas Al Nakhl Campus, the latter housing two of KU’s flagship research institutes: Masdar Institute and Petroleum Institute.

The Manager, RC Infrastructure is responsible for providing the highest quality, leading edge research computing and IT services, support, and infrastructure to the University’s faculty and their research groups. The Manager will maintain the plans for research computing architecture to ensure the appropriate capacity, capabilities, and infrastructure are available to support the University’s research initiatives.

Strategic Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of the Department’s strategy, as well as annual business plans. 
• Contribute to the development of the Department’s policies and procedures, in line with the overall business objectives of the University, ensuring they promote leading practices and excellence. 
• Contribute to the development and management of the Department’s budgets and report back on a timely basis to ensure that divergences are addressed promptly. 

Operational Responsibilities

• Oversee research computing systems administration, high-performance networking, security, Tier 2 support, documentation and other responsibilities. 
• Review storage and backup, high-performance and/or high-throughput computing and related requirements for research center labs. 
• Determine and/ or review specifications for centrally-managed equipment purchases and backup approaches created to deliver the services defined by the lab requirements for periodic equipment refresh cycles. 
• Oversee the procurement process for all specified, centrally-managed research computing equipment, including both hardware and software. 
• Manages research computing vendor relationships and regularly reviews the latest products and approaches that pertain to the University’s research labs or research needs. 
• Direct the process of installing, configuring, and testing procured research computing equipment, including network interconnects, prior to the launch or modification of production services. 
• Oversee the creation and maintenance of user, technical and procedural documentation for all centrally-managed systems. 
• Maintain support contracts and initiates support for all centrally-managed infrastructure when necessary. 
• Partner with Ankabut staff to establish and carry out appropriate monitoring for server room equipment. 
• Develop and manages information security procedures pertinent to research computing equipment in the server room and possibly elsewhere. 
• Ensure proper maintenance of inventories of the University’s research computing equipment and associated software licenses. 
• Ensure adherence to the University’s information security policies and procedures, and report breaches or other security risks accordingly. 
• Ensure coordination with other departments to facilitate the accomplishment of tasks and responsibilities, as and when needed. 
• Perform any other tasks assigned by Line Manager

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Provide coaching, guidance and mentoring as required to enhance the internal capabilities of the team and ensure the achievement of established objectives and plans. 
• Recommend appropriate training courses as per the pre-determined training needs, evaluate their effectiveness, and monitor their results. 
• Carry out performance appraisals for subordinates according to planned schedules and recommend necessary actions as per the applied practices. 
• Conduct periodic meetings with subordinates to ensure that priorities are clear and workflow is running smoothly. 
• Follow-up on employees’ administrative affairs such as vacations, leaves and other administrative and related affairs.

Required Qualification

• A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, or IT relevant discipline.

Required Experience

• Expats: A minimum of 12 years of relevant experience.
• UAE Nationals: A minimum of 8 years of relevant experience.