BioFAIR Architect

Job Title: BioFAIR Architect
Post Number: GA014 CAS-20044
Closing Date: 14 Feb 2025
Grade: SC3
Starting Salary: £70,560-£88,250 (Salary will be pro-rata, based on a full-time 37-hour week)

Hours per week: 18.5
Project Title: BioFAIR
Expected/Ideal Start Date: 03 Mar 2025

Job Description

Main Purpose of the Job

Applications are invited for two part-time secondments (up to 0.5FTE) for the role of BioFAIR Architects. The BioFAIR Architects will support the BioFAIR Director by providing technical architectural leadership for the initiative through collaboration with technical leaders in the BioFAIR spokes and across the UK life sciences community during the initial start-up phase.

Working under the direction of the BioFAIR Director, the technical architects will provide consistent technical leadership for the start-up phase project prior to the appointment of the permanent architect later in 2025. The architects will be responsible for establishing a strong community-led culture of collaboration and collective responsibility. They will use the skills and experience of the delivery team to establish an initial architecture that can be deployed and operated at scale, while remaining minimal, flexible, and modular to support future agility and adaptions to the changing requirements of UK life science researchers.

These roles require strong technical skills from a research computing environment, with the ability to work with stakeholders to refine key technical requirements and ensure that these are delivered in a responsive, consistent, and cohesive way. An agile, pragmatic, and delivery-based mindset with a focus on simplicity is essential; we’re looking to establish a foundation, not to create a five-year enterprise architecture development plan. This will require the ability to build and maintain excellent technical relationships across the UK and internationally, focusing on defining a distributed infrastructure assembled from existing best-of-breed capabilities.

Main Activities & Responsibilities

Architecture Group: They will participate in the BioFAIR Architecture group, providing leadership for stakeholder engagement to ensure that the Architecture Group is responsive to evolving user requirements and remains collaborative in its delivery. (20%)
Strategic Planning: They will engage in developing and refining the technical vision and overall architecture for BioFAIR in collaboration with key stakeholders, including UKRI, Research Performing Organisations, research teams, and the broader life science community. (20%)
Partnerships and Collaborations: Under the direction of the BioFAIR Director, they will identify, establish, and coordinate technical partnerships with relevant organisations, both nationally and internationally, to leverage expertise, resources, and best practices in data management, analytics, and FAIR principles. (15%)
Technology Evaluation and Selection: The Architects, with the support of the Architecture Group, will work across the community to identify potential services, tools, and capabilities to support BioFAIR. They will lead feasibility studies to evaluate potential services and tools, identifying the technical requirements for the competitive spoke selection calls while ensuring fairness and transparency. (10%)
Technical Leadership: They will provide oversight and guidance to the delivery team and support the spokes in the development of services that can be deployed with production capability. (10%)
Trusted Advisor: The Architects will provide technical advice and guidance to the Director and actively participate in the Research and Technical Advisory Group. (10%)
Other Duties: Any other duties as appropriate for the role in agreement with the line manager. (10%)
They will ensure that the project embeds a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusivity across all aspects of delivery and throughout all its activities. (5%)

Person Profile

Education & Qualifications

Requirement: Degree in a relevant discipline (Essential)

Specialist Knowledge & Skills

Requirement: Practical knowledge of modern computers, storage, and cloud technologies (Essential)
Requirement: Practical knowledge of modern metadata approaches (Essential)
Requirement: Track record of open technical collaboration (Essential)
Requirement: Experience of horizon scanning and delivery of new technologies (Essential)
Requirement: Experience of supporting and collaborating with academic research communities (Desirable)

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

Requirement: Committed to the principles of FAIR and open science data sharing (Essential)
Requirement: Outstanding proven experience of collaboration (Essential)
Requirement: Ability to create, build, and sustain networks of technical collaborators (Essential)
Requirement: Open-minded, determined, and resilient (Essential)
Requirement: Ability to communicate effectively and appropriately at all levels (Essential)
Requirement: Strong team player; working together to reach common goals; sharing information and supporting colleagues and collaborators (Essential)
Requirement: Strong negotiation skills (Essential)

Additional Requirements

Requirement: Attention to detail (Essential)
Requirement: Promotes equality and values diversity (Essential)
Requirement: Be an outstanding technical role model (Essential)
Requirement: Able to present a positive image of self, BioFAIR, and the Earlham Institute (Essential)
Requirement: Commitment to a culture of openness, collaboration, and excellence (Essential)
Requirement: Good time management skills (Essential)
Requirement: Strong relationships management skills (Essential)
Requirement: Proven track record as an effective leader (Essential)

Who We Are

About the Earlham Institute
The Earlham Institute is a hub of life science research, training, and innovation focused on understanding the natural world through the lens of genomics.

We are building a future where the biology of any organism can be understood by analysing its genome. Our mission is to decode the scale and complexity of living systems so we can understand, benefit from, and protect life on Earth.

The Earlham Institute is based on the Norwich Research Park and is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC).

Our Science
Earlham Institute scientists specialise in developing and testing the latest tools and approaches needed to decode living systems and make predictions about biology.

We are home to state-of-the-art facilities and technology, creating a unique combination of expertise and infrastructure. We have dedicated laboratories for genome sequencing, single-cell analysis, engineering biology, and large-scale automation; as well as one of the largest supercomputing facilities for life science research in Europe.

Our Culture
The Earlham Institute champions 'team science'. Our collegiate and innovative research environment comes with significant support, including a commitment to your professional development, research and administrative assistance, and opportunities to build collaborations with scientists and industry on the Norwich Research Park, across the UK, and internationally.

The Institute is also home to talented technical and operational staff, whose invaluable contributions enable our science to have the maximum impact. We aim to recognise, reward, and develop all staff and students so that every individual feels able to achieve their best with us.

We work hard to nurture an engaged and positive workplace, centred on core values that include openness, technical excellence, and collaboration. We attract staff from around the world who contribute to - and benefit from - an environment that enables them to deliver world-class science alongside a supportive and social community.

Additional information:
These roles will be offered as part-time secondments for a period of six months.
Salary on appointment will be within the range £70,560 to £88,250 pro rata depending on qualifications and experience.
As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for this vacancy.
The closing date for applications will be 14 February 2025.