Software Scientist I - 531058

The University of Alabama • Tuscaloosa, AL

16h

About The Position

The Software Scientist I develops, maintains, and extends software components and features for a variety of products, writing well-designed, testable, and efficient software.

The Alabama Water Institute at The University of Alabama seeks a Software Scientist I to support Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) Cyberinfrastructure–R2OHC Platform research projects. CIROH @ AWI has developed a hybrid and multi-cloud water science environment for collaborative analysis of the National Water Model and work to improve U.S. capacity for critical flood and drought prediction.

The position works closely with leadership, DevOps Engineers, a System/Site Reliability Engineer, Research Software Engineers, hydrologic modelers, and experts in GIS, AI/ML, and databases. Work supports CIROH research projects through development and maintenance of the CIROH Hub and related web platforms, data visualizations and integrations, and CIROH-UA open-source repositories. The role maintains web applications supporting scientific research and operational hydrology. Renewal is contingent on availability of funding.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree; or an associate's degree and two years of IT experience; or a high school diploma or GED and four years of IT experience.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for collaborating with academics, researchers, engineers, and students.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and JavaScript.
• Familiarity with web development frameworks.
• Knowledge of REST APIs, JSON, authentication frameworks, OIDC, and version control systems such as Git.
• Knowledge of GIS, geospatial data tools, and visualization techniques.
• Understanding of scientific computing principles.
• Ability to stay current, learn new concepts and techniques, and build a strategic network of stakeholders and experts.
• Ability to collaborate with teams and experts.

Nice To Haves

• Graduate degree in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience with web mapping libraries such as Leaflet, MapLibre, or OpenLayers; spatial databases such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS; and GeoServer or similar open-source map services.
• Experience with software development, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and deployments.
• Experience with data discovery, metadata documentation, data processing, geospatial analysis, and scientific research.
• Experience working with large satellite remote sensing datasets in disparate formats and processing them for geoscience applications.
• Experience developing and deploying web-based applications for data discovery, visualization, and analysis.
• Experience producing open-source computer codes and software applications.
• Experience creating informational publications, training materials, brochures, or fact sheets.
• Experience delivering training.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and extend software components and features for a variety of products.
• Write well-designed, testable, and efficient software.
• Develop and maintain the CIROH Hub and related web platforms.
• Build data visualizations and data integrations.
• Maintain CIROH-UA open-source repositories.
• Maintain web applications supporting scientific research and operational hydrology.
• Collaborate with leadership, DevOps Engineers, a System/Site Reliability Engineer, Research Software Engineers, hydrologic modelers, and GIS, AI/ML, and database experts.

What This Job Offers

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