IT Director

About the Berggruen Institute

The Berggruen Institute was established in 2010 to develop new ideas about how to reshape political and social institutions in the face of great transformations the world now faces. Our goal is to work across cultures, disciplines and political boundaries and engage great thinkers in developing and promoting long-term answers to the biggest challenges of the 21st Century. No one person can accomplish this goal alone. It takes a team —people with different backgrounds, technical knowledge, and skills sets.

Our Values:

Pursue excellence.
Cultivate future-oriented solutions.
Inquire with an open mind.
Build a collaborative environment.
Invest in people and relationships.
Respect the human dignity of all.

The Berggruen Institute and Berggruen Holdings are looking for an IT Director that will combine deep technical IT expertise and proven leadership skills to set the strategy, facilitate the design, drive the execution for all IT systems and platforms across both organizations. This is a full-time position.

Responsibilities: 

  • Build collaborative workflow, including collaborative tooling, and implement new technology, standards and best practices as technology evolves.
  • Provide strategic direction and project management for the record retention archival database project.
  • Develop and manage IT budget and ensure budget complies with goals, guidelines, and objectives set forth by leadership.
  • Maintenance and monitoring of locally hosted server and financial network management system (including firewall and switches).
  • Build a collaborative knowledge file storage.
  • Identify, track, manage, and mitifgate security risk in hybrid work environment, including training staff on best security processes/policies.
  • Create, manage, and annually update IT policies, including disaster recovery process.
  • Manage remote VPN access.
  • Troubleshooting equipment problems and solutions and managing equipment repair when necessary, including Mac and PC computers, phones, copiers, computers, etc.
  • Purchase new equipment including phones, computers and printers, and other equipment as needed for both Berggruen Institute and Berggruen Holdings.
  • Able to work off-hours when necessary, including nights, early mornings, weekends, and holidays.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Skills:

  • At least 5 years experience in a similar role.
  • Comfortable working in both financial (high security) and collaborative academic environments.
  • Ability to communicate complex technical issues in an appropriate manner to Executive team.
  • Ability to navigate and influence across internal functions and program areas.
  • Excellent documentation, communication, customer service, training, and problem-solving skills.
  • Strong project management skills – able to plan, manage, and coordinate multiple projects and ensure project initiatives and timelines are met.
  • Strong knowledge of systems and networking software, hardware, and networking protocols, including locally hosted financial network management and cloud management.
  • Experience leading and managing IT projects and rolling out IT infrastructures across various technologies.
  • Experienced in working with both PC / Mac computers.
  • Expertise in Microsoft products (Windows Server OS, Windows 10, MS Teams, Office 365 productivity apps).
  • Encourages Team building and positive departmental communication.

Perks:

  • Competitive Compensation Package including Salary, Benefits, and Generous 401k Savings Plan
  • Paid Time Off – Paid Holidays, 3 Optional Holidays, and sick leave.
  • Employee Developmental Support
  • Opportunities to volunteer and serve under-resourced communities and get involved in environmental causes.
  • Free snacks, gourmet coffee, and free lunches at team meetings.

What We Offer:
We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, including exceptional 401k, paid time off, and more.

We are committed to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace that includes individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Individuals of color, women, LGBTQIA+, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Please send a resume and cover letter to careers@berggruen.org. No phone calls please.

Berggruen Institute is a proud equal opportunities workplace. We firmly believe employing a diverse workforce is important regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, political preference, age, marital statutes, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. We make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. 

composed by Arswain
machine learning consultation by Anna Tskhovrebov
commissioned by the Berggruen Institute
premiered at the Bradbury Building
downtown Los Angeles
april 22, 2022

Human perception of what sounds “beautiful” is necessarily biased and exclusive. If we are to truly expand our hearing apparatus, and thus our notion of beauty, we must not only shed preconceived sonic associations but also invite creative participation from beings non-human and non-living. We must also begin to cede creative control away from ourselves and toward such beings by encouraging them to exercise their own standards of beauty and collaborate with each other.

Movement I: Alarm Call
‘Alarm Call’ is a long-form composition and sound collage that juxtaposes, combines, and manipulates alarm calls from various human, non-human, and non-living beings. Evolutionary biologists understand the alarm call to be an altruistic behavior between species, who, by warning others of danger, place themselves by instinct in a broader system of belonging. The piece poses the question: how might we hear better to broaden and enhance our sense of belonging in the universe? Might we behave more altruistically if we better heed the calls of – and call out to – non-human beings?

Using granular synthesis, biofeedback, and algorithmic modulation, I fold the human alarm call – the siren – into non-human alarm calls, generating novel “inter-being” sonic collaborations with increasing sophistication and complexity. 

Movement II: A.I.-Truism
A synthesizer piece co-written with an AI in the style of Vangelis’s Blade Runner score, to pay homage to the space of the Bradbury Building.

Movement III: Alarmism
A machine learning model “learns” A.I.Truism and recreates Alarm Call, generating an original fusion of the two.

Movement IV: A.I. Call
A machine learning model “learns” Alarm Call and recreates A.I.Truism, generating an original fusion of the two.

RAVE (IRCAM 2021) https://github.com/acids-ircam/RAVE