Associate Head, Software Development Department

Description

The University Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is seeking an Associate Head, Software Development Department to join the Library & Information Technology division.

The Associate Head takes a leadership role within the University Libraries’ highly collaborative Software Development Department. The person in this position advocates for and leads the implementation of robust software development and systems analysis practices, including automated testing, software documentation, user-centered system design, and the responsible stewardship of software inspired by DevOps practices. The University Libraries is active in and committed to open source development and communities and the Associate Head will have opportunities to contribute to open source software projects in a variety of ways. Mentorship of staff and the continued cultivation of healthy, diverse, and inclusive working environments is an essential requirement for any position in our department. The University Libraries has fostered a community of learning and collaboration and presents many opportunities to learn new skills and to take on a range of technically challenging projects with support from senior staff.

As the University Libraries develops increasingly sophisticated data and software infrastructure to enable scholarly, research, and teaching and learning partnerships in our community, we are working to connect and extend disparate information systems. The Associate Head will manage a team providing strategic technical oversight for this initiative by leading the development of software and practices that enable fluid data interchange among a network of systems and communities. In order to identify and pursue opportunities to increase the local and global impact of the University Libraries’ collections and services, the Associate Head will draw from the practices of:

• computational research and scholarship
• business intelligence (i.e. data-informed strategic planning)
• archival information management
• machine learning
• software engineering

The position works with library and campus partners to design and implement infrastructure to support their data needs. In order to be successful, these projects will require close collaboration with units across the Libraries and University with related service missions, including:

• Digital Research Services
• Metadata Strategy
• Wilson Special Collections Library
• Libraries administrative and operational units
• Digital preservation specialists
• Scholarly Communications
• Liaison and research services staff
• Campus IT and Research Computing units
• Our global community of scholars

The Associate Head regularly shares progress with stakeholders and seeks input on prototypes. The Associate Head provides support to users throughout the lifetime of the project, troubleshooting problems and maintaining code. Our colleagues have taken a variety of paths to technical specializations and we welcome candidates seeking collaboration with professionals who care about their work, within an environment that respects a work-life balance.

The person in the position will represent the Libraries in University-wide activities and in other venues, participate in other activities in support of the University Libraries’ mission, and serve the University community as needed.

Qualifications

Required

• Master’s and 1-2 years’ experience, or Bachelor’s and 2-4 years’ experience or will accept a combination of related education and experience in substitution.
• Awareness of relevant issues that are unique to mission-driven research and academic institutions.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a technical team to plan and complete projects.
• Experience mentoring software developers and developing a supportive and rewarding team culture.
• Experience working collaboratively and communicating effectively with software stakeholders coming from a range of technical backgrounds.
• Experience developing server-based and browser-based software.
• Experience transferring data between systems via APIs.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• A commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where differences and complexities in background, cultures, values and viewpoints are valued.

Preferred

• Experience working in a library or academic setting.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to professional communities.
• Experience supervising technical staff.
• Experience with agile development methodologies.
• Experience with computational research (e.g. data science) methods.
• Experience working with Machine Learning systems and models.
• Familiarity with practical applications of artificial intelligence concepts.
• Experience working with application frameworks (e.g. Ruby on Rails, Django, Laravel, or Angular).
• Experience applying DevOps techniques in partnership with infrastructure management colleagues.
• Experience with test driven development and/or continuous integration.

The University and The Libraries
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the country’s oldest state university. UNC Chapel Hill has an enrollment of approximately 29,000 students, employs more than 3,500 members of the faculty, and offers 69 doctoral degrees as well as professional degrees in medicine, social work, information science, and law. The University Libraries, one of the largest research libraries in the South, is an essential part of the University’s educational and research efforts. It includes 9 libraries on campus, including the Health Sciences Library, Walter Royal Davis Library, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, and the R.B. House Undergraduate Library. The University Libraries hold approximately 9.2 million volumes and extensive collections of manuscripts, audiovisual, microforms, graphics, government documents and rare books. The Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the Center for Research Libraries. Together with the libraries at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and North Carolina State University, the members of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) provide services and collections to their students, faculty, and staff in support of the education, research, healing, and service missions of the universities.

The University Libraries is committed to increasing the diversity of its staff, and therefore welcomes applications from candidates who bring additional dimensions to our mission and work. The University Libraries invests proudly in our employees, strive to create a diverse environment of respect and collaboration, and encourage vision and innovation.

The Region
The Triangle region is one of the most desirable places to live and work in North America and offers its residents a wide array of recreational, cultural, and intellectual activities. The mountains or the seashore are less than a half day’s drive from Chapel Hill.

Salary and Benefits
This position is at will. The salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience, with a range of $74,500-$95,000. Standard state benefits of annual leave, sick leave, and State or Optional retirement plan.

Deadline for Application
Review of applications will begin upon receipt. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.