Associate Director for Consulting

The Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) at Cornell University seeks an experienced IT professional to join its leadership team as Associate Director for Consulting. Well-qualified candidates will be expert project managers who understand research computing environments and are equally adept at optimizing existing project workloads and bringing in new consulting projects. If contributing to cutting-edge research, from astronomy to veterinary medicine, and serving as a collaborator and thought leader in the national research computing community sound exciting to you, this position may be a great match.  
 

As Associate Director for Consulting, you will lead a team of professionals who collaborate with Cornell faculty and research groups to find and deliver solutions to complex computational problems. These solutions may comprise programming, code improvement, website or database options, education, or expert consulting. You will participate in multi-institutional efforts, including leading dispersed teams for funded collaborations, and you will lead planning and implementation efforts for externally funded team projects, such as an online HPC training environment.  

As part of CAC’s leadership team, you will partner with the Director and the Associate Director for Operations and Systems on planning, strategic decision-making, budgeting, staffing, service offerings, rate-setting, and policies and procedures to support CAC’s smooth operation.

Key responsibilities include:

• Directing a senior level team of computational research consultants in research support engagements lasting a few months to multiple years

• Supporting leadership and development activities for externally funded projects and multi-institutional collaborations

• Collaborating on center planning and operational efforts, including monitoring the progress of projects and balancing team commitments

• Drafting proposals, planning and implementing projects, and reporting on project outcomes

About Us

The Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) is a leader in high-performance computing systems, applications, and data solutions that enable research success, help researchers accelerate discovery, and broaden impact. Located on our Ithaca, New York campus, CAC serves the computational and data analysis needs of the Cornell community and their collaborators from science and engineering and the humanities. CAC serves the national community as a partner on the NSF-funded Leadership Class Computing Facility and Jetstream 2 Research Cloud as well as supporting Cornell faculty work on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope project. CAC staff consultants develop and deliver HPC training programs and software distributions.

As a core service facility, CAC provides high-performance computing and cloud computing services configured with a variety of software including Red Hat Linux, CentOS, OpenStack, NVIDIA CUDA, TensorFlow, SQL Server, and MySQL. A large-capacity Ceph storage system is available for standard and archival storage. CAC configured and operates a public cloud computing service called Red Cloud that offers unique features desired by researchers, i.e., dedicated cores/RAM and no charge for network traffic.

What We Need
Send us a cover letter and resume outlining your interest in this position and explaining how your experience and qualifications match the position requirements. Your letter is an important component of your application and is required for full consideration.

When evaluating your candidacy, we will look for evidence of the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or the equivalent combination of education and relevant experience

• 7-10 years of experience in advanced computing support, research consulting, and training

• Project management experience, such as overseeing grants with deliverables and budgets

• Ability to work with researchers on projects, proposals, and grants to ensure timely delivery of all aspects of computational research support

• Highly developed leadership and supervisory skills, including facilitation, team building with local and remote teams, conflict and change management, coaching and performance management

• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills

• Demonstrated effectiveness in written and oral communications, including developing and giving presentations to small and large groups

• Experience in a broad variety of computer environments, including local and national resources, e.g., National Cyberinfrastructure systems and ACCESS and NAIRR resources

• Proficiency in computational programming and tools, including traditional HPC, cloud computing, and data analysis

• Proven experience connecting inclusion, belonging and wellbeing practices to business goals 

Additionally, although not required, the following would represent pluses:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in a STEM field

• Expertise in outreach activities

• Experience writing proposals

• Experience in cloud computing, including containers

• Experience in HPC topics, such as parallel programming

Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Rewards and Benefits

• This position is located in Ithaca, New York on the campus of Cornell University. Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, and sustainability.

• Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell.

• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions, we also offer two additional floating holidays. Learn more about our generous leave provisions: Holiday and Accrued Time Off | Working at Cornell.

• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell.

University Job Title:

Info Tech Assoc Dir

Job Family:

Information Technology

Level:

H

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

Pay Range:

$151,289.00 - $184,909.00

Remote Option Availability:

Onsite

Company:

Endowed

Contact Name:

Kathy McKee

Contact Email:

[email protected]

Job Titles and Pay Ranges:

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Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:

• Prior relevant work or industry experience

• Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position

• Unique applicable skills

• Academic Discipline

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2026-08-17