Description:

Secure Research Computing Consultant

The client is seeking a Secure Research Computing Consultant to join our Research Computing consulting team for a 1-year contract role. This position will focus on supporting the onboarding of research labs into our secure HPC environment, ensuring compliance with relevant security controls, and enabling cutting-edge research in a secure computing environment. The consultant will work closely with researchers, IT, and HMS Compliance officers to ensure that data workflows and scientific applications are securely migrated and integrated into the environment.

The role involves a combination of technical expertise, project coordination, process optimization, and direct engagement with the research community, ensuring that security requirements are met while facilitating seamless research workflows.

The Research Computing Core at HMS is a diverse and collaborative team that coordinates research computing services for the HMS, its hospital affiliates, and the client community. Research Computing Consultants (RCCs) are technical resources who translate scientific research needs into computing solutions, optimize workflows, and facilitate access to HMS IT resources. This contractor role will work alongside the RC team, providing specialized support for secure research environments and compliance with security protocols.

Key Responsibilities:

Project Management, Collaboration, and Compliance

o Work closely with other members of the Research Computing team, IT infrastructure teams, and Compliance officers to ensure consistent integration of security requirements into research workflows.

o Provide ad-hoc project management, including tracking progress, timelines, and deliverables, while facilitating communication across teams.

o Facilitate operational standups to ensure tasks are assigned, executed, and documented in a timely manner.

o Develop, maintain, and continuously improve standardized onboarding checklists, process documentation, and runbooks for secure research workflows.

Requirements Gathering and Workflow Assessment

o Engage with PIs and researchers to gather detailed requirements for data, computational resources, and workflows to be onboarded, maintained, or optimized in the secure environment.

o Document and analyze existing workflows, identifying opportunities for optimization and ensuring security compliance during migration to the secure environment.

Onboarding Coordination

o Lead and coordinate the onboarding process for new research projects into the secure HPC environment, working closely with the RC team, IT departments, and HMS compliance officers.

o Track the progress of each research project’s onboarding, resolving blockers and collaborating across teams to ensure a smooth and timely transition.

o Partner with the Office of Research Administration, where appropriate, to identity and onboard new projects to the secure HPC environment.

Data & Scientific Pipeline Management

o Work with the labs, RC team, and IT staff to identify and import/export research data into the secure HPC environment.

o Coordinate and, where appropriate, perform installation, configuration, and optimization of necessary scientific software, tools, and computational pipelines while ensuring compliance with relevant security controls (e.g., NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, FISMA, etc.).

Training, Documentation, and Ongoing Support

o Provide training and support for researchers using the secure HPC environment, helping them understand security protocols and effectively use the resources available.

o Create and maintain user-facing documentation (e.g., onboarding guides, FAQs, quick reference materials) to support self-service and consistent practices.

o Collect feedback from users and stakeholders and incorporate it into continuous improvement of processes and documentation.

o Troubleshoot and provide technical support related to research computing, security compliance, and data migration in the secure environment, escalating issues appropriately.

Basic Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, computer science, informatics, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

At least 2–3 years of experience in a research computing, IT, or data-intensive environment in a role that included coordination of technical work and direct interaction with end users or stakeholders.

Familiarity with Linux-based or HPC computing environments (e.g., clusters, cloud-based research platforms, or large-scale analytic environments).

Strong communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with researchers, IT staff, and compliance officers.

Demonstrated experience organizing and tracking multi-step technical or data-related projects, including documenting tasks, timelines, and status.

Proven organizational skills and attention to detail, including maintaining accurate records and following structured processes.

Additional Qualifications

Candidates with one or more of the following will be especially strong matches:

Familiarity with security and compliance frameworks relevant to research data (e.g., NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, FISMA, HIPAA, data use agreements, IRB requirements).

Experience with secure research environments, especially in healthcare, academic, or regulated settings (e.g., controlled-access data enclaves, restricted HPC clusters, or secure cloud environments).

Bioinformatics or life sciences research experience.

Consulting, facilitation, or customer success experience in research, academic, or healthcare environments, including leading meetings and managing expectations.

Knowledge of high-performance computing tools and systems (e.g., SLURM job schedulers, modules, workflow managers).

Ability to quickly adapt to new technologies and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Advanced science or engineering degree preferred.

Experience with data migration, scientific software installation, or HPC is a plus.

Notes:

Hybrid

Work Schedule: 7 hours/day, 35 hours/week