Digital Repository Architect

Description

Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT) is a community of Information Technology professionals committed to delivering service and technological solutions in support of teaching, learning, research and administration.  We are recruiting an IT workforce that has both breadth in their ability to collaborate and innovate across disciplines – and depth in specific areas of expertise. HUIT offers opportunities for IT professionals to learn and work in a unique technology landscape and service-focused environment. If you are a technically proficient, nimble, user-focused, and accountable IT professional who also connects with the importance of collaborating well in a team environment, we are looking for you!

Library Technology Services seeks an experienced solutions architect for the design of the University's digital preservation repository. The Digital Repository Architect will serve as the technology design lead for the Digital Repository Service Modernization project across its discovery, planning, and implementation phases.

The Digital Repository Architect reports to the Digital Library Enterprise Architect, works closely with the Harvard Library Head of Digital Preservation, and is part of a team of analysts, change managers, and technologists assembled specifically for this project. The Digital Repository Architect leads a collaborative design process, drawing on their own experience and expertise as well as that of the project team, the Digital Library Enterprise Architect, outside domain experts, library preservation leads, and stakeholders.

The DRS Modernization project is a multi-year effort to revitalize infrastructure and services preserving Harvard's digital scholarly resources and institutional records for future use by faculty, students, administrators, and staff, furthering the University's research, teaching, and learning mission and safeguarding its legacy. The project is an intense collaborative effort orchestrated across the Harvard Library, school libraries, and commercial vendors and/or open-source development partners.

The successful candidate is well-organized, action-oriented, an excellent listener, and a thoughtful communicator with a record of demonstrated success in technical architecture.

The Digital Repository Architect will:

• Research digital preservation best practices for comprehensive understanding of the state of the field, including available technology solutions
• Partner with digital preservation leads to establish functional and non-functional requirements as well as clear requirements for architecture designs and recommendations
• Develop acceptance criteria for product solutions and assist in the evaluation of solutions for the new platform
• Facilitate solution design and decision-making that balances immediate and long-term operational concerns of reliability, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility in adapting to evolving technical innovations and functional needs
• Clearly document and communicate technical solutions for implementation by a development team and/or integration by third-party solution providers
• Diagram system topology and system integrations
• Define and document API integrations
• Work closely with the Digital Library Enterprise Architect to define and develop integration points for existing technology services managed by LTS
• Work on a technical roadmap continuing beyond the close of the project
• Collaborate with the project team, software engineers, outside experts, and possible vendor partners
• Abide by and follow the Harvard University IT technical standards, policies, and Code of Conduct

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of seven years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience

Additional Qualifications and Skills

The following Additional Qualifications are strongly preferred. If you meet some, but not all, you are still encouraged to apply; we value employees with a willingness to learn.

• Experience in design of reliable and sustainable enterprise architectures or large-scale systems integrations for academic or research libraries or archives
• Knowledge of digital preservation practices, goals, and workflows, as well as supporting systems
• Strong consulting skills and adeptness at breaking down barriers to collaboration and partnership
• Demonstrated success organizing relationships between complex IT systems
• Demonstrated team performance skills, service mindset approach, and ability to act as a trusted advisor