Head of Department for IT Operations and Infrastructure

EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, is one of the most dynamic university campuses in Europe and ranks among the top 20 worldwide in numerous academic rankings. EPFL has over 6,500 staff members who bring to life the School's three main missions: education, research, and innovation. The EPFL campus offers an exceptional working environment within a community of over 17,000 people, including nearly 12,500 students and 4,000 researchers from over 120 different nationalities.

At the interface of cutting-edge research excellence, teaching, and major challenges such as the advent of AI or the management of sensitive data, the IT Operations and Infrastructure Department (ITOP) within EPFL's Information Systems Domain (DSI) manages the operation, maintenance, and evolution of EPFL's critical transversal IT infrastructures. As the Head of this Department, you will manage an average annual budget of approximately 8 MCHF and oversee a team of 60 FTEs.

Your teams cover the entire value chain related to the Institution's IT operations and infrastructures, from the service desk to the deepest infrastructure layers, including data centers. You will lead their managers and ensure that the services provided are robust, resilient, and meet the needs of students, faculty, doctoral candidates, and all staff.

The position is both strategic and operational. Under the direct supervision of the CIO, you will contribute to defining and executing the School's IT strategy, collegially with other DSI Department Heads, and in close collaboration with other Vice Presidencies and Faculties. In parallel, you will build and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders in the Swiss higher education ecosystem (Swiss Universities, Swiss Higher Education) and with strategic suppliers.

• Lead the department in all its dimensions: project and service portfolio, human and financial resources, quality, governance, and reporting.
• Ensure robust, resilient, and high-performance operation of infrastructures: availability, performance and capacity analysis, hardware and software maintenance, resource optimization.
• Ensure the security and continuity of the information system: reliability, data protection, continuity, disaster recovery, and backup plans. In crisis situations, you will lead alert processes and communication according to the criticality of events.
• Lead and develop teams with your unit managers in a high-performance manner: recruitment, objectives, performance reviews, skill development, and continuous alignment of the skills map with the evolution of the IS.
• Negotiate and manage supplier relationships: contracts, partnerships, internal (OLA) and external (SLA) service level agreements.
• Serve as the primary contact point for business units – laboratories, institutes, faculties, central services – to align services with their current and future real needs.

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent qualification, MBA or complementary training in Business Management/Governance, a major asset.
• Minimum 15 years of professional experience, including at least 10 years of proven experience in team management, with management relays, in the IT infrastructure domain.
• Language levels: French (C1 minimum), English (C1 minimum), German (an asset).
• Excellent ability to synthesize and simplify information, excellent writing skills in English and French.
• Excellence in tender processes, proven and indispensable knowledge of Swiss legal and contractual matters.
• Proven experience in budget establishment and management.
• Proven experience in leading and delivering complex IT projects.
• Political ability to converge decentralized interests while ensuring overall institutional coherence.
• High sensitivity to cybersecurity and data protection, as well as business continuity in exposed environments.

Personal and Social Skills:

• Solution and client-oriented, strong sense of service, seeking dialogue while holding and defending one's convictions, very good communication skills.
• Excellence in contract negotiations, interpersonal skills, and building long-term relationships.
• Very comfortable with presentations, in English and French, whether in national or international contexts, as a client or as a member of steering committees, in front of peers or counterparts in other organizations.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure with a range of stakeholders.
• High stress resistance.
• Rigor, precision, proactivity.
• Autonomy and sense of responsibility, making and owning decisions.
• Mentoring and coaching skills.

• The opportunity to join a dynamic and stimulating team
• A high-quality multicultural and academic work environment
• Continuing education opportunities
• Involvement at the heart of EPFL's Information Systems

Notes:

• The employee may be required to work exceptionally in the evening or on weekends.
• The employee may be required to provide exceptional on-call service.

Start date: December 1, 2026, or to be agreed upon.

Employment rate: 100%

Contract type: Permanent

Reference: 2424