Head of Research Computing

Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday package

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Pension schemes

Job summary

Newcastle University is seeking an experienced Head of Research Computing to lead the development, delivery and continuous improvement of research computing services across the university. This role shapes a strategically important service enabling world-class research and responsible use of advanced computing, cloud, software and data capabilities.

You will provide strategic and operational leadership, working with the Director of IT Service Delivery and Research Computing, researchers and IT

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams in a complex organisation.
• Proven ability to shape strategic roadmaps for research computing, cloud, data and software.
• Experience delivering secure, scalable computing services for researchers.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Research Computing team to build a high-performing culture.
• Define and deliver the strategic roadmap for research computing, including HPC, cloud platforms, and data storage.
• Collaborate with researchers, faculties and external partners to understand current and future needs.
• Ensure infrastructure and services are secure, resilient and compliant with policies and good practice.
• Provide expert advice and support for complex research computing challenges.
• Develop service standards, performance metrics and reporting to demonstrate value and impact.
• Champion innovation and sector engagement to bring in best practice.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic planning

Cloud platforms

High-performance computing

Security & compliance

Education

Degree in computer science / computational science / engineering or related field

Tools

OpenStack

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

Salary: £58,225 to £61,759 with progression to £67,468 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 23 October 2026

About the role

We are seeking an experienced and collaborative Head of Research Computing to lead the development, delivery and continuous improvement of research computing services across Newcastle University. This is an exciting opportunity to shape a strategically important service that enables world‑class research, supports innovation and helps researchers make effective use of advanced computing, cloud, software and data capabilities. Working closely with the Director of IT Service Delivery and Research Computing, academic colleagues, research teams and wider IT specialists, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for research computing. You will ensure that services are secure, reliable, scalable and aligned to the evolving needs of a diverse research community.

What you will be doing

• Lead and develop the Research Computing team, creating a positive, high‑performing and collaborative culture.
• Define and deliver the strategic roadmap for research computing services, including high‑performance computing, cloud platforms, research software, data storage and related technologies.
• Work in partnership with researchers, faculties, professional services and external partners to understand current and future research computing needs.
• Ensure research computing infrastructure and services are secure, resilient, scalable and managed in line with institutional policies, compliance requirements and good practice.
• Provide expert advice, support and escalation for complex research computing challenges, helping to remove barriers to successful research delivery.
• Develop service standards, performance measures and reporting that demonstrate the value, impact and effectiveness of research computing.
• Champion innovation, continuous improvement and sector engagement, bringing new ideas and emerging practice into the University.

About you

You will be a credible and experienced leader with a strong technical delivery background and a good understanding of research computing, infrastructure, software, data and cloud services. You will be comfortable working in a complex organisation, able to build trusted relationships with academic and professional services colleagues, and confident translating research needs into practical, sustainable technology solutions.

You will bring experience of leading teams, managing resources and budgets, supporting service improvement and influencing stakeholders at different levels. You will also be able to demonstrate strong communication, planning, facilitation and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to manage priorities across multiple workstreams.

Essential experience

• Leadership experience in a complex organisation, including working with senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience of research computing, IT infrastructure management, research software, cloud platforms, high‑performance computing or large‑scale data services.
• Experience of managing, developing and motivating technical teams.
• Ability to understand technical risk, dependencies, service resilience and operational priorities.
• Experience of engaging with researchers or specialist users to understand requirements and deliver effective technology services.
• A degree in computer science, computational science, engineering or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Why join us?

This role offers the opportunity to lead a growing and strategically important capability at the heart of the University’s research mission. You will help shape how researchers access and use advanced computing, software and data services, while building a service that is responsive, trusted and future‑focused.

Newcastle University is an inclusive global University community where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We welcome applications from candidates who can help us build a supportive, diverse and high‑performing environment for our colleagues, students and research community.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.