Solutions Architect

Job Summary

Are you a technical visionary who thrives at the intersection of high-performance computing, cloud innovation, and world‑class academic research? HBS IT is seeking a Solutions Architect to serve as the technical anchor for our next‑generation research computing platforms. This is a unique opportunity to join a "class‑defining" environment where you will not just manage systems, but architect the future of how social science research is conducted at one of the world’s leading institutions.

Reporting to the Manager, Research Technology Platforms, the Solutions Architect is a senior technical leader who collaborates closely with product and service leadership to drive the technical solutions for HBS research. In this role, you will lead the planning, building, and configuration of research computing systems at scale, serving as the primary technical authority for our platform’s sustained growth. You will bridge the gap between complex faculty research needs and enterprise‑grade infrastructure, ensuring the research computing solutions are secure, scalable, and performant as we make a shift from legacy environments to the cloud.

• Lead the design, architecture, and implementation of scalable AWS‑based research computing systems, ensuring alignment with security and regulated data requirements to sustain and scale a rapidly expanding research community.
• Define and uphold technical standards for monitoring, health, and integrity of cloud‑based research computing environments, including strategic oversight of system upgrades and patching.
• Translate complex research needs and product priorities into sound technical approaches and delivery plans, balancing high‑level architecture with hands‑on systems engineering to deliver creative institutional or custom solutions.
• Perform hands‑on software engineering and develop custom tools to address complex researcher use cases beyond standard platform capabilities.
• Influence the strategic direction of HBS IT research technology platforms by balancing the mitigation of technical debt with the adoption of next‑generation tools.
• Build and maintain relationships with external vendors and provide technical oversight and mentorship to strengthen team capability and solution quality.
• Collaborate with key HBS IT partners and university‑wide Harvard University IT peers to ensure research solutions align with enterprise infrastructure and security standards.
• Build trust and collaboration by being present on‑site and engaging directly with colleagues and various constituents.
• Complete other responsibilities as assigned.

• Additional support outside of regularly scheduled hours, including early mornings, nights, weekends, and holiday breaks, may occasionally be required.
• Must be available by personal cell phone during business hours, and occasionally off‑hours (stipend will be provided).
• Must participate in a shared 24x7x365 on call rotation with other IT staff.

• Minimum of nine years of post‑secondary education or relevant work experience.

The following are preferred:

• Broad knowledge of research computing systems, including storage, cluster computing, network, database, and virtualized systems.
• Experience in the design, development, and deployment of cloud‑based applications, within the AWS ecosystem (e.g., IAM, EC2, ECS, Lambda, Security Hub).
• Proficiency with Infrastructure‑as‑Code (e.g., Cloud Formation or Terraform) and configuration management tools.
• Demonstrated experience in Linux systems administration and automating workflows through scripting languages (e.g., Bash or Python).
• Advanced proficiency in coding with Python, R, or other research‑relevant languages for developing custom tools and solutions.
• Proven ability to architect secure, scalable solutions for diverse and evolving research use cases.
• Experience with version control systems (Git) and implementing Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to ensure reproducible research environments.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to act as a trusted advisor…