Data Services Coordinator in Cambridge

This job can be based in Cambridge or Amsterdam. We’re looking for a Research Data & Data Services Officer to help explore, prototype and support the early development of technical services for the research and education community. This is a role for someone who enjoys working at the intersection of people, technology and practical service development.

You’ll work with researchers, research communities, National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), technical colleagues and European project partners to understand research needs and help translate them into technical requirements, pilots and early-stage service ideas. This is not a traditional data analyst role. You won’t mainly be crunching datasets, building dashboards or producing reports. Instead, you’ll be helping to understand how researchers work with data, systems, applications and platforms, and how GÉANT can support those workflows through practical, scalable services.

You do not need to be a senior research data expert, but you should be comfortable speaking with researchers or technical users, asking good questions, understanding requirements, and helping shape those requirements into something that can be tested, piloted or developed further. The role would suit someone with a technical background or strong technical curiosity, perhaps from systems administration, infrastructure, DevOps, technical applications, research computing, platform support, service delivery or technical project environments, who enjoys learning, trying things out and turning ideas into practical solutions.

What You’ll Do

• Research Workflow & Requirements Discovery: You’ll speak with researchers, research communities and technical stakeholders to understand how they work, what challenges they face, and what they need from research data services, applications or platforms. You’ll help collect, analyse and structure requirements, turning sometimes vague or complex needs into clear technical requirements that can be explored, tested and developed.
• Technical Exploration & Prototyping: You’ll explore tools, applications, platforms and technical approaches that could support research workflows. This may include supporting pilots, contributing to proofs of concept, testing technical solutions and helping assess whether something is practical, scalable and useful. You’ll be encouraged to take a hands-on approach, trying things out, learning how platforms work, and helping build the basis for future service development.
• Research Data & Platform Support: You’ll work with concepts across the research data lifecycle, including how data is acquired, processed, analysed, shared, accessed and preserved. You do not need to be a deep research data specialist, but you should understand — or be interested in learning, how researchers manage and use data, and how technical infrastructure, platforms and services can support that.
• Service Design & Technical Translation: You’ll help translate research and community needs into technical specifications, service concepts and early implementation plans. This means helping move ideas from “this is what the community needs” to “this is what a practical technical solution could look like” including what may need to be tested, deployed, integrated or improved.
• Collaboration & International Projects: You’ll work as part of a distributed, international environment, collaborating with NRENs, research communities, European project partners and internal technical teams. You’ll contribute to European projects and wider community activities, helping ensure that early service ideas are shaped with real input from the people and organisations who may use them.

About You

We’re open to candidates from a variety of technical or research-adjacent backgrounds and do not expect you to have done this exact role before. You might currently work as a Systems Administrator, Infrastructure Administrator, DevOps Engineer, Service Delivery Analyst, Technical Coordinator, Application Support Specialist, Research Computing Specialist, Technical Business Analyst, Platform Support Specialist or in a similar technology-focused role. You may also come from a research environment where you have worked closely with technical systems, data platforms, research infrastructure or digital services.

Please consider the responsibilities of the role carefully and how your experience aligns with the following areas:

• Ability to speak with researchers, technical users or subject matter experts and understand their needs
• Experience collecting, analysing or translating requirements into technical specifications, service ideas or practical solutions
• Interest in research data, technical services, applications, platforms, infrastructure or research computing environments
• Practical technical curiosity and willingness to explore tools, systems or platforms hands-on
• Ability to support pilots, prototypes, testing or early-stage implementation activity
• Strong communication skills, especially when translating between user needs and technical teams
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple pieces of work at the same time
• Ability to work effectively in international, multicultural and geographically distributed environments
• Curiosity, adaptability and a willingness to learn new concepts, services and technologies

Experience That Could Be Beneficial

Experience in any of the following areas could be helpful, but we do not expect candidates to meet every requirement:

• Systems Administration, Infrastructure Administration, DevOps or technical application support
• Experience deploying, testing or managing a platform
• Experience in service delivery, technical operations, service coordination or technical project support
• Exposure to research computing environments, research platforms, data infrastructure or academic technology environments
• Understanding of how researchers manage, store, process, share or preserve research data
• Experience working with researchers, universities, research institutions, NRENs or research infrastructure communities
• Experience with international or European projects
• Familiarity with authentication, authorisation, access management, identity, federation or AAI concepts
• Experience working with customers, partners, suppliers, technical communities or distributed stakeholder groups

We recognise that people build experience in many different ways. If you are technically curious, enjoy working with people, and are interested in helping shape practical services that support research and education across Europe, we would like to hear from you.

Application Process

Our selection process is designed to be transparent and respectful of your time, and includes:

• An initial call with a recruiter (for longlisted candidates)
• A 30‑minute interview with the hiring manager
• A final in‑person interview at our Cambridge office

Why GÉANT?

GÉANT is Europe’s leading collaboration on e-infrastructure and services for research and education. We connect over 50 million users across 10,000 institutions, enabling breakthroughs in science, education, and innovation. Working here means being part of something bigger. You’ll contribute to projects that have real-world impact, from climate research to space exploration.

What We Offer

• Flexible hybrid working (3 days in office)
• 31 days holiday + public holidays
• Annual learning budget and conference support
• A mission-driven culture with real-world impact

Want to know more about life at GÉANT? Visit: Why Work for GÉANT

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