As Operations Director you are responsible for setting ambitious goals, aligned with our vision, mission and long-term strategy. You supervise and guide a team of operations staff. You define and maintain standards and procedures regarding our operational activities, have a vision as to how to continuously improve them, and take responsibility for creating and maintaining a friendly working environment.

Operations management

• Take responsibility as a member of the Directors Team.
• Act as link between the Directors Team and operations staff.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of the eScience Center’s strategy.
• Carry accountability for administrative processes at the eScience Center, including finance, legal, housing, office IT and human resource management.
• Carry accountability for the eScience Center’s operations budget.
• Recognize and act on external developments in academic, non-profit and for-profit sectors, ensuring that these are translated into policy and strategy.
• Act as representative of the eScience Center to external parties, both nationally and internationally.
• Maintain good working relations with NWO and SURF.

Line management

• Ensure the professional well-being of employees within your team, fostering positive team dynamics and creating a culture of inclusivity.
• Provide structure, direction and purpose to the team, maintaining group identity and cohesion.
• Stimulate and monitor the personal development of employees and advise on career possibilities, enabling them to develop to full potential.
• Conduct annual job performance & development interviews, plus additional start and/or mid-term sessions as needed.

Who are you?

You love to manage, coach and develop staff, through effective situational line management, ensuring appropriate opportunities for training and development. You have a clear vision on, and experience with, financial and legal matters, housing, office IT, human resource management and administrative processes around project funding.

In addition, you have:

• a relevant academic degree (e.g. business administration and management);
• minimally 8 years’ experience in operations management;
• preferably experience with working in an academic environment;
• demonstrable team leadership experience;
• strong communicative, social and organizational skills;
• excellent people skills and a talent for working in a team;
• a strategic vision on operations in a project-oriented organization;
• excellent understanding of finance and HR;
• the ability and drive to develop and implement administrative procedures; and
• the ability to communicate in both Dutch and English.

What we can offer you:

• We work at the forefront of cutting-edge international research.   
• You will be part of an organization of intelligent, collaborative and ambitious people with a passion for academic research.
• You will be given extensive opportunity to further develop your professional and personal capacities.
• Salary scale 14-15, based on our Collective Labour Agreement (WVOI Cao-OI), depending on qualifications and expertise.
• Excellent secondary benefits: the possibility to work part time, an allowance for travel and mobile expenses, a holiday allowance (8%), 42 holidays and a year-end bonus (8,33%).
• An informal and creative working environment.
• The opportunity to creatively help shape the future of the eScience Center.
• Room for initiative and ideas.

The Netherlands eScience Center is the national centre for innovative software solutions in academic research. We aim to bridge the gap in knowledge and expertise between digital technologies on the one hand and scientific and scholarly inquiry on the other. We create the tools and digital methodologies that enable researchers across all disciplines to answer research questions, harnessing our unique blend of academic expertise and software development skills. We attach great importance to software quality and sustainability, and academic recognition of research software.

We stand for a research-focused, professional, collaborative, open and resourceful approach to everything we do, and we require that our staff can identify with these eScience Center values. Our people have a diverse background in education, gender, nationality and ethnicity. Together, we form an inclusive group with a common drive.