Group Leader Systems Operations
80%-100%, Zurich, Permanent
The ETH Zurich technology platform NEXUS Personalized Health enables discovery and translational research for personalized health. We offer a broad range of expertise across Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Software Engineering, Systems Operations, and Screening & Lab Automation.
Systems Operations bridges the gap between building systems and making them run reliably in real-world research and clinical contexts. Our team currently consists of 5 members, intentionally diverse in professional backgrounds, including site reliability engineering and operational profiles involved in clinical study execution. The group typically takes over responsibilities as systems transition from development to real-world use, also addressing operational priorities across NEXUS.
Job Description
As the Group Leader of Systems Operations, you will lead a diverse team and define how NEXUS operates systems for itself, users, and partners. You will create clarity across responsibilities, reduce friction, and establish predictable service delivery that fosters project success.
- Team leadership: Mentor and develop a diverse team with varying professional backgrounds and working methods.
- Operational ownership: Ensure reliable operation of internal and partner-facing systems, including deployments, environments, access patterns, and day-to-day stability.
- Transition and lifecycle management: Oversee handovers from development to controlled testing phases and subsequent operations, establishing acceptance criteria, documentation, and ownership boundaries.
- Regulated and structured execution: Manage work requiring regulatory awareness, certification constraints, validated processes, and strict documentation, particularly in clinical study settings.
- Stakeholder and expectation management: Proactively manage expectations, resolve conflicts early, and bridge communication between technical realities and user needs to prevent misunderstandings.
- Service delivery and prioritization: Manage intake, triage, and prioritization across multiple concurrent demands, balancing urgency, risk, and value with transparent decision-making.
- Reliability practices: Establish practical standards for monitoring, backups, change management, and access control. Ownership and predictability are essential, although on-call duties are not required.
- Cross-team collaboration: Work closely with Software Engineering, Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, and Screening & Lab Automation to ensure coherent end-to-end delivery.
- Process improvement: Simplify and standardize processes where beneficial, avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Resource management: Plan capacity, priorities, and reporting as the group takes on a growing portfolio of operational commitments.
Quick Self-Check
You will thrive in this role if:
- You enjoy stabilizing, operating, and continuously improving systems over time.
- You create clarity, calm, and reliability in complex stakeholder environments.
- You are comfortable navigating challenging conversations and conflicts, resolving them constructively.
- You proactively clarify ownership and are willing to define and enforce it when necessary.
- You combine technical depth with strong people skills and structured execution.
- You take responsibility for both team well-being and service outcomes.
- You appreciate building operational processes that minimize friction while avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- You are comfortable collaborating across diverse profiles, from engineers to clinical operations and other non-technical stakeholders.
Profile
Non-Negotiables:
- Proven leadership experience in operations, platform engineering, site reliability, clinical operations, or comparable roles with delivery responsibility.
- Strong stakeholder skills: align expectations, negotiate trade-offs, and resolve conflicts constructively.
- Experience managing systems or operational processes in reliability-focused environments.
- Able to translate between technical teams and users without overwhelming others with technical details.
- A solid technical foundation to engage with engineers on deployment, environments, automation, and system reliability.
- Excellent communication skills in English.
Strongly Expected:
- Experience defining operating models, handover criteria, and service boundaries between teams.
- Comfort with structured documentation and traceability when required by context.
Advantageous:
- Experience in healthcare, clinical research operations, or hospital environments.
- Familiarity with security-conscious deployments and pragmatic risk management.
- Knowledge of German.
Workplace
At NEXUS, we value knowledge exchange and teamwork, encouraging every member to contribute their expertise. We foster a flat hierarchy and a can-do attitude, offering flexible working hours, family-friendly models, training opportunities, and an exciting field of work at the forefront of translational research.
We Value Diversity and Sustainability
In line with our values, ETH Zurich promotes an inclusive culture, ensuring equality of opportunity, valuing diversity, and nurturing a respectful working and learning environment. Visit our Equal Opportunities and Diversity website to learn more about our commitment to creating a fair and open workplace. Sustainability is a core value for us as we strive towards a climate-neutral future.
Curious? So Are We.
We look forward to receiving your online application using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.