Research AI & Data Enablement Specialist

Certain terms and conditions of employment for this position, including the rate of pay, benefits, etc., are currently subject to negotiation with the appropriate union.

Applies professional concepts and UCSF policies and procedures to increase successful researcher adoption of research data assets, computational environments, AI capabilities, and research technologies. Independently analyzes researcher needs and adoption barriers; identifies opportunities to apply AI and automation to streamline research processes, reduce manual effort, and improve researcher productivity; develops, tests, and operationalizes AI-enabled and automated workflow solutions within supported research environments; develops and maintains scalable onboarding, documentation, knowledge resources, workflow examples, and AI-assisted support capabilities. Validates researcher-facing workflows and recommends improvements to research services and user experience. Works across researchers, product management, data engineering, research infrastructure, and support teams to translate complex technical capabilities into practical guidance. Within defined procedures and practices, determines appropriate action and escalates product strategy, infrastructure priorities, architectural direction, service portfolio, funding priorities, and institutional communications decisions to responsible leadership.

Department Overview

UCSF Academic Research Services supports researchers in discovering, understanding, and effectively using institutional research data assets, computational environments, AI capabilities, and related research technologies. The ARS Research Data Services and Information Commons program works across research, product, data engineering, infrastructure, and support teams to improve researcher experience, increase successful self-service adoption, and develop scalable services and reusable institutional knowledge.

Responsibilities

Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in a related area and/or equivalent experience/training.
• Strong knowledge of and at least 5 years of experience in data science principles, practices, and tools such as Python, R, SQL, and others.
• Broad knowledge of information technology concepts relevant to research data services, computational environments, AI-enabled capabilities, and user-facing research technologies.
• Demonstrated experience applying generative AI-enabled tools, or AI-assisted automation to practical data, analytical, or research workflows, including identifying appropriate use cases, developing or configuring workflow solutions, testing outputs, and evaluating effectiveness.
• Ability to analyze end-to-end research or data workflows and identify opportunities to use AI and automation to reduce manual effort, improve efficiency, increase reproducibility, or enable researcher self-service.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts, system capabilities, and workflows into clear, practical guidance for technical and non-technical users.
• Demonstrated experience authoring and maintaining technical documentation, onboarding materials, knowledge-base content, FAQs, workflow guides, or comparable user-enablement resources.
• Working knowledge of research data workflows and the design and use of data sources, analytical environments, or computational tools sufficient to validate end-to-end user workflows and troubleshoot moderately complex issues.
• Demonstrated working knowledge, skills and abilities associated with system problem identification and resolution. Knowledge necessary to design, set up, operate and correct malfunctions involving technology systems. Experience in incident response and digital forensics, including data collection, examination and analysis.
• Demonstrated testing and workflow-validation skills, including reproducing user-reported issues, validating documentation accuracy, and supporting acceptance testing for user-facing features.
• Familiarity with version-controlled documentation or code repositories and ability to create reusable technical examples, code snippets, sample notebooks, or reference workflows.
• Thorough problem-solving and process-analysis skills; ability to identify recurring user needs and adoption barriers, analyze feedback and usage patterns, and recommend scalable improvements.
• Familiarity with data quality, governance, privacy, security, and responsible data-use requirements in a research or comparable institutional environment.
• Interpersonal and communication skills sufficient to work effectively with researchers, engineers, product managers, program leadership, and support personnel at varying levels of technical expertise.
• Ability to work independently within defined procedures and practices, exercise sound judgment, manage multiple priorities, and meet deadlines while contributing effectively as part of a cross-functional team.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience developing AI-ready knowledge resources, AI-assisted support capabilities, agentic or automated workflows, retrieval-augmented applications, or comparable AI-enabled solutions.
• Broad knowledge of databases and data systems. Knowledge relating to complex database system design. In-depth database querying and modeling skills working with moderately complex databases. Knowledge of conceptual database design. Skills necessary to develop procedures and standards relating to database management systems. Skills associated with implementing database enhancements that improve performance and reliability of the system at the software, hardware and operating system level.
• Experience supporting academic, biomedical, clinical, or other research communities and familiarity with researcher-centered service design or adoption practices.
• Experience delivering onboarding sessions, office hours, technical presentations, or community-based user enablement.
• Experience contributing to scoped research data, analytical, or consulting engagements and converting lessons learned into reusable organizational resources.

About UCSF

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only campus in the 10-campus UC system dedicated exclusively to the health sciences. We bring together the world’s leading experts in nearly every area of health. We are home to five Nobel laureates who have advanced the understanding of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, aging and stem cells.

Pride Values

UCSF is a diverse community made of people with many skills and talents. We seek candidates whose work experience or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity and excellence – also known as our PRIDE values.

In addition to our PRIDE values, UCSF is committed to equity – both in how we deliver care as well as our workforce. We are committed to building a broadly diverse community, nurturing a culture that is welcoming and supportive, and engaging diverse ideas for the provision of culturally competent education, discovery, and patient care. Additional information about UCSF is available here.

Join us to find a rewarding career contributing to improving healthcare worldwide.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

Salary Information

The final salary and offer components are subject to additional approvals based on UC policy.

Your placement within the salary range is dependent on a number of factors including your work experience and internal equity within this position classification at UCSF. For positions that are represented by a labor union, placement within the salary range will be guided by the rules in the collective bargaining agreement.

To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: