Data and Informatics Consultant

Description

The Virginia Tech Libraries (www.lib.vt.edu) are in the midst of reprogramming, rejuvenating, and pursuing new strategic directions in research and digital curation, as well as teaching/learning and literacies, learning spaces, and collections access. The Libraries are an increasingly integral partner in the research, teaching/learning, and service activities of Virginia Tech and are aligning with the university’s newly written strategic directions (http://www.longrangeplan.vt.edu/). The Virginia Tech Libraries are member of the Association of Research Libraries, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, Center for Research Libraries, Coalition of Networked Information, Digital Library Federation, DPN – the Digital Preservation Network, HathiTrust, the LOCKSS Alliance, the MetaArchive Cooperative, the National Information Standards Organization, the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

The Data and Informatics Consultant, Engineering will work in a team-based environment to advance the Libraries’ e-Research programs, including technology development, consulting, outreach, and training to address VT’s research environment and content/information/data-related needs. The data and informatics consultant will engage with researchers in the College of Engineering through informatics partnerships in data curation, data publishing, and data visualization, and provide guidance and training on managing the lifecycle of digital datasets and scholarship. This includes working with researchers in the College’s Discovery Analytics Center.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serves as chief informaticist for the College of Engineering, supporting the discovery and curation of engineering research datasets.
• Serves as a consultant on data management and digital curation processes, helping researchers in VT’s engineering domains to curate digital data and to solve information/data related problems.
• Provides education, outreach, and training on information/data science and cyberinfrastructure, including legal, policy, access, and technology issues.
• Provides guidance and expertise in identifying and selecting engineering informatics and digital curation tools, e.g. to automate dataset ingest mechanisms, recommend metadata schema, and provide appropriate metadata tags.
• Partners with data librarians to identify and evaluate the College of Engineering’s data assets, participates in data audits and associated data assessment activities.
• Participate in the planning and development of e-Research programs that address the content/information/data-related needs of researchers in engineering domains.
• Engage in partnerships to develop technologies and processes for data access and sharing, visualization, preservation, and general data management.
• Serve as a consultant to library teams designing a framework for data literacy programs.

QUALIFICATIONS: Required – Advanced degree in engineering, computer/information science, management information systems, informatics or related field, or bachelor’s degree and significant experience equivalent to an advanced degree; formal training in informatics; advanced understanding of engineering research environments; data analytics experience; programming skills; excellent communication and project management skills; demonstrated ability to set priorities and make deadlines. Preferred – 2-3 years job-related experience in one or more of the following areas: informatics, data analytics, data normalization and transformation, software and systems engineering.

Salary: Salary commensurate with credentials and experience. $56,000-$65,000.

Faculty Rank:  Administrative and Professional Faculty appointment.  Lecturer rank.

Benefits: University benefit information can be located at http://www.hr.vt.edu/benefits/index.html

Applications must be submitted online at http://www.hr.vt.edu/employment.  The application package needs to include a resume, cover letter addressing the candidate's experience with the responsibilities associated with the position, and the required and preferred qualifications, names of three (3) references and their contact information. Review of applications will begin as received and continue until the position is filled. 

Virginia Tech has a strong commitment to the principle of diversity, and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, veterans, and people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities desiring accommodations in the application process should notify the hiring department by the application deadline.