Team Lead, Data Management

The Australian National University; Canberra; On-site; AUD 142,000 - 148,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Great workplace culture

On-site staff facilities

Job summary

Australian National University is seeking an experienced Senior Manager 1 (Specialist) to lead the ACCESS-NRI Data Team. You will oversee data management, sharing, and long-term usability of community data, guided by FAIR principles, across high-performance compute and data platforms.

You will mentor staff, balance maintenance with new project work, and communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences to support data-intensive research.

Qualifications

• Experience leading data/compute teams in a research environment.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience with data governance, metadata standards and data lifecycle management.

Responsibilities

• Lead the ACCESS-NRI Data Team and oversee data management, stewardship and data-sharing capabilities.
• Develop and sustain scalable data practices across modelling workflows in HPCD environments.
• Balance maintenance with scoping and delivery of new projects and longer-term priorities.
• Communicate effectively with internal and external partners.

Skills

Team Leadership

Data engineering

Data stewardship

Stakeholder management

Data services and workflows

HPCD experience

Python or scientific programming

Tools

Python

Job description

Classification: ANU Senior Manager 1 (Specialist)
Salary package: $141,637 - $148,403 per annum, plus 17% superannuation
Term: Full-time, Continuing (Contingent Funded)
(flexible arrangements, job share, or part time hours will be considered)

This position is continuing (contingent funded). The funding that supports this project has an expected end date of 30 June 2028.

More information about this position, including the selection criteria and position description, can be found on the ANU Jobs Board: http://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/563929?lApplicationSubSourceID=

In 1946, ANU was founded to help rebuild a changing world. We’re still at it, 80 years later. For generations, our people have turned curiosity into ideas that have shaped Australia and our region. Learn more about ANU, our history and the community that has shaped us: ANU at 80

• Flexible working arrangements to encourage a healthy work/life balance, including consideration of part-time roles.
• Exceptional workplace culture with a supportive, diverse and inclusive team.
• Great work location with world-class staff amenities including gyms, swimming pool, childcare centres, etc.
• Excellent remuneration and conditions, including 17% superannuation contributions, annual leave loading and a range of benefits

About Us

ACCESS-NRI, Australia’s climate simulator, delivers world-class computer simulations for climate, weather and Earth systems, specifically designed for Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. ACCESS-NRI is a collaborative venture between Government agencies, partner Universities and the Australian research community to support development, maintenance and access to the national climate and weather models for researchers and decision makers. ACCESS-NRI is enabled by Australian Government investment through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). Hosted at ANU, ACCESS-NRI aims to understand and predict Australia’s climate and weather to provide information that can be used to safeguard Australia’s future.

At the heart of ACCESS is a community of Research Software Engineers with a range of skills including high-performance computing and data (HPCD), climate and Earth system model development, advanced visualisation, model optimisation, code repository management, model evaluation and data management. This is an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of earth system models, climate change and high-performance computing and data to help address major challenges facing society.

ACCESS-NRI provides a supportive and enriching workplace for its staff through its strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and wellbeing initiatives. Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other people that will increase the diversity of the ACCESS community are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Role

Oversee the ACCESS-NRI Data Team and its work to support the management, sharing and long-term usability of data across the ACCESS community.

The team works across a broad range of activities, from data management and stewardship through to the development of technical capabilities that support data-intensive research. Guided by FAIR data principles, this includes enabling data sharing on high-performance compute and data (HPCD) platforms, improving tools and approaches for managing and discovering data, and embedding scalable data practices across ACCESS modelling workflows. A key responsibility of the team is to support the data management needs of the community through the ACCESS Merit Allocation scheme.

You will be leading a small team and working closely with other team leads, so it is essential that you are able to work with others, mentor staff, contribute to varied projects as needed, and balance ongoing maintenance and support with the scoping and delivery of new projects and longer-term priorities. The role combines technical engagement with internal and external stakeholder management, and you must be willing and able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.

ACCESS-NRI offers a uniquely cross-disciplinary workplace with opportunities to broaden your skills across climate science as well as software and data research infrastructure. We are committed to providing a supportive and enriching work environment and investing in the development of successful applicants.

We encourage candidates with experience in data management, research data infrastructure and/or data engineering, particularly those interested in leading a small technical team and building data capabilities for the future.

What you’ll bring

Background, interest or experience in one or more of the following areas would be valuable:

• Leading collaborative teams, including prioritising work, mentoring others and building a supportive team environment
• Data engineering or software development approaches that improve how scientific data is managed, processed and shared
• Data stewardship, including experience with policies, metadata, curation, standards and conventions across the research data lifecycle
• Communicating and building effective relationships with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Developing or supporting data services, tools and workflows for large and complex scientific datasets
• Working with HPCD or other large-scale computing and data platforms

Experience or familiarity with any of the following would also be beneficial:

• Climate, weather or geoscience data and associated formats, standards and conventions
• Scientific programming languages such as Python
• Data pipelines, workflow automation or scalable data analysis approaches
• Cloud, object storage or hybrid HPC/cloud environments

The areas above are provided as examples of relevant experience and are not formal selection criteria. Applicants should respond directly to the formal selection criteria in the Position Description, using the examples above as guidance when considering how their experience, skills and transferable knowledge may align with the role.

We recognise that candidates will bring different combinations of skills and experiences, and no applicant is expected to meet every example listed above. We strongly encourage applications from people with relevant or transferable experience, including those whose backgrounds may not align exactly with the examples provided.

Application information

Applications which do not address the selection criteria may not be considered for the position.

Preferred candidate must have rights to live and work in Australia and will be required to complete mandatory pre-employment declarations and background checks relevant to the role they have applied for, in accordance with the Background Checking Procedure and the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence.

Closing Deadline: Sunday, 22 November 2026, 11:55pm (Canberra Time)

ANU values diversity and inclusion and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to those of all backgrounds and identities. For more information about staff equity at ANU, visit https://services.anu.edu.au/human-resources/respect-inclusion