Technical Specialist - AI & Creative Technology

This role forms part of an exciting recruitment campaign within Technical Services, investing additional focus and resource into strengthening capability across broadcast media technologies and the fast-evolving AI landscape. The Digital Arts team is growing so that students and academics continue to benefit from industry-leading equipment, expertise and support as these fields advance at pace, and this is a great opportunity to help shape that development from the ground up.

About the team:

Technical Services are a large and diverse team of highly skilled technical professionals who ensure the optimal functioning of specialist spaces and resources to deliver an exceptional student experience. They work in specialist laboratories, workshops, studios, resource centres and IT facilities. Technical professionals play a key role supporting, guiding, and advising students across the university from sciences, art, design and technology, through to sports, ceramics, nursing and physiotherapy.

About the role:

This role sits in the Digital Arts team, who provide specialist technical support to the School of Digital Arts (SODA) and the wider Arts & Humanities Faculty. As Technical Services lead for AI & Creative Technology (CreaTech), the post-holder will hold responsibility for the development, adoption and embedding of the specialism across education, research and knowledge exchange, working in collaboration with senior academic colleagues to shape its future direction.

The ideal candidate will have demonstrable leadership ability and expertise spanning AI and software development at one end, and creative technology, human-AI interaction and design at the other.

Required experience includes:
- Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow and Hugging Face
- GPU/AI compute systems (NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA)
- AI-enabled creative production workflows (ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion)
- Interaction and AI design/prototyping tools (Figma, Adobe XD)
- Planning and managing work across a specialism, including matrix management of others

The post-holder will lead the strategic direction of the specialism, plan and manage work across both disciplines, and support students and academics in developing industry-standard AI and creative technology skills. Experience of leading AI or CreaTech projects and setting strategic direction would be advantageous, as well as the ability to demonstrate and instruct to a high standard.

The role will involve supporting staff and students on a diverse number of customer-facing specialist counters and support areas. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of accomplishment in a similar environment. They will have a positive and flexible approach to work, be reliable and punctual, motivated and willing to undertake all required training and allocated tasks. They will have the ability to work alongside others and be capable of working in a team, whilst striving to deliver excellent customer service. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are key, as well as the ability to demonstrate ownership of personal workload.

A willingness to learn and develop is essential, as the university is committed to supporting technical staff in undertaking development activities in line with the needs of their specialism and work area.

Benefits:
- 25 days annual leave plus Christmas closure and bank holidays (extra 5 days after 5 years of service)
- Travel loan
- Wellbeing platform
- Life insurance
- Access to campus facilities
- Enhanced parental leave
- High-quality guaranteed pension