Head of Technology at OAPEN & DOAB

Do you want to influence the strategic direction of OAPEN and DOAB and shape their technical future? Do you want to play a central role in the evolution of open access to academic books? Do you have technical knowledge and the ability to translate between tech and non-tech audiences? Would you like to develop your skills as a team leader? If yes, you may consider this vacancy note!

OAPEN and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) are looking for a Head of Technology, responsible for the development and maintenance of the technical environments and other ICT-related tasks.

In a fast-developing publishing landscape, OAPEN and DOAB promote and support the transition to open access (OA) for academic books by providing open infrastructure services to academic publishers and libraries, research funders, and researchers. OAPEN Foundation is not-for-profit, independent, and community-based adhering to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (self-audit here: https://oapen.hypotheses.org/524). With a small team of 12 engaged colleagues with diverse nationalities and backgrounds, we manage three platforms in close dialogue with our stakeholders and partners: 1) the OAPEN Library – launched in 2010 – hosting and distributing over 40,000 peer-reviewed OA books, 2) OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit – a public information resource, and 3) the Directory of Open Access Books – a discovery service indexing over 95,000 peer-reviewed OA books, co-managed with OpenEdition.

The Head of Technology will be managing a team of (currently) four people running the technical infrastructures of OAPEN and DOAB. In short, the infrastructures connect over 800 publishers with thousands of libraries and readers across the world. They are built on open source DSpace repository software hosted at the CERN Data Centre in Geneva. A core function of the infrastructures is the import of metadata and files from publishers and their conversion into different output formats that meet the requirements of the end-users, notably academic libraries and the intermediaries serving these libraries.

In 2024, new strategic plans were developed for OAPEN and DOAB. These strategies should steer the work of the Head of Technology: https://www.oapen.org/oapen/oapen-strategic-plan-2025-2028, https://doabooks.org/en/doab/doab-strategic-plan-2025-2028. For example, it is vital that the Head of Technology is capable of translating the needs of stakeholders into concrete technical developments. Moreover, it is crucial that the candidate appreciates working in a wider open science community, notably with identified key partners and infrastructure providers.

Furthermore, in the spring of 2025 the Institute of Data Science at Curtin University in Australia performed a full technical review of the infrastructures, which collected and updated the technical documentation and provided a set of recommendations for improvements of OAPEN and DOAB. The implementation of these recommendations will be an immediate and high priority for the new Head of Technology. A summary of the recommendations can be provided upon request.

OAPEN and DOAB have their offices in The Hague in the Netherlands, but the position is open to working remotely. However, for administrative reasons the applicant must reside in any of these countries: The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, or Poland.

In summary the key responsibilities of the Head of Technology will be

• Overseeing the maintenance, performance, and evolution of the OAPEN Library, DOAB, and ICT solutions supporting the organization, incl. risk management.
• Contributing to the strategic planning of OAPEN and DOAB and their technology budgets.
• Managing the technical team of OAPEN and DOAB.
• Performing some technical tasks (depending on skills and experience).
• Ensuring reliability, security, and interoperability with external infrastructures and partners.
• Aligning technical development with strategic goals and stakeholder needs, ensuring long-term sustainability and scalability.
• Project management (focusing on technical aspects).
• Representing OAPEN and DOAB in relevant technical and community fora and publicly at conferences, webinars, workshops etc. as appropriate.

Required experiences and skills

• Relevant work experience at the intersection of technology and community engagement.
• Ability to oversee complex system architectures that are scalable and secure.
• Proven ability to lead, coordinate, delegate and prioritise tasks in a small team.
• Experience working within and/or knowledge about the academic library or publishing sector is an advantage, especially the metadata standards and interchange protocols relevant to scholarly communication.
• Knowledge of DSpace repository software is an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate between technical and non-technical languages.
• Programming skills will be an advantage, e.g. Python, Java, or similar.
• Fluency in English (spoken and written).
• Willingness to travel.
• Master’s degree or equivalent with industry standards. Certification in digital services management is an advantage.

We offer

• An international and compelling working environment with dedicated and friendly colleagues embedded in a fast-growing and diverse community.
• Full-time position: 40 hours per week.
• Salary will be placed on scale 13 or 14 of the Collective Labor Agreement for Public Libraries in the Netherlands + year-end bonus. The appropriate step on the salary scale will depend on skills and experience.
• Holidays allowance is 30 days per year.
• Period of Appointment: A 1-year contract will be offered initially. A permanent contract will be possible, depending on performance.
• OAPEN office location is at the National Library in The Hague but remote work is an option.
• Reports to the Managing Director.

NB

• Starting date: As soon as possible, preferably 1 November 2025 but later is possible, too.
• Application deadline: 5 September 2025 at 10 AM CEST.
• Interviews will be held between 8–19 September.
• Questions and applications should be sent to Managing Director Niels Stern, stern@oapen.org.

OAPEN is a not-for-profit Dutch Foundation (‘Stichting’) based in the Netherlands, with its registered office in the National Library in The Hague. See annual reports.

Address:

OAPEN Foundation

Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5

2595 BE The Hague

OAPEN: https://oapen.org

OA Books Toolkit: https://oabooks-toolkit.org

DOAB: https://doabooks.org

More information