The University of Tasmania acknowledges the Palawa/Pakana and Gadigal/Wangal people as the traditional custodians of the land, sea and waters of the areas upon which we live and work. We recognise their valuable contributions and deep connection to country and pay respect to Elders past and present.
- Lead the design, delivery and strategic direction of the University of Tasmania's next-generation High-Performance Computing (HPC) and research data storage environment
- Work with leading researchers and national research partners to support globally connected research
- Full time, ongoing role based in Hobart
About the opportunity
The Principal HPC and Storage Architect is the University's senior technical authority for research computing and data storage architecture within Digital Research, IT Services. The role will lead the end-to-end design, procurement, deployment and commissioning of the University's new high-performance computing platform, while setting the target architecture and lifecycle roadmap for the integrated storage ecosystem, including Ceph, HPSS, tape and S3 compatible object storage.
Working with researchers, technical specialists, Cyber Security, enterprise IT, vendors and national partners, the position will translate complex and emerging research requirements into secure, resilient, scalable and cost-effective infrastructure. Operating under broad direction and with considerable autonomy, the role will establish architecture standards, provide design assurance, guide major investment decisions and lead multidisciplinary delivery teams.
The role manages and develops specialist staff and enables data-intensive, reproducible and globally connected research for Tasmania and from Tasmania to the world.
What you’ll do:
- Develop and maintain the roadmap for Ceph, HPSS, tape, object storage and data movement services, including storage tiers and data lifecycle pathways from active use through to archive and publication.
- Establish technical standards, principles, performance models and documentation requirements, and ensure solutions meet security, interoperability, sustainability and supportability requirements.
- Coordinate compute, storage, networking, cloud, identity, backup, archive, cybersecurity and data centre services, including resilience, recovery and testing activities.
- Develop roadmaps, business cases, cost models, refresh strategies and risk advice, support procurement and vendor management, and provide recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Lead and develop HPC and Storage specialists, engage with researchers to translate requirements into scalable services, and represent the University in national research computing and data infrastructure forums.
What we’re looking for:
- Extensive experience as a systems architect, principal engineer, infrastructure lead or senior technical manager responsible for the architecture, governance and delivery of complex high-performance computing and large-scale research data infrastructure in a university, research or comparable enterprise environment.
- Deep expertise in Linux and HPC architecture, including heterogeneous CPU/GPU compute, workload scheduling, high-speed interconnects, parallel or distributed file systems, cluster management, artificial intelligence tools and techniques, performance engineering, benchmarking and capacity planning.
- Advanced experience designing and operating distributed, object and archival storage services. Strong experience with Ceph is expected; experience with HPSS, enterprise tape libraries, OpenStack Swift or S3-compatible object storage, and high-performance data-movement tooling is highly desirable.
- Proven success leading the end-to-end technical delivery of major infrastructure investments, including requirements discovery, options analysis, procurement specifications and evaluation, vendor design review, implementation, migration, commissioning, acceptance testing and transition to service.
- Demonstrated capacity to conceptualise, develop and review strategic and operational plans, target-state architectures, reference patterns, technology standards, lifecycle roadmaps, whole-of-life cost models, business cases, technical risk assessments and design assurance documentation.
Salary details
Appointment to this role will be at HEO 9 and will have a total remuneration package of up to $160,613 comprising base salary within the range of $130,242 to $137,276 plus 17% superannuation.
How to Apply
- To apply online, please provide your CV and 1-2-page cover letter outlining your interest in the role, skills, capabilities and experience. You do not need to separately address the success profile.
- For further information about this position, please contact Mona Taylor, Manager Digital Research Infrastructure and Cyber Security, [email protected]
- Please visit https://www.utas.edu.au/jobs/applying for our guide to applying and details on the recruitment process.
- For current UTAS staff, in submitting your application, you acknowledge you have/intend to discuss your interest in this vacancy with your current manager and understand they may need to be contacted confidentially by the hiring manager as part of the assessment of your application.
- Please refer to the attached Position Description Below for full details.
Applications close Monday, 28 September 2026, 11.55pm
As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive workplace, employment history and police checks may be conducted as part of the selection process.
To be eligible for this position, you are required to hold Australian or New Zealand Citizenship, permanent residency or a valid visa that enables you to fulfil the requirements of this role.
