Stanford University is hiring: Director for Digital Strategy and Library Technol

Director for Digital Strategy and Library Technology

Thank you for your interest in Stanford University. While we have instituted a hiring pause for non‑critical staff positions, we are actively recruiting for most of the positions currently listed on our careers page. We will update the page when the broader hiring pause is lifted.

Job Summary

DATE POSTED Oct 30, 2025 · Schedule Full‑time · Job Code 4799 · Employee Status Regular · Grade L · Requisition ID 107656

Note: This position has been deemed critical by the School of Medicine and is exempt from the hiring freeze.

Department Information

Stanford University School of Medicine’s Lane Medical Library accelerates scientific discovery, clinical care, medical education and humanities through teaching, collaboration, and delivery of biomedical and historical resources. The library is a state‑of‑the‑art medical library within the Medical Student Education group which supports Stanford Medical Center’s research, education, and patient care objectives. Lane Library supports its mission to accelerate scientific discovery in part by curating a collection of print and digital knowledge resources relevant to the in-depth research, graduate‑level education, and clinical patient care performed by the Stanford Medicine community and its affiliated hospitals and clinics. We are proud of our rich history dating back to 1882.

Job Purpose

Provide strategic leadership and direction by applying technological innovation to develop technical solutions that address complex research challenges. Achieve mission and goals through the management of staff.

Responsibilities

• Lead research engagement with faculty and researchers to understand strategic research goals and identify technical obstacles and solutions for highly complex research questions.
• Advise on research computing efforts to support research project goals.
• Oversee budget and schedule for complex projects in research computing and data analytics; support research needs by overseeing teams engaged in projects and operations to design, implement, and support innovative technical solutions.
• Lead the development of workflow enhancements; manage adoption of new technologies and methodologies within the research community.
• Ensure the organization stays at the forefront of evolving technologies and methodologies in research computing, artificial intelligence, and data analysis.
• Develop and manage relationships with external technology partners and vendors to enhance team capabilities and research support services.
• Lead and mentor a team of technical staff; manage recruiting, hiring, developing, and evaluating staff.
• Foster an environment of innovation and continuous learning; promote a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.

Education & Experience (Required)

Master’s or PhD degree in computer science, data science, statistics, or a related field and 7 years of relevant experience, or combination of education and relevant experience. At least 3 years of leadership experience with complex research projects and supervisory experience preferred.

Desired Qualifications

• Demonstrated expertise designing, deploying, and operating AI/ML solutions for information discovery and access including large language models, NLP, embeddings, vector/semantic search, RAG pipelines, knowledge graphs, and recommender systems.
• Familiarity with traditional information retrieval and search engineering, including indexing pipelines, schema, relevance tuning, query expansion, learning‑to‑rank, and operation of enterprise search platforms (e.g., Solr, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch).
• Practical experience with major cloud providers (GCP, AWS, or Azure) particularly their AI/ML and data services.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code tools like Terraform to manage and provision cloud resources programmatically.
• Understanding of ethical AI principles and their practical application in a research and clinical environment.
• Familiarity with biomedical data standards and ontologies used in health sciences, such as MeSH, SNOMED CT, and data formats like PubMed/MEDLINE XML, FHIR.
• Experience with digital library technologies including discovery layers (e.g., Alma/Primo, Blacklight), link resolvers/OpenURL proxy servers (EZproxy).

Physical Requirements

• Constantly perform desk‑based computer tasks.
• Frequently sit, grasp lightly/fine manipulation.
• Occasionally stand/walk, writing by hand.
• Rarely use a telephone, lift/carry/push/pull objects that weigh up to 10 pounds.

EEO & Equal Opportunity Statements

The University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job. Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Pay Range

The expected pay range for this position is $208,736 to $230,800 per annum.

Benefits Information

Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location, and external market pay for comparable jobs. At Stanford University, base pay represents only one aspect of the comprehensive rewards package. The Cardinal at Work website (https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/benefits-rewards) provides detailed information on Stanford’s extensive range of benefits and rewards offered to employees.

Visa Sponsorship

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. All candidates must be eligible to work and live in the U.S.