Req #: 228789

Department: DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Posting Date: 01/18/2024

Closing Info: Open Until Filled

Salary: $7,198 - $10,968 per month

Shift: First Shift

Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230119_a11y.pdf)

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Department of Chemical Engineering (ChemE) has more than 26 faculty, 13 postdocs, and 15 staff. ChemE has a long tradition of openness and innovation. We recognize and value the perspectives and contributions that everyone, including women, ethnic and racial minorities, LGBTQ+, disabled, veterans, and under-served individuals can bring to our discipline. We actively advance the inclusion and representation of these groups, whose views, goals, and participation enrich and enhance UW ChemE’s mission to create knowledge and solutions for a changing world.

The Department of Chemical Engineering (ChemE) and Industrial & Systems Engineering has an outstanding opportunity for a Computing and Technology Manager. We are looking for someone to provide a full spectrum of computer resources and services to approximately 270 faculty, staff, and students. This position offers a variety of responsibilities that include technology management, educational support, training and user education, systems administration, technology design and planning, research support, and technical maintenance of our website. There will be professional development opportunities to expand your technical savvy and to grow into the position.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES Technology Management (30% FTE)
Provide oversight for new computer and software purchases. Give recommendations as to what is appropriate to ensure the state-of-the-art computing capabilities necessary for the department. Select, design, configure and maintain department backbone computing services including network connectivity, mail server, backups, and authentication servers. Manage domains, maintain system documentation, and department technological equipment used in support of education such as audio-visual equipment. Serve as a resource to the department in video taking and editing. Design and implement department’s databases, data availability, and security measures. Maintain inventory of department computing and audio-visual equipment. Oversee the scheduling of department technological resources that are available on loan to students, staff, and faculty. Maintain accurate records of department’s network address space. Keep inventory of department’s software and support licenses and renew them as necessary. Seek out and prepare proposals to acquire needed and desired computing equipment and services. Plan and manage the department’s computing budgets. In addition, the Computing and Technology Manager serves as the lead for business continuity planning and records retention solutions.

Educational Support (15%) Maintain and support the department’s educational computing labs including the undergraduate computer lab, the unit operations lab, the control lab, the graduate computer lab, and the various shared instruments facilities in Benson Hall. Provide systems administration to the equipment and computers in the labs leveraging UW Information Technology Services (UW-IT), where appropriate. Designated as this position’s most important function, computing needs pertaining to education need to take the highest priority. Disruptions to service should be corrected immediately and regular communication with the Computing Committee is essential. Assist faculty and teaching assistants in preparing and using the labs for instructional purposes, coordinating with Classroom Technologies & Events (CTE), where appropriate. Implement and manage a remote computing solution so students can access departmental operated software on their personal laptops.

Training and User Education (15% FTE)
Provide technical support for the students in the computer labs. Provide training to staff and faculty on systems, computing services, and applications available from the UW, the College of Engineering, and the department. Provide training on available and/or new technologies/equipment and technical issues. This includes topics such as safe computing, imminent security threats, best practices, and department and UW computing policy, procedures, and regulations. Advise students, staff, and faculty on hardware and software purchases and finding proper computing tools to accomplish their tasks. This position is responsible for offering the department more efficient and effective ways to accomplish tasks with the aid of technology.

Systems Administration (10% FTE)
Maintain and provide technical support for various Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX-like operating system desktop computers primarily for the staff but also for the faculty as requested. Provide minor equipment repair, troubleshoot issues, and install, remove, and update software packages. Purchase, configure, and deploy computing equipment and supplies for department educational computer labs, staff, and faculty. Maintain department listserv, active directories, and critical generic accounts. Work with UW-IT to provide network and security services.

Technology Design and Planning (10% FTE)
Develop and implement a long-term strategic vision for ChemE computing and technology. Formulate computing and technology policy and planning for the department, design methods and processes to meet existing and future computing needs. Work in harmony with UW and College of Engineering policy, practices, and resources. Design practices and procedures that complement them, but tailor them so they provide a better fit for the department. Continually re-evaluate the department’s existing policies, procedures, and services, and suggest changes to them as needed to best perform in what is an ever-changing environment.

Research Support (10% FTE)
Provide technical and administrative support to research groups. This role involves advocating for and assisting researchers with support tasks and best-practices for research computing. The research computing needs of ChemE are diverse and range from data storage needs assessments to choosing between on-premises high performance computing and cloud resources. The diverse needs include a “long tail” of researchers, that includes individuals with unique and often resource-intensive computing demands. You will be part of a larger tapestry of research computing supports structures and knowing how to route requests will be essential. Requests for guidance and assistance may come from faculty, students, staff and postdoctoral scholars, and a successful candidate will be able to communicate effectively across this spectrum of users. This research computing support empowers the ChemE research community fostering innovation and discovery.

Technical Maintenance of Website (5% FTE)
Design and implement new web-based products (online forms, surveys, process efficiency tools, SharePoint, etc.). Provide technical feedback to content contributors. Serve as a resource and problem solve to find solutions. Ensure web analytics are provided to the communications team. Evaluate existing websites and online technologies. Recommend improvements as technologies evolve. Work with Drupal on an administrator level.

Professional Growth (5%) Professional development is very important to the culture of the department and it is essential that employees demonstrate accountability for their own professional growth and competency by seeking opportunities and activities that improve skills to support the department. The person will stay current on emerging information, technologies, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion by attending workshops/trainings and developing relationships with peers. It is expected that new ideas and best practices will be incorporated into the solutions and plans so the entire department can benefit.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS • BS in Computer Science, MIS, or related field plus 4-5 years’ experience managing a heterogeneous computing environment.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: • Strong written and verbal communication skills, interpersonal skills, and technical documentation skills. • Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information effectively with users at all levels of expertise. • Proven ability to work successfully with faculty, student, and public groups with varying ages and from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. • Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment. • Ability to quickly learn and apply new or unfamiliar technologies. • Demonstrated excellent customer service skills driven by a desire to empower customer success and strong problem ownership orientation. • Demonstrated success in maintaining confidentiality. • Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as effectively in a team setting. • Strong organizational, task-management and prioritization skills. • Familiarity with network wiring. • Experience managing a Windows Domain environment. • Proficient with PC, Macintosh, and UNIX like operating systems.

Desired • Understanding of scripting languages (i.e., Perl, Bash, HTML, etc.). • Familiarity with database design and maintenance. • Experience using Drupal or other content management tools. • Understanding of basic web technology concepts (e.g., HTTP, DNS, SSL, JavaScript, PHP). • Experience and/or aptitude to learn ASPEN, COMSOL, MatLab, Mathematica, Maple, and Python.

CONDITIONS The Computing and Technology Manager must be able to work a flexible schedule on occasion, in most instances with advance notice. Work to meet specific deadlines, accommodate special events, or activities taking place outside of normal working hours may be needed. Unplanned incidents requiring quick response after hours may need immediate attention.

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.