Python/Django Developer (Mid-Level) (NLM)

Virtual Technologies Group • Bethesda, MD

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Quotient, Inc. is recruiting a mid-level Python/Django developer to support the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The developer will work on production Django and PostgreSQL applications, including MeSH, where reliability and performance are important. The role is embedded in a small team of federal staff and contractors, and work may shift between projects as priorities change. The ideal candidate is self-directed, learns established codebases quickly, develops rapidly, and makes careful decisions that protect production systems.

The position requires working on-site in Bethesda, Maryland, three to five days per week, and obtaining a Public Trust background investigation. Quotient is a provider of customized information technology solutions, including systems integration, full-stack software development, cybersecurity, project management, and operational support.

Requirements

• Able to work on-site in Bethesda, Maryland, three to five days per week.
• Able to obtain a Public Trust background investigation.
• At least 3 years of professional software development experience.
• Hands-on experience building and maintaining Django applications, including models, views, ORM queries, migrations, and tests.
• Comfort writing PostgreSQL SQL, reading query plans, and making schema changes safely.
• Solid object-oriented design and familiarity with common design patterns; ability to write code that processes complex, nested data structures.
• Strong debugging skills, including tracing problems through unfamiliar codebases to their cause.
• Fluency with Git branching, rebasing, and squashing in a shared repository.
• Evidence of learning beyond work, such as personal projects, a home lab, or open-source work.
• Good judgment about production changes, including testing, review, and rollback plans.
• Ability to work well on a mixed federal and contractor team and explain tradeoffs plainly.

Nice To Haves

• Front-end experience with Angular, Vue, or React; TypeScript and JavaScript; Node, Express, and npm.
• Experience with functional and event-driven programming, including promises, streaming, and reactive programming.
• Experience with search and document stores such as Elasticsearch and MongoDB.
• Experience with data pipelines, ETL, and handling varied file formats.
• PostgreSQL performance tuning, including indexing, query optimization, and large datasets.
• Testing and CI experience, including pytest, coverage, and automated pipelines.
• REST API design and maintenance experience.
• Linux, shell scripting, Docker, and basic deployment experience.
• AWS or a comparable cloud platform experience.
• Experience with NumPy, Keras, or other data-science libraries.
• Familiarity with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), medical terminologies, linked data, controlled vocabularies, or library and biomedical data.
• Federal or government work experience, or experience with long-lived production systems.
• A public GitHub profile, technical blog, or project portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Fix bugs, deliver enhancements, and handle production issues in NLM's Django applications.
• Identify and resolve slow queries, inefficient code, and fragile areas; improve tests and monitoring so problems surface early.
• Write and tune PostgreSQL queries, migrations, and data changes safely.
• Improve code, tests, and documentation beyond the assigned ticket when doing so reduces risk or future effort.
• Support other NLM projects and learn new codebases quickly as priorities shift.
• Make front-end changes in Angular, Vue, or React when needed for a feature.
• Work within the federal and contractor team's processes, communicate risk clearly, and support ideas with evidence.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed