Services Manager

Description

The national effort to build the Digital Preservation Network (DPN) continues to gain momentum as the organization, under the umbrella of Internet2, moves from development stage to a prototype pilot phase in 2014. Funded by a membership that includes 60 research universities and foundations, DPN's objective is to preserve the academic and historical record by linking together existing repositories to form a sustainable, federated preservation network.

DPN is seeking an experienced individual to join our team building a national digital preservation system, to ensure future generations will have access to our digital cultural materials. Working as part of the DPN leadership team, the Services Manager will launch the production suite of DPN services and manage long-term relationships with DPN members and service providers. The DPN Services Manager will be a crucial position, ensuring DPN’s services align with and support the needs and expectations of members.

Why you might love this role:

• You will have the opportunity to play a major role in the development of services which will provide the underpinning of a nationwide digital preservation infrastructure.
• Your work will be instrumental in ensuring that culturally relevant digital materials are preserved for future generations.
• You will have the opportunity to work in a collaborative and collegial environment, engaging with top research universities from around the United States.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the process for defining and communicating DPN services, based on the DPN organization’s core principles. This includes continually gathering product and market requirements and positioning DPN relative to other repository, storage and preservation endeavors.
• Work with DPN’s legal and business working groups to manage the institutional processes necessary for success, including legal agreements and business contracts for DPN services.
• Work with DPN service providers to define, build and maintain services that align with those offered by individual preservation repositories in the Network.
• Interface with DPN members to advise and broker relationships with DPN service providers. Create educational resources and programs to help members understand DPN services at a detail level and how to use them. Serve as the leader, principal advocate and “voice of the customer” for Members across the Network.
• Work with the DPN leadership team in the development of the DPN business model that will ensure the long-term sustainability of DPN services and content.
• Assemble and lead a services advisory committee, comprised of people in the preservation community with expertise in key services. This committee will help guide DPN planning and development, and provide key insight to community needs.

Collaborative duties, working with the DPN Technical Manager and DPN Nodes:

• Produce and manage the DPN Node Capabilities Catalog that describes the services provided by each DPN node. The catalog will also be a resource for depositing institutions that will assist in planning workflows for deposit into DPN.
• Define specifications, validate the development, and manage the operation of critical DPN service functions, such as:
• a DPN Customer Reporting System that will produce system usage reports used for management information;
• a DPN Auditing Framework, to ensure the fixity of preserved information, and trustworthy operation of the Network; and
• a DPN Node Evolution Process, so that the DPN infrastructure is flexible and responds to future needs. This includes accepting new service nodes into the DPN network as well as decommissioning exiting nodes.

• Bachelor's degree with at least 5 years of progressively increasing responsibility in either an academic or business context.
• Excellent management skills and demonstrated success in working with teams located at multiple institutions at distributed geographic locations.
• Excellent communication skills to promote the DPN vision, bridge between multiple stakeholders, and clearly articulate both technical and policy dimensions of the DPN solution.
• Practical understanding of technologies related to digital content storage, digital content management, digital archiving and preservation, especially in a distributed environment.
• Entrepreneurial orientation, with evidence of having worked in a dynamic environment that depends on both face-to-face interaction and virtual communication technologies.

• Experience in digital preservation strongly desired.
• Experience in developing business models for new and innovative projects.
• Fundraising skills in a non-profit domain.