Senior Technical Lead

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.

The Department of Cell & Systems Biology (CSB) promotes research and teaching in some of the most dynamic and vital areas of biological research. We facilitate the pursuit of cutting-edge research in the molecular life sciences and systems biology and embrace new methodologies and state-of-the-art technologies. Located in downtown Toronto and part of the University of Toronto, one of the world’s top research universities, our department is an ideal place to work, research and make a lasting impression in the field.

Your opportunity:

Reporting to the CSB Chief Administrative Officer, the Senior Technical Lead will play a critical role in advancing the department’s research, teaching, and administrative mission through the delivery of strategic and client-focused IT services.

The Senior Technical Lead role acts at the department's senior researchcomputing and enterprise IT lead supporting both advanced scientific computing and administrative digital transformation, including safe AI technologies. The successful candidate will provide technical leadership and specialized expertise in research computing infrastructure, systems and network administration, programming, automation, enterprise applications, and business systems analysis within a complex and evolving academic research environment.The role will lead all departmental cybersecurity initiatives including risk assessments, vulnerability mitigation, secure system design, identity and access management, incident response coordination, and alignment with evolving and strengthened University security standards.

Working closely with faculty, students, and staff, you will support all research groups by serving as the department’s primary technical advisor and institutional IT liaison for research computing, consulting and partnering with faculty and research teams to design and/or adopt scalable, secure, and reproducible computational research environments throughout the research lifecycle. This includes designing and maintaining research computing workflows and data processing pipelines, including scripting, containerization, deployment, monitoring, and performance optimization.

You will also support departmental administrative operations through the analysis of business processes and the development of automated solutions, integrations, databases, and workflows that improve operational efficiency, reporting, data management, and service delivery. You will administer the departmental network infrastructure across multiple buildings, manage departmental SharePoint and web platforms, and support researchers with the configuration and administration of research computing systems and servers throughout the lifecycle of their projects.

You will also play an important role in supporting the integration of computing into teaching and learning. Working in partnership with faculty, you will provide guidance and technical expertise to support the development and implementation of computational approaches within courses, contributing to curriculum innovation and enhancing the student learning experience.

This is an exciting opportunity for a collaborative and service-oriented IT professional who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, building strong partnerships, and delivering innovative and leveraging, through needs analysis, central solutions where feasible and delivering innovative and sustainable technology solutions aligned with University information security and risk management practices.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading and planning IT projects, including developing project schedules, milestones, deliverables, and reporting mechanisms
• Acting as a technical lead, assessing and determining the feasibility of programming requests and system requirements
• Analyzing and documenting business requirements and translating them into technical designs that reflect operational needs
• Developing, testing, modifying, and evaluating complex programming code to ensure validity, compatibility, security, and adherence to standards
• Overseeing the daily operation of network and server services, including troubleshooting complex system issues and implementing security measures
• Executing and maintaining security controls in alignment with University guidelines and departmental requirements
• Developing and maintaining administrative systems and automated workflows that support departmental operations
• Building, configuring, and maintaining departmental websites and collaboration platforms

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related discipline or an acceptable combination of equivalent experience.
• Minimum five (5) years of relevant demonstratable experience gathering and translating business requirements into technical solutions, analyzing administrative processes, and designing integrations and workflows to improve operational efficiency, data management, and service delivery.
• Demonstrable advanced programming and scripting experience, including developing, testing, troubleshooting, and evaluating complex technical code and automation solutions
• Demonstratable experience leading complex IT infrastructure, research computing environments, business systems analysis, enterprise applications, and client-facing technology services within a large and complex organization, preferably in a post-secondary or research-intensive environment
• Demonstrated experience leading and planning IT projects, including developing schedules, coordinating deliverables, and supporting implementations
• Experience designing and supporting scientific computing workflows using tools and technologies such as Python, R, MATLAB, Julia, Linux shell scripting, Jupyter notebooks, and container platforms (e.g., Docker, Singularity/Apptainer)
• Experience designing and supporting high-performance computing (HPC) environments, including compute clusters, GPU-enabled systems, job schedulers (e.g., Slurm), and parallel computing workflows supporting simulations, bioinformatics, machine learning, or large-scale data analysis
• Experience managing research servers and virtualized environments hosting scientific applications, laboratory systems, databases, web services, and research computing workloads, including Linux/Windows administration, virtualization platforms, systems monitoring, and performance optimization
• Experience administering research data storage infrastructure, including NAS environments, backup and archival systems, secure data transfer solutions, and storage optimization for large research datasets using platforms such as NetApp, TrueNAS, Veeam, or cloud-based storage technologies
• Strong experience in systems and network administration, including assessing system security, risk, and integrity, and implementing security controls aligned with organizational policies and best practices
• Strong technical experience developing and supporting administrative systems, databases, automations, and integrations using tools such as SQL, SharePoint, Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Power Apps), APIs, and scripting languages
• Demonstrated experience providing technical consultation, documentation, training, workshops, bootcamps, and end user support within research and academic computing environments.
• Demonstrated experience training end users and providing guidance on the effective use of supported systems and applications.
• Demonstrated experience liaising with faculty, staff, students, ITS, IIT Services, and external technical specialists to resolve issues and support service delivery.

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Accountable
• Adaptable
• Articulate
• Communicator
• Multi-tasker
• Organized
• Proactive
• Self-directed

Closing Date: 10/12/2026, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW
Appointment Type: Budget - Continuing
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 16 -- $103,367. with an annual step progression to a maximum of $132,188. 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.

Diversity Statement

The University of Toronto embraces Diversity and is building a culture of belonging that increases our capacity to effectively address and serve the interests of our global community. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized persons, women, persons with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual and gender identities. We value applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognize that diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise are essential to strengthening our academic mission.

As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP.

Accessibility Statement

The University strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.

The University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities.

If you require any accommodations at any point during the application and hiring process, please contact uoft.careers@utoronto.ca.

Organization

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, recognized as a global leader in research and teaching. U of T's distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world.

U of T is committed to providing a learning experience that benefits from both a scale almost unparalleled in North America and from the close-knit learning communities made possible through its college system and academic divisions. Located in and around Toronto, one of the world's most diverse regions, U of T's vibrant academic life is defined by a unique degree of cultural diversity in its learning community.The University is sustained environmentally by three green campuses, where renowned heritage buildings stand beside award-winning innovations in architectural design.

U of T is one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
U of T is one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers.

Are you looking for a challenging, meaningful career in a supportive and diverse environment? We offer challenging work within an open environment that celebrates diversity in all its forms. Our focus is on creating a positive work environment that attracts and retains excellent employees through a combination of competitive compensation, favourable working conditions, opportunities for career growth and development and a unique organizational culture.

Employees have access to:

• Excellent health and dental benefits;
• On-site support for training and career development;
• Flexible work arrangements;
• Childcare subsidy;
• Tuition waivers;
• Scholarships and/or tuition waivers for dependants;
• Generous paid time off;
• Support on equity and diversity issues;
• On-site child care;
• University Pension Plan;
• Subsidized athletic facility membership;
• World-renowned libraries;
• Confidential counselling services;
• Parking and TTC Metropasses;
• Employee and Family Assistance Plan;
• Continued health benefits for pensioners.