Edtech.com's Summary

George Mason University is hiring a Director, Enterprise Research & Automation Services. The Director leads the university’s research and automation systems platform, directs enterprise-wide automation initiatives, and manages a team to develop advanced research computing and workflow automation solutions, while ensuring compliance with cybersecurity and data privacy policies.

Highlights

Lead architectural scaling and management of the Mason Research, Intelligence, Data, and Automation Systems platform.
Oversee enterprise automation lifecycle including robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent workflows.
Manage cross-functional collaboration to ensure platform integration and compliance with cybersecurity and FERPA policies.
Direct rapid prototyping, research technology innovation, and HPC workflow coordination for research initiatives.
Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree and relevant certifications preferred.
6-9 years of technical leadership experience in automation engineering, data intelligence, or research computing; 10+ years preferred.
Strong knowledge of enterprise automation frameworks, RPA tools, machine learning components, and advanced data integration architectures.
Experience supervising technical teams, managing software automation projects, and using ITSM platforms like TeamDynamix.
Salary up to $182,000 annually, commensurate with education and experience.
Serves the Chief Technology Officer department and collaborates closely with the Chief Information Officer’s office and university research stakeholders.

Director, Enterprise Research & Automation Services Full Description

Department:

Information Technology Services

Classification:

Administrative Faculty

Job Category:

Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type:

Full-Time

Work Schedule:

Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location:

Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type:

On Site Required

Sponsorship Eligibility:

Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Salary:

Up to $182,000 annually; commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check:

Yes

About the Department

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) department drives the university’s digital modernization, technical strategy, and institutional agility through four foundational pillars: Enterprise Infrastructure, Applications, Architecture, and Research. Operating centrally within Information Technology Services (ITS), the Research pillar identifies, prototypes, evaluates, and scales cutting-edge computing environments, automated workflows, and advanced intelligence applications. The unit focuses on shifting manual paradigms into optimized digital patterns, deploying high-performance systems, and ensuring emerging platforms are safely and effectively integrated into the fabric of the university to support institutional strategy.

About the Position

The Director, Enterprise Research & Automation Services provides strategic and technical leadership over the university’s institutional research and automation systems, advanced research pipelines, and enterprise automation strategies. This position oversees the engineering, optimization, and scaling of the Mason Research, Intelligence, Data, and Automation Systems platform, as well as enterprise-wide workflow automation initiatives. The Director manages a dedicated team of professional staff and student developers to run rapid-prototyping initiatives, eliminate manual operational friction, and support advanced research computing—all while operating in strict compliance with cybersecurity, data privacy, and technology governance frameworks established by the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO’s) office.

Responsibilities

Advanced Research & Automation Platform Engineering Leadership:

Serve as the focal point for Central Research Services to the Office of Research and Compute, and the Distributed GMU Research community—supporting GMU Research Council and stakeholder forums/working groups, etc.
Direct the architectural scaling, maintenance, and technical execution of the Mason Research, Intelligence, Data, and Automation Systems platform
Oversee the aggregation and indexing of complex institutional datasets into unified information pipelines, enabling real-time predictive analytics and executive visibility dashboards
Enforce rigid data synchronization protocols across the platform to ensure a single source of truth (SSOT) and eliminate data fragmentation across administrative systems
Accelerate the systemic elimination of manual operational overhead across all academic, research, and administrative units through active partnership and exploration engagements of the George Mason University business and research needs

Enterprise Automation Strategy & Process Optimization:

Lead the institutional automation lifecycle by identifying, designing, and deploying modern robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent workflows, functional apps, and system orchestration models across academic and operational units, intentionally converting slow, legacy department habits into high-velocity digital workflows while maintaining a centralized automation registry to minimize institutional technical debt
Partner with university stakeholders to systematically review high-friction, manual workflows and transition them into high-velocity, automated digital processes
Manage the automation registry to maximize the reuse of software agents and minimize technical debt
Define, track, and document the financial and operational return on investment (ROI) for all research and automation deployments
Build and maintain executive observability dashboards that quantify exact administrative hours reclaimed, error rates eliminated, and compute economics optimized, providing direct visibility to ITS executive leadership

Research Technology Innovation & Prototyping Pipeline:

Manage the dedicated Research, AI, and advanced computing lane in coordination with academic units and university research stakeholders
Establish a structured methodology for evaluating emerging technologies, high-performance computing (HPC) workflows, and advanced digital capabilities
Orchestrate a "fail small, learn big" pipeline using rapid prototyping and proofs-of-concept, directly utilizing student internship pipeline to build and test initial capabilities
Coordinate computational research support, HPC workflows, RAG models over licensed corpora, and open-science tools to secure and accelerate the university’s R1 research preeminence

Cross-Functional Integration & Compliance Operations:

Collaborate daily with the Applications, Architecture, and Enterprise Infrastructure pillars within the CTO department to ensure all automation and intelligence platforms scale smoothly onto core infrastructure networks, ensuring seamless platform convergence, and eliminating parallel development silos
Maintain strict operational alignment with the CIO’s area, ensuring that all deployed research tools, automated bots, and MIDAS projects fully comply with established university security policies, data privacy protocols (e.g., FERPA), and institutional risk frameworks
Ensure that every automated script, data ingestion pathway, software bot, and intelligence engine operates in strict compliance with the cybersecurity policies, data privacy baselines (including FERPA), and overarching governance frameworks established by the CIO’s office

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Significant experience (typically 6-9 years) of progressive technical leadership in automation engineering, systems development, data intelligence, or research computing environments
Knowledge of enterprise automation frameworks, robotic process automation (RPA) tools, and machine learning/intelligence platform components
Knowledge of advanced data integration architectures, cloud-hybrid platforms, and API-driven data pipelining methods
Skill in managing complex technology portfolios, directing rapid prototyping operations, and leading full-lifecycle software or systems automation projects
Leadership skills—including the ability to supervise technical engineering staff, assigning sprints, conducting code reviews, and evaluating production performance metrics
Ability to translate ambiguous, high-friction administrative and academic processes into clear, structured, and logical automated workflows
Ability to work effectively across distinct IT divisions—including infrastructure, systems engineering, and architecture teams—to align deployment configurations

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s degree in related field
Professional certifications in Automation Engineering, Agile/Scrum Project Management (e.g., PMP, PMI-ACP), or Enterprise Architecture are highly desirable. CRA (Certified Research Administrator), CDPSE (Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer), AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Extensive experience (typically 10+ years) leading enterprise-level automation strategies, managing large-scale intelligence architectures, and supervising cross-functional software or infrastructure development teams within a complex, research-intensive enterprise
Knowledge of R1 research institution technology demands, academic computing environments, and specialized research datasets
Knowledge of enterprise data governance strategies, security baseline standards, and higher education privacy regulations (such as FERPA)
Skill in utilizing TeamDynamix or similar enterprise ITSM platforms to track, monitor, and prioritize technical automation queues
Ability to coach and mentor early-career developers and student interns within a fast-paced, high-focus performance culture

Instructions to Applicants

For full consideration, applicants must apply for the Director, Enterprise Research & Automation Services at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter and CV for review.

Posting Open Date: August 19, 2026

Posting Close Date: September 2, 2026

Open Until Filled: No

Mason Ad Statement

George Mason University is a nationally ranked R1 research university committed to creating a more just, free, and prosperous world. With 40,000 enrolled students, George Mason is the largest and most diverse public research university in Virginia, offering degree programs at the master’s, doctoral, and professional level, along with certificates and credentials.

George Mason fosters an All Together Different environment for students, faculty, and staff, driven by our core beliefs. We believe in inclusivity over exclusivity; we believe in advancing our mission by being willing to take risks, not avoiding them; and we believe our best work is possible when we apply our diversity of origin, identity, circumstance, and thought.

Equity Statement

George Mason University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, committed to promoting inclusion and equity in its community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any characteristic protected by law.

Campus Safety Information

Mason’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available at http://police.gmu.edu/annual-security-report/

Original Job Description