Software Engineer III

Associated Universities Inc. • Green Bank, WV

6d • $79,000 - $120,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), is a leading research and development organization focused on the study of the universe. NRAO operates state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for international scientists and has been crucial in understanding black holes, galaxies, and the early universe. This full-time position involves designing, developing, and maintaining code for a radio interferometer data reduction and analysis pipeline, which is essential for processing data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. The role will contribute to the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU), aiming to significantly increase system bandwidth and improve sensitivity and digital efficiency. The position can be based in Charlottesville, VA; Socorro, NM; Albuquerque, NM; or Green Bank, WV. A remote workstation within the United States may be considered for highly experienced candidates who can work independently while maintaining effective team communication.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, scientific or related field; highly relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a Bachelor's degree.
• Minimum of three years of experience in the development of software applications.
• Understanding of formal software engineering principles including design, documentation, ticketing systems, version control and testing frameworks.
• Experience with large development projects in Python.
• Experience writing code for data visualization and web presentation.
• Familiarity with basic astronomical principles and data reduction.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new scientific concepts and apply them to engineering implementation, ideally in radio astronomy and interferometry.
• Experience with scientific software development, numerical processing techniques, and mathematical packages such as Python/numpy.
• Experience with CASA (or similar data reduction package).
• Familiarity with High Performance Computing and Big Data concepts including distributed data storage, parallel I/O, parallel processing, and memory caching.
• Familiarity with software development in Linux, Python, and with version control software.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States.
• The Observatory presently cannot sponsor H-1B Visas for this position.

Nice To Haves

• An advanced degree in a related field.

Responsibilities

• Design, development, testing, and maintenance of code for telescope data processing.
• Formulate complex technical solutions for operational deployment based on broad scientific objectives.
• Understand basic scientific concepts of radio interferometry.
• Improve ALMA quality assurance (QA) processes and the common pipeline infrastructure.
• Develop and maintain the common pipeline infrastructure written in Python, which includes heuristics-driven data calibration/imaging, weblog-based presentation of workflow and data quality assessment, and science data product delivery.

Benefits

• Excellent paid time off (13 holidays, annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days)
• Medical, dental and vision plans are effective on the first day of employment.
• Retirement benefit: AUI contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of a qualified participant’s base pay with no required employee contribution.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level