Data Services and Applications Manager: Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA) at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Data Services and Applications Manager in the Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA), within the National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure System (NICIS) at CSIR. The incumbent will be responsible to drive and manage the development, deployment, and maintenance of a petascale ICT platform as a national data intensive research infrastructure that provides data services and cyber environments for research data management and collaborative data-based research. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage the development of a robust national ICT data infrastructure and a portfolio of services supporting data intensive research and research data management;
• Define, design and develop the entire range of operational data services across the data lifecycle supporting the research, education and innovation communities;
• Advocate the adoption and increase the visibility of DIRISA’s data services across research communities within South Africa;
• Establish close working relationships with the data sciences community;
• Build collaborative Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) that utilize DIRISA in developing data-based solutions that will stimulate socio-economic growth;
• Promote the adoption of sound practices and principles in support of Open Data and Open Science;
• Contribute to the DIRISA and NICIS strategies and planning in alignment with, and support of the achievement of relevant national strategies;
• Support the research and higher education communities (including Research Infrastructures, libraries, etc.) in data intensive initiatives;
• Support and facilitate the preservation and curation of valuable research data;
• Drive operational excellence for long-term sustainability;
• Engage stakeholders at local and international levels in various disciplines in coordinating the development of data intensive research applications;
• Engage users and manage user relationships and expectations;
• Collaborate closely with colleagues in NICIS areas, South African National Research Network (SANReN) and Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), in the provision of ICT services;
• Drive the development of data science services that support the use of leading-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Master’s degree in computer science, information and communication technology or related fields with at least five years’ experience in the data sciences or research and data management;
• A Doctoral degree will be advantageous;
• A management qualification will be advantageous;
• Experience in the development of services supporting data intensive research and data management;
• Experience in stakeholder management (external and internal);
• Experience in implementing strategy at group and institutional levels;
• Significant post-qualification experience in research and research management.
• Proven experience in the application of emergent ICT technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, as these relate to the data sciences;
• Broad knowledge of data intensive research, related R&D and innovation;
• Specific scientific knowledge of the fields of research within the data sciences to ensure appropriate strategies relevant to data intensive research;
• Ability to deal competently with data related issues within a national environment, with typically no precedents to rely upon;
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills necessary to influence appropriate outcomes and behavior at personal and institutional levels, through to multi-stakeholder fora;
• Good networking skills to deal with stakeholders within local and international organizations ranging from academia to industry; and
• Ability to mentor people ranging from junior to senior software developers