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 ensuring they run reliably in real-world research and clinical contexts. The team consists of 5 members, intentionally diverse, with roles ranging from site reliability engineering to operational profiles involved in clinical study execution. The group typically takes over work as systems mature from development into real-world use and handles operational priorities that arise across NEXUS.
Job Description
As the Group Leader for Systems Operations, you will lead a diverse team and define how NEXUS operates systems both for itself and in collaboration with users and partners. Your role will focus on creating clarity across responsibilities, minimizing friction, and establishing predictable service delivery that enables projects to succeed in practice.
- Team leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a diverse team with various professional backgrounds and working styles.
- Operational ownership: Take responsibility for the reliable operation of internal and partner-facing systems, including deployments, environments, access patterns, and day-to-day stability.
- Transition and lifecycle management: Manage handovers from development to controlled testing phases and long-term operation, including acceptance criteria, documentation, and ownership boundaries.
- Regulated and structured execution: Coordinate work requiring regulatory awareness, certification constraints, validated processes, or strict documentation, particularly in clinical study environments.
- Stakeholder and expectation management: Proactively manage expectations, resolve conflicts early, and translate between technical realities and user needs to prevent misunderstandings from escalating.
- Service delivery and prioritization: Oversee intake, triage, and prioritization across multiple demands, balancing urgency, risk, and value through transparent decision-making.
- Reliability practices: Establish pragmatic standards for monitoring, backups, change management, and access control. This role does not require on-call responsibilities but does require ownership and predictability.
- Cross-team collaboration: Work closely with Software Engineering, Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, and Screening & Lab Automation to ensure cohesive end-to-end delivery.
- Process improvement: Simplify and standardize processes where beneficial, avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Resource management: Plan capacity, set priorities, and report on the group's 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 difficult conversations and conflicts, and can resolve them constructively.
- You proactively clarify ownership and are willing to define and enforce it as necessary.
- You combine technical depth with strong people skills and structured execution.
- You enjoy leading with accountability for both people and service outcomes, not just technical delivery.
- You like building operational processes that reduce friction without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- You are comfortable working 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 to align expectations, negotiate trade-offs, and resolve conflicts constructively.
- Experience managing systems or operational processes in environments where reliability, documentation, and access control matter.
- Ability to translate between technical teams and users without overwhelming others with unnecessary technical details.
- 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 as 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, where every individual contributes their expertise. We embrace flat hierarchies and a can-do attitude, providing flexible working hours, family-friendly models, training opportunities, and a broad, exciting field of work at the forefront of translational research.
We Value Diversity and Sustainability
ETH Zurich promotes an inclusive culture where equality of opportunity is upheld, and diversity is valued. We nurture a working and learning environment respectful of the rights and dignity of all staff and students. Sustainability is at our core - we are consistently striving for a climate-neutral future.
Curious? So Are We.
We look forward to receiving your online application using the form below. Please ensure your application includes:
- A cover letter outlining 1-2 examples where you took over systems/processes into reliable operation, and one example of a conflict or expectation misalignment you resolved constructively.
- Your CV.
- Reference letter(s) and contact details of referees.
- Copies of relevant diplomas and certificates.
Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
About ETH Zürich
ETH Zurich is among the world's leading universities specializing in science and technology. We are known for our excellent education, groundbreaking research, and direct transfer of new knowledge into society. With over 30,000 individuals from more than 120 countries, our university fosters independent thinking and inspires excellence. Located in the heart of Europe, yet connected globally, we collaborate to develop solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow.