HPC High Performance Computing Lead

Syngenta Group; Warfield; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension scheme

Bonus scheme

Private medical & life insurance

Up to 31.5 days annual holiday

Job summary

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking an HPC Lead to own and evolve the High Performance Computing infrastructure for R&D scientists, including clusters, GPU provisioning, storage, and notebook infrastructure. This role combines platform strategy with hands-on engineering leadership across a global, collaborative research environment.

You will define architecture roadmaps, lead procurement and optimization, and mentor teams to deliver scalable HPC capabilities that meet evolving AI/ML needs while

Qualifications

• Expert-level depth in HPC infrastructure including cluster management and GPU provisioning.
• Expert understanding of GPU architecture and interconnects for scientific workloads.
• Strong experience with orchestration and Kubernetes-native HPC environments.
• Budget planning, financial forecasting, and strategic procurement for technology infrastructure.
• Leadership experience in building high-performing engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the HPC infrastructure and collaborate with engineers on clusters, GPUs, storage, and notebooks.
• Define and own the HPC architecture roadmap and scheduling strategy.
• Drive GPU procurement and evaluate vendor proposals for architectural confidence.
• Manage capacity plans, maintenance, vendor support, and SLAs; build vs buy decisions.
• Partner with scientists to tailor HPC estate to workloads and evolving needs.
• Implement automation using AI-assisted tooling for infra workflows.
• Mentor and develop engineering teams and foster continuous improvement.

Skills

HPC infrastructure

GPU provisioning

MPI

Lustre storage

Kubernetes HPC

Budget planning

Leadership

Documentation

Capacity forecasting

Tools

NVIDIA A100/H100

MPI

Lustre

NFS

Object storage

Kubernetes

GPU operators

Job description

Syngenta Crop Protection is a leader in agricultural innovation, bringing breakthrough technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow productively and sustainably. We offer a leading portfolio of crop protection solutions for plant and soil health, as well as digital solutions that transform the decision-making capabilities of farmers. Our 17,900 employees serve to advance agriculture in more than 90 countries around the world. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and is part of the Syngenta Group.

Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. No matter what your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding the world and taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

Job Description

About the role

The HPC Lead is responsible for owning and evolving the High Performance Computing infrastructure for R&D scientists, including clusters, GPU provisioning, storage, and notebook infrastructure. This role serves as the technical and strategic anchor for HPC workloads for scientific computing and adjacent AI/ML needs. You will combine platform strategy, architecture, operational leadership, and partnership with scientific stakeholders while acting as a senior, hands-on contributor.

What you will do

Own the HPC infrastructure and work directly with engineers on cluster configuration, GPU provisioning, storage tier management, scheduler tuning, and notebook infrastructure.

Define and own the HPC architecture roadmap, including cluster topology, GPU fleet composition, storage architecture, job-scheduling strategy, and the trajectory toward modern orchestration.

Drive GPU procurement and investment strategy, evaluating vendor proposals critically, and making investment decisions with architectural confidence.

Manage HPC capacity plans, hardware maintenance, support vendors, and contractor relationships, defining SLA design and the build-versus-buy decision for physical maintenance.

Partner closely with scientists, computational specialists, and bioinformaticians to understand their workloads and ensure the HPC estate meets their evolving requirements.

Use AI coding and productivity tools for automation scripts, infrastructure-as-code, operational runbooks, and performance analysis.

Lead, mentor, and develop engineering teams to drive technical excellence, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and build deep HPC expertise across the organization.

Establish and monitor HPC performance metrics, KPIs, and optimization targets; conduct regular performance profiling and capacity forecasting to ensure efficient resource utilization.

Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation, operational runbooks, and knowledge management systems to ensure operational continuity and enable team self-sufficiency.

Oversee budget planning, financial forecasting, and strategic procurement decisions for HPC infrastructure investments, ensuring cost-effectiveness and alignment with organizational priorities.

Establish and enforce security protocols, compliance standards, and disaster recovery procedures for the HPC environment, ensuring business continuity and data protection.

Communicate HPC strategy, status, and recommendations to executive stakeholders and cross-functional teams, translating technical concepts for non-technical audiences.

Qualifications

**Required Qualifications**

• Expert-level depth in HPC infrastructure, including cluster management, GPU provisioning (NVIDIA, A100/H100 generation), MPI, storage (Lustre, NFS, object storage), and job scheduling.
• Expert understanding of GPU architecture, including generations, interconnects (NVLink, InfiniBand), memory profiles, and their implications for scientific workloads.
• Strong experience with modern orchestration and the architectural trajectory toward Kubernetes-native HPC environments (e.g., GPU operators, Kubernetes scheduler extensions).
• Strong strategic capability in defining maintenance and support strategies, evaluating vendor contract structures, and managing hardware investments.
• Strong ability to understand scientific workloads, conversing credibly with computational scientists and bioinformaticians to translate their needs into infrastructure solutions.
• Strong proficiency in using AI-assisted engineering tools as a primary workflow for infrastructure automation.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing and mentoring technical teams, with a track record of building high-performing engineering organizations and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Proven expertise in budget planning, financial forecasting, and strategic procurement decisions for technology infrastructure investments.
• Experience establishing and monitoring performance metrics, KPIs, and optimization targets; demonstrated capability in capacity forecasting and resource utilization analysis.
• Strong background in developing and maintaining comprehensive documentation, operational runbooks, and knowledge management systems for complex technical environments.

**Bonus Points**

• Experience in agriculture, life sciences, scientific computing, or a regulated enterprise environment.
• Experience building platforms, products, or services used by multiple internal teams.
• Experience working in distributed, international engineering organisations.
• Familiarity with popular scientific computing frameworks and libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, HPC libraries).
• Background in security protocols, compliance standards, and disaster recovery procedures for enterprise infrastructure environments.
• Experience communicating complex technical concepts to executive stakeholders and cross-functional teams.

Additional Information

Jealott's Hill International Research Centre UK is situated in pleasant semi-rural surroundings between Bracknell and Maidenhead and is the place of work for approximately 800 Syngenta scientists and support staff.Jealott’s Hill is one of the main global research and development sites and key activities include research into discovery of new active ingredients, new formulation technologies, product safety and technical support of our product range.

What we offer

Extensive benefits package including a generous pension scheme, bonus scheme, private medical & life insurance.

Up to 31.5 days annual holiday.

We offer a position which contributes to valuable and impactful work in a stimulating and international environment.

The opportunity to develop and apply your science within the chemical industry.

The chance to work as part of a global team to address the current and future needs of the agricultural sector.

Learning culture and wide range of training options.

Syngenta has been ranked as a top 5 employer and number 1 in agriculture by Science Journal.

Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. Learn more about our D&I initiatives here: https://www.syngenta.com/careers/working-syngenta/diversity-and-inclusion