Technical 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.

The DPN organization is seeking an experienced technical leader to join our team building a national digital preservation system, to ensure future generations will have access to our digital cultural materials. This person will help lead the integration of diverse organizations and software platforms, to provide a seamless preservation environment for the DPN membership. This position will lead in the coordination of existing technical teams at multiple organizations to ensure that the strategy for interoperability works well for all involved. The successful candidate will understand implications of looking beyond DPN as just a set of individual preservation nodes and more as content flowing across an integrated network.

Why you might love this role:

• You will have the opportunity to play a major role in the development of systems 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:

• Coordinate DPN technical development, working with DPN Service providers to produce technical designs, specifications, code, tests and system delivery to meet stated objectives per agreed timeframes.
• Monitor and coordinate the operational aspects of the DPN infrastructure, which includes node-to-node interactions for messaging, auditing, content exchange and reporting. This includes implementing tools appropriate for a shared development effort.
• Coordinate a series of tests that progressively challenge the DPN infrastructure to expose and resolve issues of scale, efficiency, and integrity across all nodes. Codify an automated test suite to enable recurring tests of current and prospective nodes compliance with the DPN protocol and service levels.
• Manage technical verification and auditing for the DPN infrastructure to ensure that DPN nodes are providing appropriate levels of service.
• Define and manage the DPN technical documentation process to ensure that technical specifications, protocols, and best practices are consistent and shared appropriately.
• Assemble and lead a technical advisory committee, composed of people in the preservation community with expertise in the technologies, methods, and approaches associated with digital preservation. This committee will help guide DPN planning and development, and provide key insight to community needs.

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

• Assist in the production of the DPN Node Capabilities Catalog that describes the network and storage operations each DPN node is able to perform, ensuring alignment among the DPN nodes.
• Define specifications for the DPN Customer Reporting System that will produce system usage reports and auditing reports for DPN members.
• Define specification for the 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 retired nodes.

Required Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information science, or equivalent area of study with at least 5 years of experience in collaborative software development projects.
• Leadership in the development of software systems related to digital content storage, digital content management, digital archiving and preservation, in both institutional and Internet/Web environments.
• Excellent management skills and demonstrated success in working with teams located at multiple institutions at distributed geographic locations; demonstrated success at project management / coordination in a matrixed environment.
• Entrepreneurial orientation, with evidence of having worked in a dynamic environment that depends on both face-to-face interaction and virtual communication technologies.

Desired Experience:

• Direct experience in developing open source software and Web-based systems.
• Direct experience in managing storage systems in a networked environment.
• Experience in messaging, large-scale / high bandwidth networking environments, encryption and system security.