Job Summary Under general supervision of the Director of Enterprise IT Operations, this position leads the Academic and Research Computing team and serves as a technically focused advisor to faculty, researchers, and students using research-computing resources at Cal Poly and beyond, including the on-premises NVIDIA HPC platform (AI Factory), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and external resources such as the National Research Platform (NRP) and NSF ACCESS. The role researches and evaluates research-computing technologies, assesses computational needs across scholarly domains, advises researchers on appropriate approaches, delivers training and consultation, and advocates internally for evolving research-computing needs. This position leads the Academic and Research Computing team, which provides support to the Noyce School's NVIDIA AI Factory as well as broader academic and research computing support to the wider university. The lead coordinates the work of the team, ensuring service success and excellent customer service, prioritizing and assigning daily work, and handling escalations as required. #CalPolyITS
Key Qualifications - Advanced analytical experience conducting research projects or significant scholarly work using computational systems and tools, with the ability to apply that experience as consultative knowledge in advising researchers.
- Advanced knowledge of research-computing strategies, trends, and emerging technologies spanning on-premises HPC, high-throughput and GPU/AI workloads, cloud computing (AWS), parallel and high-performance storage, and external/national resources such as NSF ACCESS.
- Working knowledge of Linux command-line environments, job schedulers (e.g., Slurm), container platforms (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker/Apptainer), and reproducible-research workflows sufficient to advise researchers and partner effectively with technical staff.
- Advanced project management and leadership skills to coordinate contributions across cross-functional teams, provide lead work direction, drive research-computing initiatives to completion, and advocate researcher needs to IT and academic leadership.
- Advanced verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to prepare and deliver formal and informal documentation, presentations, and training to a variety of end users, and to interpret and apply CSU and Cal Poly information-security and data-privacy policies in a research context.
Education and Experience - Equivalent to a bachelor's degree in a related field and four years of relevant experience. Additional experience which demonstrates acquired and successfully applied knowledge and abilities shown above may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis. An advanced degree in a related field may be substituted for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.
Salary and Benefits Anticipated Hiring Range: $100,404 - $117,636 Per Year
Classification Range: $87,408-$127,332 Per Year
Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Anticipated Hiring Range referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Classification Range may be broader than what the University anticipates paying for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).
Cal Poly offers a best-in-class benefits program, including health, dental and vision insurance, retirement participation in the Public Employees' Retirement System, and educational benefits for eligible employees. See our benefits website for additional information.
Cal Poly Known for its Learn by Doing philosophy, Cal Poly is ranked among the top 10 public universities in the nation. Each year, more than 23,000 top-tier students come to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Maritime Academy in Solano County to put knowledge into action, taking their learning outside the classroom as they prepare for careers in engineering, agriculture, science, business, humanities, maritime and the built environment. Cal Poly's hands-on philosophy, small class sizes and close student-faculty mentorships result in graduates ready from day one to impact their communities, California and the world. For more information, visit www.calpoly.edu .
W orking Within the California State University System As part of the California State University, the nation's largest public four-year university system, Cal Poly employees contribute to a broader mission of advancing knowledge, creating opportunity and serving the people of California.
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Advertised: Nov 10 2026 Pacific Standard Time
Applications close: 
