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Chief Technology Officer

Employer
EOSC Association
Location
Belgium
Salary
Unspecified
Posting live until
1 Sep 2021

Job Details

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is an environment for hosting and processing research data to support EU science. The process to create the EOSC was initiated by the European Commission in 2015. It aimed to develop a trusted, virtual, federated environment that cuts across borders and scientific disciplines to store, share, process and re-use research digital objects (like publications, data, and software) following FAIR principles.

The EOSC brings together institutional, national and European stakeholders, initiatives and data infrastructures to develop an inclusive open science ecosystem in Europe. This can lead to new insights and innovations, higher research productivity and improved reproducibility in science.

The European Open Science Cloud Association was established in 2020 and we are now seeking to recruit a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for this organisation.

The responsibilities

The CTO will provide technical leadership to the EOSC Association. The role will serve as the primary driver and catalyst for delivery of the technical ambitions of the EOSC Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA). Ref: https://eosc.eu/sites/default/files/EOSC-SRIA-V1.0_15Feb2021.pdf

The role will require co-ordination and delivery of technical solutions and policies in collaboration with EOSC Association members and associated stakeholders. The ability to drive innovation and delivery via a breadth of stakeholders shall be key to addressing the primary technical challenges and prerequisites to implementing the EOSC ecosystem.

Delivery on the technical ambitions of EOSC shall thus be achieved via co-ordination and collaboration via working and advisory groups, task forces, partnerships and other stakeholder fora, as well as other European and International projects in the scope of EOSC. It should be noted that a key feature of the EOSC solution design philosophy is to leverage existing technical solutions from across the community where applicable and appropriate.

Seven technical challenges are identified within the EOSC Strategy Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and the CTO will drive and co-ordinate the co-design, build/procure and delivery of technical solutions and policies across each of these technical streams.

  • Identifiers.
  • Metadata and ontologies.
  • FAIR metrics and certification.
  • Authentication and authorisation infrastructure (AAI).
  • User environments.
  • Resource provider environments.
  • EOSC Interoperability Framework.

In addition, from a user environment perspective, the CTO will drive the co-development of a pan-European network of infrastructures for software source code and promote the effective documentation and sharing of research software.

The CTO will be based in Brussels and shall report to the Secretary General of the EOSC Association. Furthermore, candidates should be willing to travel within Europe and beyond, available to work beyond office hours when needed, and able to work flexibly when there are conflicting demands.

The CTO will also assume responsibility for co-ordination of internal ICT services and ICT supports to the EOSC Association staff and office.

Other tasks include, among others:

  • Defining the technical strategy for delivery of the ‘Stage 1’ EOSC implementation plan (encompassing the Minimum Viable EOSC & EOSC Core elements);
  • Devising and overseeing plans to execute on technical strategy over the period 2021-22;
  • Preparing the Stage 1 technical budget;
  • Coordinating task forces, working groups, and other fora as they might relate to execution of EOSC technical strategy;
  • To support the procurement of technical elements by the EOSC Association, its members, or via EC funding calls, including the definition of technical elements therein;
  • To drive and devise an overarching technical plan for each of the seven EOSC technical streams;
  • Engage with service providers in order to improve the services offered to EOSC’s users;
  • To report on technical strategy and progress to members, stakeholders and the EC;
  • To support the EOSC Association in reporting on its key performance indicators;
  • Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in the EOSC Association;
  • Facilitating progression towards digital organisation;
  • Serving and advising the Secretary General, President and other Board Members;
  • Participating in events of Members and delivering specialised services (i.e. answering questions, giving presentations and speeches and organising visits);
  • Facilitating progression toward a sustainable and carbon-neutral organisation;
  • Preparation of technical plans and technical strategy for subsequent EOSC development stages over periods 2023-24 and 2025-27

The requirements

The role requires a multi-cultural, politically savvy individual, with deep technical awareness across the breadth of the EOSC layers including: research infrastructures, AAI (Authentication & Authorisation Infrastructure), resource & object id management, FAIR data policies and metadata management.

The candidate should also evidence diplomatic abilities and an understanding of the diverse environment the EOSC Association operates in as well as a being able to convey a compelling vision and strategy.

Ideally, the candidate should also have an international reputation with experience in EC funding and/or public procurement environments and be familiar with the relevant commercial ICT sectors.

Key requirements include:

  • Minimum of five years’ experience (or equivalent) of successful delivery of complex technological solutions or projects to the research community;
  • An advocate for Open Science and strong awareness of the EOSC and Open Science ambition;
  • Expert technical knowledge in several of the seven EOSC technical themes;
  • EU national or residing in one of the EU Member States with legal entitlement to work in the EU;
  • Fluent in English.

In terms of experience, we are looking for someone who is or has:

  • A proven track record of large-scale technical delivery to the research and education sector;
  • Excellent knowledge of IT infrastructures and technical solutions as they apply to the research environment;
  • Excellent relationship-building and networking skills, strong team-working and leadership skills;
  • A proven problem-solver with and an ability to work effectively across different technical domains;
  • Evident leadership skills and the ability to build high-performing teams and task forces across a variety of disciplines;
  • A proven ability to co-ordinate and manage virtual teams;
  • Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to influence in an effective and positive manner;
  • Knowledge and experience of European science administration practices at EU and national or institutional level in European science institutions;
  • Documented track record in and knowledge of European research, education and innovation landscapes and related advocacy;
  • Experience in working with membership-based organisation, senior university leaders, research infrastructure coordinators, EU-project coordinators, senior academics and policymakers in the international context.

Advantage:

  • In addition to fluency in English, fluency in at least one other European language.

Furthermore, the candidate should be willing to travel within Europe and beyond, available to work beyond office hours when needed and able to work flexibly when there are conflicting demands.

Company

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiative will offer researchers a virtual environment with open and seamless services for storage, management, analysis and re-use of research data, across borders and scientific disciplines by federating existing data infrastructures. EOSC is being co-created in a series of funded projects and initiatives from Member States and Associated Countries. These will be reflected on this site in time, but the current focus is on the EOSC Association. The EOSC Association was established as a legal entity on 29th July 2020 with four founding members: GÉANT, CESAER, CSIC and GARR. The Association will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission to progress the EOSC partnership, which will bring together all relevant stakeholders to co-design and deploy a European Research Data Commons where data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR), and also as open as possible.

Company info
Website
Location
Rue du Trône 62
BE-1050 Ixelles
BE

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