Senior Research Software Developer

UNC-Chapel Hill • Chapel Hill, NC

6d

About The Position

The Senior Research Software Developer will lead and contribute to the design, development, deployment, and operation of cloud-native computing environments that support research and data-driven projects at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). This position requires hands-on software engineering expertise and the ability to develop secure, reliable, and maintainable solutions across public-cloud and on-premises environments. The role will work independently and collaboratively with technical teams, researchers, and institutional partners to translate project requirements into production-quality research software and infrastructure.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, testing, and maintaining production-quality software systems.
• Strong Python programming skills, including experience developing services, APIs, automation, data-processing workflows, or research software.
• Strong Unix/Linux programming and systems skills, including shell usage, debugging, process management, networking fundamentals, and automation.
• Hands-on cloud development experience across one or more public-cloud and on-premises environments, with the ability to work across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and institutional infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience containerizing applications with Docker or compatible container technologies.
• Hands-on experience deploying, operating, and troubleshooting applications on Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated CI/CD expertise, including building and maintaining GitHub Actions workflows for testing, security checks, image builds, and deployments.
• Knowledge of software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, version control, automated testing, debugging, security, and documentation.
• Experience working effectively in an agile, team-based development environment, including familiarity with Jira, sprint planning, backlog refinement, estimation, and iterative delivery.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work independently with researchers, engineers, project managers, and institutional partners.

Nice To Haves

• Experience developing software or infrastructure for AI/ML, data science, research computing, or scientific cyberinfrastructure.
• Additional experience in one or more of the following areas: Cloud infrastructure-as-code, Helm, Terraform, or GitOps-based deployment practices
• Kubernetes security, observability, identity and access management, or storage integration
• Databases, data platforms, distributed systems, GPU -enabled computing, or MLOps workflows
• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring developers, or owning major features or work streams
• Experience working on collaborative research, higher-education, open-source, or cross-institutional software projects

Responsibilities

• Designing and implementing software components, data structures, algorithms, APIs, and research workflows using Python and related technologies.
• Developing and operating containerized applications and Kubernetes-based platforms across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and on-premises environments.
• Establishing and improving CI/CD, automated testing, security, reliability, and observability practices, including GitHub Actions, vulnerability scanning, logging, monitoring, and deployment automation.

What This Job Offers

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