Research Computing Support Specialist

Description:

About us:

The Faculty of Arts & Science is the heart of Canada’s leading university and one of the most comprehensive and diverse academic divisions in the world. The strength of Arts & Science derives from our combined teaching and research excellence in the humanities, sciences and social sciences across 29 departments, seven colleges and 46 interdisciplinary centres, institutes and programs.

We can only realize our mission with the dedication and excellence of engaged staff and faculty. The diversity of opportunities and perspectives within the Faculty reflect the local and global landscape and the need for curiosity, innovative thinking and collaboration. At Arts & Science, we take pride in our legacy of innovation and discovery that has changed the way we think about the world.

Established in 1964, the Department of Computer Science is ranked among the top computer science departments in the world. Our faculty have been presented with a wide variety of honours and awards over the years, including two Turing Awards, and many other national and international honours. We provide diverse programs and research opportunities while consistently producing high-impact research that is among the most highly cited in computer science.

Your opportunity:

Under the general direction of the Director, Information Technology, the Research Computing Support Specialist provides research computing support, computer system administration, network administration, programming/scripting/software development (especially in Python) and high-level research technical support services for the Aspuru-Guzik group (matter.toronto.edu) in the development of novel workflows for automated discovery of materials.

The incumbent assumes the responsibility of a project leader for specific highly complex and highly technical IT projects for the research group(s) by providing technical leadership, system and software expertise, and support to the project.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading and planning IT projects
• Developing project schedules including milestones, critical path, timelines, deliverables and reporting
• Coordinating tasks for projects and other strategic initiatives with stakeholders
• Analyzing, troubleshooting and testing highly complex systems
• Analyzing, recommending and designing internal network solutions to meet client needs
• Planning and implementing IT systems independently
• Analyzing business and operational requirements to plan the implementation of new IT systems
• Serving as a resource on specific issues to a group of specialists

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related discipline, and/or acceptable equivalent combination of education and experience
• Minimum five (5) years of recent and related UNIX/Linux system administration experience in a highly technical and complex heterogeneous IT environment developing computing solutions preferably for a computing academic discipline
• Demonstrated experience writing, modifying, and correcting scripts on Linux/Unix platform(s)
• Demonstrated experience with GPU deployment/use for AI, virtualization, printing, backups, research programming, LLMs, computational clusters, security, networking, open source software, databases, automated operating system installs, fileservers/data storage, and technical documentation
• Demonstrated experience analyzing and troubleshooting complex IT and system problems
• Experience providing project leadership, including technical leadership, system expertise, and support to other technical staff projects
• Experience collaborating on IT purchase recommendations and independently costing IT projects
• Experience developing computer code in Python
• Experience deploying application containers/virtualization
• Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to deal with people in a tactful and effective manner and the ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical people at their own level, explaining possibly complex technical concepts to a wide variety of non-technical users
• Good problem-solving skills, detail oriented
• Must have strong leadership skills, especially the ability to take personal responsibility to establish and maintain the goals and mission of the research group(s) served
• Proven ability to provide expert technical resources to others
• Clear and demonstrated ability to design, plan, analyse and improve systems
• Ability to follow good system administration discipline and practice
• Typing/keyboarding ability and ability to lift/move desktop and server computer equipment
• Ability to adapt as needed in a highly dynamic research-intensive Computer Science environment
• Must maintain broad technical knowledge and experience in a rapidly-changing field
• Ability to prioritize and meet multiple deadlines

Assets (Nonessential):

• Experience using HPC clusters an asset
• Experience with private and /or public cloud an asset

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Adaptable
• Communicator
• Cooperative
• Multi-tasker
• Responsible
• Team player

For internal staff, a copy of the detailed job description is available upon request from the Faculty of Arts and Science HR Office by emailing:  View email address on jobs.utoronto.ca . 

This role may be eligible for an Alternative Work Arrangement in accordance with the  University of Toronto’s Alternative Work Arrangements Guideline .

Closing Date: 06/20/2026, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW 
Appointment Type : Grant - Continuing 
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 17 -- $109,761. with an annual step progression to a maximum of $140,365. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Information Technology (IT)

Lived Experience Statement
Candidates who are members of Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, persons with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups are encouraged to apply, and their lived experience shall be taken into consideration as applicable to the posted position.

Job descriptions are available upon request for internal applicants.