Research Software Engineering Manager

University of Chicago•Chicago, IL

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Research Software Engineering Manager will lead an internal engineering team across research initiatives within the Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago. This role requires a blend of establishing and nurturing software development best practices and building/growing a team in an academic setting. The successful candidate will possess significant technical expertise in areas such as cloud computing, database design, web-based applications, or machine learning. This manager will have substantial decision-making authority regarding project selection and execution. Collaborating closely with the Director of Data Science & Engineering and the Director of Data Science Clinic, the position involves evaluating the technical merit, costs, and value of external proposals. Responsibilities extend externally, including direct collaboration with researchers, students, postdocs, and industry/social impact partners. The role encompasses project management (scoping, partner communication, planning, reporting), development activities (code review, skill development for engineers and data scientists), and direct contribution.

Requirements

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in a related field.
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree, graduate degree in math, statistics, computer science, data science, or related field.
Professional software development management experience.
Experience using and developing on one of the major cloud providers (AWS, GCP or Azure).
Project management experience using agile methodologies (scrum, kanban, etc.).
Strong foundation in data platform design, data science, machine learning, and AI.
Experience with Cloud computing cost estimation and budgeting.
Experience with research universities or research environments; experience working with faculty, students, and researchers.
Experience in student mentoring.
Significant experience developing code in Python with knowledge of Node.js and/or a compiled language such as C/C++.
Strong analytical skills and problem solving.
Demonstrated communication skills and the ability to break down complex technical problems.

Responsibilities

Manage a team of engineers and students contributing to projects across the Data Science Institute’s activities of research, education, and partnerships driving the development of robust, scalable, core components.
Provide mentorship to engineers and students and share your passion for staying on top of tech trends, experimenting with and learning new technologies.
Establish processes to triage bugs, track software defects, and ensure their timely resolution.
Define and steward technical standards and code quality.
Oversee internal computing resources.
Work closely with faculty, staff, and external organizations to develop novel research and act as the principal liaison to faculty research partners.
Collaborate with external data science partner organizations on engineering projects.
Develop, apply and communicate standards for evaluating project proposals based on technical merit and other institutional goals.
Develop and communicate program priorities and performance standards and assess operations using these criteria.
Participate and direct code review and code evaluation activities.
Act a subject matter expert and technical lead on one or more areas of database design, cloud deployment, microservices, devops best practices.
Monitors achievement of programmatic and operational goals.
Directs the management of projects, as appropriate, including ensuring that all priorities are reasonably set and appropriately met.
Manages relationships with faculty and researchers to address their needs, both to further develop existing services and to identify new opportunities.
Performs other related work as needed.