Special Instructions to Applicants: Applicants should attach a resume and cover letter in PDF format to the Supporting Documents section of the application.

About Rice

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice's culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name -- RICE -- Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Rice University Office of Information Technology (OIT)

OIT provides excellent constituent service, acting as a strategic partner to advance Rice University's priorities and mission of "pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contribution to the betterment of our world". We fuel innovation at speed across the university by building a culture of trust, using an effective operating model, driving seamless experiences, and providing core IT capabilities.

OIT is service-oriented and team-enabling. We seek applicants who will contribute to our mission.

Trust Building and Stakeholder Engagement - Foster trust across the campus by being transparent, reliable, consistent, and solution-oriented in communication and execution. Ensure clear, consistent, and timely communication with all constituents, maintaining a service-oriented mindset and addressing challenges with integrity.

Collaboration and Cross-functional Commitment - Work effectively with colleagues across teams, departments, and roles to support shared goals and a positive work environment. Communicate clearly and professionally with team members throughout OIT and across the campus to ensure smooth coordination of tasks and projects. Build and maintain positive relationships with others by being approachable, reliable, and responsive. Proactively share relevant information and follow up to ensure alignment and efficiency in team efforts.

Agility and Responsiveness - Adapt quickly to evolving needs, technologies, and priorities, ensuring efficiency and relevance. Identify potential challenges in advance and take proactive steps to minimize disruption to end-users. Approach unexpected changes with a problem-solving mindset, balancing speed and thoughtful engagement. Prioritize user experience by delivering seamless, timely, and effective support and potential solutions. Maintain a culture of continuous learning, ask questions from a place of curiosity and possibility to enhance agility and service outcomes.

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement - Maintain a culture of continuous improvement in all IT operations to ensure efficient and effective service delivery. Regularly assess and optimize processes, systems, and technologies to enhance performance, scalability, and user satisfaction.

Position Summary

The Center for Research Computing (CRC), a division of the Office of Information Technology (OIT), is dedicated to delivering and supporting world-class research computing services for the Rice University community, in direct support of the University's Momentous strategic plan. The Center supports cutting-edge research across the physical and social sciences, medicine, engineering, and the humanities at Rice University.

We are seeking a computational scientist to assist researchers using our HPC systems, specifically to support the use of GPUs, AI software, and research computing workflows for optimal performance. This role aligns with the University's strategic goal of expanding AI capabilities.

This position supports advanced artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) research across a wide variety of academic disciplines. The person in this role will collaborate with faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students to develop and optimize GPU-based applications for generative AI, complex simulations, and digital twins on high-performance computing (HPC) systems. The role includes technical support, training, and strategic contributions to Rice University's institutional AI initiatives.

An ideal candidate for this position is a GPU-first AI/ML computational scientist with deep, hands-on experience optimizing and scaling CUDA and PyTorch/TensorFlow workloads on HPC clusters (e.g., Slurm, containers), adept at building and tuning LLMs/generative models and simulations, and effective collaborating within a major research-oriented institution.

Workplace Requirements

This position is an on-site (in-person) role. A hybrid work arrangement may be considered after the probationary period. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible position, and the proposed salary range is $95,000 to $105,000 annually, depending on qualifications and experience. *Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computational chemistry, materials science, engineering, or a related field
  • In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted
• 3+ years of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, GPU workflows, and/or HPC environments that support AI/ML and GPU research computing workflows
  • In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year-for-year basis, may be substituted.

Skills:

• Understanding of research computing and data systems, including high-performance computing, web-based data platforms, large-scale data storage, and networking technologies
• Expert knowledge of UNIX/Linux systems
• Proficiency in Python, C++, R, or other programming languages used in scientific research involving machine learning, deep learning, and parallel computing
• Experience with MPI/OpenMP and/or CUDA, PyTorch, and TensorFlow
• Experience with AI/ML software installation, testing, and tuning
• Experience using GPUs to accelerate AI or ML workflows
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Ability to establish effective, ongoing relationships with faculty, students, staff, management, external institutional partners, and other stakeholders, and to work constructively with those stakeholders to solve technical and research problems
• Strong time management and prioritization skills
• Ability to execute highly complex or specialized projects; ability to adapt precedent and make significant departures from traditional approaches to develop solutions
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Depth of knowledge in the technical discipline or domain needed to deliver projects

Preferences

• Advanced degree (Master's level or PhD) with domain or applied research computing skills
• Experience with large language models (LLMs), transformer architectures, and multimodal AI
• Familiarity with Docker, Slurm, Jupyter, CUDA, and/or other HPC/AI tools
• Experience with digital twin technologies
• Experience running tightly or loosely coupled simulations on parallel or GPU systems
• Understanding of density functional theory (DFT), finite element methods (FEM), Monte Carlo simulations, or multiscale modeling
• Experience with outreach, user engagement, and training non-technical or multidisciplinary audiences on technical subjects
• Familiarity with on-premise and/or commercial cloud platforms for AI

Essential Functions

• Consult with researchers to determine their needs
• Perform computerized data processing operations and statistical analyses of research data
• Perform computing programming, debugging, and documentation; assist in interpretation and reporting of results
• Collaborate in problem assessment, analysis, and development of computational methods or procedures, independently evaluating, selecting, and applying appropriate methods to specific research problems
• Propose solutions in engineering, the sciences, and other fields using mathematical theories and techniques
• Optimize and extend algorithms, analysis pipelines, and software to ensure effectiveness and scalability of computing infrastructure
• Provide consultation and expertise with computer applications for research problems; perform computerized data processing operations and statistical analyses of research data; create visualizations of results
• Perform outreach and training activities to ensure the relevance of current and new service developments and to facilitate user success
• Contribute to technical proposal preparation and/or presentations
• Mentor assigned staff and/or graduate students in the development of technical, project, and related organizational or support skills
• Manage projects of moderate size, scope, and complexity
• Participate in CRC incident response; while infrequent, this may involve evening or weekend work
• Perform other duties as assigned

Additional Responsibilities

• Support faculty and students on a variety of AI/ML research projects, including large language models, generative AI, and neural networks
• Develop scalable AI applications using frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Keras
• Optimize models for GPU-accelerated HPC environments
• Integrate AI tools and techniques into research computing workflows
• Provide consultation, training workshops, and documentation for AI tools
• Collaborate on grant proposals and interdisciplinary research
• Monitor, tune, and troubleshoot AI workloads and applications
• Participate in professional organizations and attend relevant conferences, such as SIG-HPC, the Campus Research Computing Consortium, and PEARC

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

Rice Mission and Values: Mission and Values | Rice University

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please contact Rice University's Human Resources Office via email at facstaffada@rice.edu for support.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at jobs@rice.edu. Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.