Research IT Architect

Research IT Architect

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) — Academic Solutions provides technology and consulting services that support the academic and research missions of the university. Faculty and student researchers across campus have varied technology needs, including storage, computation, databases, SaaS platforms, integrations, data workflows, and related technical services.

The Research IT Architect helps faculty and their student research assistants identify practical, supportable technology solutions for research and academic needs. The employee meets with users to understand goals and constraints, translates those needs into technical requirements, recommends appropriate existing enterprise offerings when possible, and works with OIT teams to design and document solutions.

The position also helps OIT understand emerging research technology needs across campus, including recurring requests, common pain points, service gaps, and opportunities to improve university technology services.

The ideal candidate has broad IT experience, strong communication skills, sound technical judgment, and the ability to work with faculty and student researchers with varied technical backgrounds. This person should enjoy learning new technologies, clarifying ambiguous needs, designing practical solutions, and helping research and academic work move forward at the university.

This position requires a dedicated individual who works well with faculty, student researchers, and technology teams. The employee must be proactive, organized, and able to move complex or ambiguous requests toward clear next steps. Responsibilities include the following:

• Research and Academic Technology Architecture
• Meet with faculty and student research assistants to understand research technology needs and related academic technology needs
• Analyze business, technical, and workflow requirements
• Identify appropriate solution approaches using existing enterprise offerings whenever possible
• Design architectures for needs involving storage, computation, databases, SaaS platforms, integrations, and related services
• Document architectures according to established standards, including architecture diagrams, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and relevant decision points
• Define and communicate solution scope, dependencies, and implementation needs to appropriate OIT teams
• Evaluate when a request can be satisfied with standard services and when a more specialized review or custom design effort may be necessary
• Consultation, Coordination, and Customer Advocacy
• Serve as a primary point of contact for faculty seeking guidance on research technology needs
• Consult with users of varied technical abilities to clarify goals, constraints, and expectations
• Direct users to appropriate existing services, support teams, and technical resources
• Work with other OIT groups to communicate needs and facilitate progress toward implementation
• Track solution progress sufficiently to remain an effective advocate for the user and to help remove misunderstandings or barriers
• Follow up periodically with users to determine whether implemented solutions continue to meet their needs
• Manage expectations for niche, highly specialized, or infeasible requests, including communicating when requests cannot reasonably be supported
• Service Gap Identification and Organizational Awareness
• Identify patterns and trends in faculty research technology needs across colleges and departments
• Keep management informed of recurring requests, unmet needs, emerging technology patterns, and opportunities for service improvement
• Help OIT maintain awareness of campus research needs by serving as a key source of information about user demand, common pain points, and evolving requirements
• Technology Research and Solution Evaluation
• Research existing and emerging technologies relevant to faculty research and related academic needs
• Perform initial investigation of vendor and SaaS solutions as needed
• Assist in evaluating whether requested technologies align with university standards, current offerings, and operational feasibility
• Maintain awareness of enterprise…