Research at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry depends to an increasing degree on digital infrastructure, data services and AI. To address this, we are creating a new position and are looking, at the earliest possible date, for a Research IT Specialist.
The position is anchored between the Institute's leadership and the head of IT, and combines hands-on technical work with conceptual work and strategic input to relevant governance bodies.
In your role, you will work closely with the IT Department, Science Coordination and Information Management at the Institute. Besides the needs and challenges of the Institute, a substantive focus of the position will be shaped by your own background and your ideas for developing it.
Depending on your profile and interests, a scientific contribution of your own, e.g., in data science or AI in psychiatry, is explicitly possible and welcome. Do you want to shape the future of Research IT in a highly dynamic environment? Then we're looking forward to your application!

Towards Research:

Single point of contact for the research faculty and group leaders on specialist IT, data and computing needs
Assessment of research IT needs and their translation into actionable demands
Onboarding and key user management: making sure that our researchers can work productively from day one
Building and maintaining an adaptive technical environment for research data management, incl. research storage, quota management, repositories, offboarding and archiving
Liaison, onboarding and user management for external high-performance computing and research infrastructures
Identifying and piloting AI use cases in research, curating the AI tool and LLM landscape available to the institute, and exploring agentic approaches to scientific work
Skills and empowerment across the institute: hands-on support, training formats, and liaison with internal working groups (such as the Open Science working group and the Code Club)

Towards IT:

Translation of research requirements into operational and technical requirements for the IT department and for external service providers, and co-implementation of the resulting solutions
Hands-on engineering work in close cooperation with the IT department - you are expected to be part of how sustainable solutions are built
Coordination with external providers and partners in the MPG ecosystem (e. g. GWDG, MPCDF, MaxIT, Digital Office), including orchestration and deployment of services
Information security: liaison with the Information Security Officer and co-developing solutions for regulatory requirements (such as NIS2) and risk in a basic research environment
Development and implementation of adaptive monitoring and maintenance schemes

Towards the Institute's Leadership:

Direct support and consulting: preparing briefings, decisions and risk assessments on research IT and AI
Co-development of the Institute's research IT and AI agenda, including the operationalization of frameworks for AI in research and research data management
Representation of research IT demands in the Institute's governing and coordinating bodies, and in dialogue with strategy, science management, risk and compliance functions
Early identification of regulatory and technological developments relevant to the research side, and their translation into concrete solutions

University degree (M.Sc., PhD or equivalent), e. g. in neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, medicine, biology, bioinformatics, computer science or a related field
A genuine research background: you have done research yourself and know from the inside how a scientific project is planned and executed
Substantial hands-on technical competence: Linux, scripting (e. g. Python, R), version control, data pipelines, and experience with HPC or cloud environments
The ability to translate between researchers and IT professionals
Willingness to take on a science management role and shape the science management infrastructure of the Institute
Very good English and German language skills

Desirable

Experience with research data management: repositories, metadata standards, storage architectures, archiving
Practical experience with AI in research contexts: LLMs, agentic workflows, adaptive AI governance
Familiarity with information security frameworks and related regulation (NIS2 / BSIG, ISO 27001, IEC 62443) or a demonstrable willingness to get into them
Experience in a scientific computing, research software engineering or research infrastructure role

Personal Skills

A highly agile and communicative mindset
Working with a high degree of independence
Translating complexity into solutions
A real appetite for uncharted territory: this is a new role in a dynamic field, and you will be shaping it together with us

Diverse, independent, and responsible tasks at one of the leading research institutes in the field of psychiatry
We support your personal development through a wide range of individualized professional development opportunities and offer you a comprehensive range of health promotion programs
A positive work atmosphere in a motivated, performance-oriented, and multidisciplinary environment
Our salary policy is based on the TVöD-Bund (classification depends on qualifications and professional experience, up to pay grade E14) with all public sector benefits, such as an attractive retirement plan (VBL)
Annual bonus
A monthly recruitment allowance may be paid
Temporary housing may be provided if needed, subject to availability
Assistance with finding childcare and care for family members
We are very easily accessible by public transportation (tram, subway, and bus) in the heart of Munich's Schwabing district (Scheidplatz)
To support your sustainable mobility, we provide a subsidy toward the Deutschland JobTicket

The position is offered on a two-year fixed-term contract.

The Max Planck Society is committed to gender equality and diversity. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and to ensure equality, applications from qualified women are especially welcome. In addition, we strive to employ more people with disabilities. The institute's leadership strongly supports the use of parental leave, particularly by fathers.

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Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie