Research Computing Security Architect

Job Summary

The University of Utah’s Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) is seeking a highly skilled Research Computing Security Architect to lead the technical vision, strategic design, and overarching security architecture for its high-performance computing (HPC) environments. This role is critical to enabling research by designing resilient, scalable systems that align with NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3 and other federal cybersecurity standards. Reporting to the head of the Security and Compliance (S&C) team, the Architect will serve as CHPC’s security architecture lead, working closely with other S&C team members, other CHPC teams who are responsible for systems implementation and operations, and with other institutional security and compliance teams to bridge the gap between technical reality and institutional governance.

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The department may choose to hire at any of the below job levels and associated pay rates based on their business need and budget.

Responsibilities

Architecture & Technical Strategy

• Develop and own the comprehensive security architecture and technical roadmap for HPC systems supporting regulated research.
• Define reusable security patterns for Linux-based HPC clusters, workload schedulers, containers, shared storage, high-speed networks, data-transfer services, virtualization, cloud resources, and interactive research-access services to satisfy NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3, CMMC, and other federal cybersecurity standards.
• Collaborate with CHPC monitoring specialists and infrastructure teams to define logging, telemetry, detection, logging, detection, and incident response capabilities, including required data sources, integrations, retention, alerting, and validation criteria.
• Lead architectural threat modeling exercises, evaluating complex system designs against potential attack vectors to ensure security is embedded by design prior to deployment.

Cross-Team Leadership & Communication

• Ability to lead technical design reviews and influence cross-functional teams without direct supervisory authority.
• Serve as a liaison by communicating complex architectural risks, tradeoffs, dependencies, and recommendations to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Evaluate and select emerging security tools, platforms, and secure data transfer protocols to continuously modernize the HPC security posture.

Security Architecture Assurance & Compliance Partnership

• Partner with the internal Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) team and compliance analysts to map regulatory and contractual requirements to technical architecture, implementation requirements, and validation criteria.
• Develop and maintain architecture diagrams, technical specifications, trust-boundary documentation, data-flow models, and security design records that support institutional compliance efforts.
• Validate that deployed environments align with approved security designs and document material deviations, compensating controls, and residual risks.
• Serve as the technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) during assessments while compliance personnel retain responsibility for SSP management, evidence coordination, audit administration, and POA&M tracking.

Cross-Team Leadership & Communication

• Ability to lead technical design reviews and influence cross-functional teams without direct supervisory authority.
• Serve as a liaison by communicating complex architectural risks, tradeoffs, dependencies, and recommendations to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Evaluate and select emerging security tools, platforms, and secure data transfer protocols to continuously modernize the HPC security posture.

Security Architecture Assurance & Compliance Partnership

• Partner with the internal Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) team and compliance analysts to map regulatory and contractual requirements to technical architecture, implementation requirements, and validation criteria.
• Develop and maintain architecture diagrams, technical specifications, trust-boundary documentation, data-flow models, and security design records that support institutional compliance efforts.
• Validate that deployed environments align with approved security designs and document material deviations, compensating controls, and residual risks.
• Serve as the technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) during assessments while compliance personnel retain responsibility for SSP management, evidence coordination, audit administration, and POA&M tracking.

Minimum Qualifications

EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT: 1 year of higher education can be substituted for 1 year of directly related work experience (Example: bachelor’s degree = 4 years of directly related work experience).

Department may hire employee at one of the following job levels:

Information Security Architect, III: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) + 6 years or a master’s (or equivalency) + 4 years of directly related work experience.

Information Security Architect, IV: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) + 8 years or a master’s (or equivalency) + 6 years of directly related work experience.

Information Security Architect, V: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) + 10 years or a master’s (or equivalency) + 8 years of directly related work experience.

• Proven ability to translate federal cybersecurity standards (such as NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 and CMMC) into architectural blueprints and control patterns.
• Deep understanding of Linux-based operating systems, distributed computing, virtualization platforms, and HPC-oriented secure container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker).
• Demonstrated experience evaluating, selecting, and designing large-scale security capabilities, including centralized logging and SIEM, vulnerability and configuration management, network security, and host-based monitoring or EDR where technically appropriate.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and automation frameworks to guide engineering deployment.

Preferences

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Cybersecurity, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Active professional architecture certifications (e.g., CISSP-ISSAP, GDSA, CompTIA SecurityX, or vendor-specific enterprise architecture credentials).
• Prior experience designing security architectures for high-performance computing (HPC) environments or high-throughput research networks.
• Concrete experience operating within higher education, government, or defense research environments requiring strict data classification, identity, segmentation, least privilege, device or workload trust, and continuous validation.

Additional Information

The University is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems (“URS”). Eligible new hires with prior URS service, may elect to enroll in URS if they make the election before they become eligible for retirement (usually the first day of work). Contact Human Resources at (801) 581-7447 for information. Individuals who previously retired and are receiving monthly retirement benefits from URS are subject to URS’ post-retirement rules and restrictions. Please contact Utah Retirement Systems at (801) 366-7770 or (800) 695-4877 or University Human Resource Management at (801) 581-7447 if you have questions regarding the post-retirement rules.

This position may require the successful completion of a criminal background check and/or drug screen.

The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education.

Veterans’ preference is extended to qualified applicants, upon request and consistent with University policy and Utah state law. Upon request, reasonable accommodations in the application process will be provided to individuals with disabilities.

Consistent with state and federal law, the University of Utah does not discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, or protected veteran’s status. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and 34 CFR part 106. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission and employment. Inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, to the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, or both.

To request a reasonable accommodation for a disability or if you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, you may contact the Director/Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX (OEO). More information, including the Director/Title IX Coordinator’s office address, electronic mail address, and telephone number can be located at the: University of Utah Non‑Discrimination page.

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As per University of Utah policy 5-108: Transfer of Benefits Eligible Staff Members, a new hire to the University of Utah who is still serving a 12 month probationary period will not be hired into another University of Utah job (a transfer) until the successful completion of the probationary period.