HPC Software Engineer III - UPDATED

Associated Universities•Socorro, NM

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a research facility expanding its large-scale computing infrastructure to support data-intensive science. This involves designing and prototyping technical infrastructure and data-processing software in collaboration with a leading national HPC center. NRAO is recruiting an experienced Software Engineer to design, implement, optimize, and maintain scientific applications and data-processing software on large-scale HPC systems. This role will prototype, develop, benchmark, and optimize mission-critical HPC software in collaboration with external computing partners. The role requires proficiency in Python and C++, experience with parallel and distributed computing frameworks, and the ability to collaborate with scientists, systems engineers, and HPC support personnel. The successful candidate will contribute to the full software lifecycle in a performance-critical, research-driven environment. This position can be based in Albuquerque, NM, or Socorro, NM, or Charlottesville, VA or Green Bank, WV. Remote work may be considered for well-qualified candidates.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related field.
At least three or more years of experience.
Strong proficiency in Python and modern C++.
Experience with parallel programming paradigms and performance-profiling tools.
Familiarity with Linux development environments, version control, software build systems, and automated testing frameworks.
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and scientific stakeholders.
Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in a related field (Ph.D. preferred for research-intensive domains).
Prior contributions to open-source scientific computing libraries.
Demonstrated experience developing scientific or numerical software for HPC systems.
Experience with workflow orchestration frameworks and HPC schedulers.
Background in numerical methods, computational physics, signal processing, or other scientific domains relevant to the organization.
Experience with large-scale data management strategies and parallel I/O libraries.
Familiarity with container technologies and reproducible science practices.
Experience with software engineering principles, working within an Agile framework, and experience in the complete product lifecycle.

Responsibilities

Develop high-performance scientific software in C++ and Python, including numerical algorithms, data-analysis pipelines, and simulation components.
Implement scalable solutions leveraging modern parallel programming.
Build Python interfaces, bindings, and workflow tooling around high-performance C++ cores.
Design modular, maintainable, and testable codebases following established software engineering best practices.
Profile, benchmark, and optimize HPC applications for multi-core and distributed-memory systems.
Improve algorithmic efficiency, memory usage, I/O patterns, and data-movement behavior to achieve target throughput and scalability.
Work with HPC system engineers to tune application performance for specific architectures.
Create robust, automated workflows for large-scale simulations, experiments, or data-processing tasks.
Integrate software with HPC schedulers, containerization technologies, and workflow engines.
Implement data ingestion, transformation, and storage strategies for multi-terabyte to petabyte-scale datasets.

Benefits

13 holidays
Annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days
15 sick days
Additional time off for doctor/dentist visits
8 weeks of paid parental leave
Medical plans
Dental plans
Vision plans
Retirement benefit: 10 percent of qualified participant's base pay with no required employee contribution
Optional supplemental, tax-deferred plan for employee retirement contributions