Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing

The following positions are currently available:

• Health Informatics Project Manager
• Summer Internship 2008-2009
• Computational Engineering Team Leader
• ARCS Positions

Please direct enquiries to recruitment@vpac.org.

We are seeking an experienced Project Manager to ensure new and existing projects are delivered to schedule, budget and quality expectations of their clients.There is an opportunity for the role to grow to include business development activities.

Major responsibilities of this role will include however not be limited to the following:

• Development, Maintenance and monitoring of the project plan,
  ensuring that agreed time frames are met
• Management of client relationship from inception to delivery in
  terms of scope, quality, time frames, reporting and the solution
  delivered
• Reporting of project progress internally, including envisaged
  Issues and Risks
• Assess the performance of the assigned resources, ensure that
  technical issues are resolved in a timely manner and that VPAC
  software development processes are appropriately followed.

Skills, knowledge and experience required include:

• Good knowledge of Health and/or IT industry (highly desired)
• Ability to effectively plan and manage project schedules within
  times, resources and quality restraints
• Strong knowledge of development methodologies
• Exceptional team leading and team building skills
• Excellent reporting skills both internally and to the client

If you are an enthusiastic Project Manager, who is looking for the next step in their career, please send your resume with a cover letter to recruitment@vpac.org .

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• Work with the latest technology

• Top Remuneration

• Great team and projects

VPAC has a rare opportunity for a talented Computational Engineer to join their dynamic team. To be successful, you will be a focused, passionate, adaptable person who shows initiative, leadership and has an interest in working for an automotive company.

Responsible for managing a small team of enthusiastic engineers, you will oversee the computational engineering (CAD/CAE) processes and will provide leadership in virtual engineering (CAx) based projects. You will assist with post processing data (including visualization, VTK.Ensight) and in pre-processing, running and post processing Nastran, LS-Dyna, Star-CD, Fluent and SFE Concept.

The most suitable candidate will have strong understanding of one or more of the following: Physics, Maths, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering or Engineering based computer science.

To be successful, ideally you will have 1 to 5 years of work experience. Prior experience or exposure to commercial packages such as ABAQUS, NASTRAN, LS-Dyna, Hypermesh, Unigraphics and SFE Concepts will be highly regarded.

VPAC is an equal opportunity employee and offers an exciting opportunity in a modern work environment with excellent employment conditions.

All applications should enclose a copy of their current curriculum vitae and academic transcripts to recruitment@vpac.org

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Three Management Positions in ARCS: Managers of Authorisation, Collaboration and Systems Services

Overview of ARCS
The Australian Research Collaboration Service (ARCS) is a recently established organisation whose mission is the provision of underlying eResearch support to Australian researchers across all geographical regions and disciplines. ARCS has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) as part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) “Platforms for Collaboration” program and, in particular, is charged with the provision of the Interoperability and Collaboration Infrastructure.

ARCS was established in recognition of the fact that almost all research now has major “digital” and “collaborative” components requiring far more than the simple use of a desktop PC and a telephone. These rapidly growing components are now commonly referred to as “eResearch”. Scientific instruments, such as optical and radio telescopes, microscopes, remote sensing devices, weather bureaus, the Australian Synchrotron, etc, are digital and produce large datasets for storage and analysis; social scientists create large datasets from transactions or from surveys; researchers often create large data sets as a result of running computer models. All of this growing wealth of digital information needs to be stored, analysed, modelled, curated and archived.

ARCS was created to establish and manage a platform where eResearch infrastructure and services are accessible to researchers through a “single logon” independent of geographical location. ARCS manages the complexity of the underlying eResearch tools and services, middleware, authorisation and authentication, so that the researchers can be more productive, without the need to be part time computer scientists. ARCS provides seamless connectivity, data storage and movement services, access to computing power, and collaboration spaces including video conferencing and web collaboration as well as eResearch consulting support.

ARCS is an unincorporated Joint Venture of 8 research support organisations — one in each state, as well as the ANU and CSIRO — and is managed by an Executive Committee of members drawn from these organisations.

ARCS is seeking to employ three Managers who will report to the Executive Director and who will assist him with the leadership and management of the organisation. Each Manager will oversee their own Team, who will report to them, and will be responsible for ensuring that their Team provides friendly and helpful support for researchers who are using the Team’s Services and Tools. They will ensure that ARCS’ clients in the research community are proactively and professionally served at all times. The successful applicants will be flexible individuals with relevant technical and management expertise and experience. They will have a willingness to work harmoniously as part of the ARCS Management Group and they will possess an understanding of, a commitment to and an enthusiasm for the mission and core values of ARCS.

While the Managers will be located at various sites, they will be seconded full time to ARCS and they will report to the ARCS Executive Director and have their salary determined by ARCS. The three roles and their anticipated locations are:

• Authorisation Services Manager: Will oversee the Authorisation Services Team, which is responsible for coupling single secure sign-on (Authentication) with access rights (Authorisation) for individual researchers to access data and services across the full range of eResearch Service Providers and research communities. It is anticipated that this position will be based at the University of Macquarie in Sydney.

• Collaboration Services Manager: Will oversee the Collaboration Services Team, which is responsible for the ARCS email and telephone Helpdesk as well as videocollaboration and web collaboration tools and services. This Team has a special role in proactive outreach to the research community. It is anticipated that this position will be based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

• Systems Services Manager: Will oversee the Systems Services Team, who provide the underlying grid tools and services and the other various systems support connecting all of ARCS distributed activities as well as the activities of other eResearch Service Providers and the broader eResearch community. It is anticipated that this position will be based at VPAC in Melbourne.

Specific Accountabilities

• Managing and contributing to their ARCS Team in accordance with the Annual Business Plan and as directed by the Executive Director;

• Assisting the Executive Director with the preparation of plans, budgets and reports for specific projects;

• Assisting the Executive Director with operational plans and other strategic planning documents and submissions, and in particular, the ARCS Annual Business Plan and Annual Report;

• Contributing to the development of new funding and outreach opportunities for ARCS as appropriate and consistent with its overarching mission;

• Coordinating the efforts of a geographically disparate support Team to ensure that Teams work coherently and seamlessly;

• Representing ARCS in appropriate forums as directed;

• Proactively liaising and managing relationships with and between users and research communities and their ARCS Team.

Essential Selection Criteria

• General management experience in either the academic or commercial sectors;

• Ability to work proactively and as part of a coherent and dynamic management group;

• Demonstrated project management expertise;

• Demonstrated ability to deliver against Service Level Agreements (SLAs);

• Demonstrated experience in managing personnel;

• Ability to understand and work in an academic research environment;

• Ability to take the initiative and work without close supervision;

• Well developed interpersonal skills, necessary to work with and lead a geographically distributed Team;

• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly, in verbal and written form;

• A positive and team-oriented approach and a commitment to providing high-quality customer-oriented service to clients;

• Demonstrated understanding of the underlying technologies and solutions involved with eResearch services and ARCS.

Desirable selection criteria

• Demonstrated broad experience as a researcher or working closely with or in a research community;

• Tertiary and postgraduate research qualifications;

• Demonstrated experience in eResearch activities and/or the provision of eResearch support services.

More details

ARCS will negotiate a competitive salary with each of the three successful applicants. An indicative salary range is $90k - $120k with superannuation included in addition to that. Salary will be determined on the basis of skills and experience. The initial appointment will be for three years. Additional information can be found on the ARCS website at http://www.arcs.org.au/ and any questions concerning the application process or the position should be directed to the Executive Director, Professor Anthony Williams, on 08 8303 3546 or by email at Anthony.Williams@arcs.org.au.

Applications should consist of a cover letter, a Curriculum Vitae and should address the Selection Criteria.

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