Software Engineer - Backend Services
The University of Chicago

Job Info

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Department

Provost Globus Labs - Materials

About the Department

Globus (www.globus.org) is a sustainable, non-profit business within The University of Chicago delivering solutions to the research community worldwide. Globus develops and provides critical services that support scientific research for governmental, academic, and commercial organizations in a wide range of disciplines including life sciences, physics, and astronomy. We develop, operate, and sell commercial-quality, cloud-based software application and platform services used by 10s of thousands of researchers to manage their large-and growing-data management challenges. We have offices located at 401 North Michigan Avenue in the heart of downtown Chicago and remote employees who work-from-home. Globus, together with Globus Labs, a research group within the University of Chicago, and part of the Data Science and Learning Division at Argonne National Labs, develop and deploy cutting edge technologies to solve new challenges facing the scientific community and enable break-through scientific discoveries.

Job Summary

As a member of the Globus software development team, the focus of this position will develop and deploy new software services and create data capture and processing pipelines to help researchers publish and share their data and to solve problems in domains ranging from materials science, chemistry, catalysis, x-ray science, and more. We're looking for highly skilled developers skilled in the techniques of data preprocessing, and building and supporting Python backend services and systems that will be used by thousands of researchers in pursuit of Materials Genome Initiative goals.

Responsibilities

• Develop, manage, and deploy services that make machine learning models accessible to end users.
  
• Manage task organization and project planning by adapting Agile product management best practices for research workflows and teams in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Lead sprint-planning meetings and retrospectives in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Help foster clear communication around task management and task planning.
  
• Write clear user stories and acceptance criteria in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Identify and address user needs in collaboration with the PI and other developers.
  
• Develop the product roadmap in collaboration with the PI and other Senior Developers.
  
• Define and document the requirements, architecture, and design of the product/project to deliver scalable, high quality software solutions in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Develop and deliver software solutions using cloud-based infrastructure, command-line interfaces, REST APIs, Continuous Integration, and Python Software Development Kits (SDKs); this includes documentation, testing, and deployment.
  
• Create scalable project contribution structures within the team that translate to external scalability and community contributions.
  
• Engage with the open source community and potential users to facilitate product adoption and open source contributions.
  
• Mentor new hires and interns and develop onboarding documentation, processes, and structures in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Manage intern development and experience in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Maintain a working knowledge of current software technologies in research and industry.
  
• Present on research and projects at workshops and conferences.
  
• Create accessible scientific writing widely available to a general audience (e.g. Twitter, Medium).
  
• Work with Globus staff to provide resources and technical support to Globus users, as well as updating documentation and reporting bugs when encountered.
  
• Contribute to project reporting and academic writing (e.g. proposals, academic papers) in collaboration with other team members.
  
• Build relationships with other AI/ML and data infrastructure community efforts.
  
• Architecture and Design: Contributes to the definition and documentation of requirements, architecture and design of secure, scalable, asynchronous, data access services, based on expanded knowledge of principles of API design, asynchronous processes, service deployment and delivering highly available services.
  
• Software Development: develops, tests, documents, deploys and maintains high-quality software on a cloud-based platform, including REST interfaces, command-line interfaces, and socket-based services; works with other service and client development teams to integrate and design cross-service features. Can apply GitOps principles to create reproducible deployment workflows.
  
• Research: Participate in and contribute to research efforts related to the software, including collecting and analyzing data, and writing research papers for journals or conferences, and present research to key external stakeholders.
  
• Team Coordination and Professional Development: Maintains a working knowledge of relevant software technologies being used in scientific and commercial communities; contributes to project planning and project reporting, and recruitment.
  
• Supports and maintains existing applications. Works with web developers and responds to requests from users.
  
• Performs code testing on components and works to ensure that appropriate implementation standards are met. Evaluates design alternatives for development cost and solutions using various methods.
  
• Performs other related work as needed.
  

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
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Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
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Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or university degree in related field.
  
• Advanced degree in computer science or another relevant computer related field strongly preferred.
  

Experience:

• 4+ years of relevant programming experience developing, implementing, debugging, and maintaining applications with Python.
  
• Experience designing, developing, deploying, managing,and maintaining web services.
  
• Experience with a distributed version control system (e.g., Git).
  
• Experience with Unix/eLinux.
  
• Experience with Amazon Web Services.
  

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Python programming.
  
• Python frameworks (e.g., Django, Flask, FastAPI).
  
• SQL databases (e.g. PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite).
  
• Container deployment and management (e.g. Docker, Singularity, Kubernetes).
  
• Web technologies (e.g. REST, HTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX, PHP.
  
• Experience in high performance computing (HPC).
  
• HTTP servers (e.g. Apache, NGINX).
  
• Unit and integration testing tools (e.g. pytest, Jenkins).
  
• Web security technologies (e.g. SSL/TLS, OAuth2, OpenID Connect and PKI).
  
• Shell scripting (e.g., Bash).
  
• Agile (e.g. Scrum) development processes.
  
• Contributing to an open source project.
  
• Experience in high performance computing (HPC).
  
• Experience in cloud Computing and cloud design patterns(e.g. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
  
• Knowledge and experience in high performance computing (HPC).
  

Preferred Competencies

• Ability to work in a collaborative team environment.
  
• Exposure to fundamental concepts, practices, and procedures of software development.
  
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
  
• Strong problem solving skills.
  
• Ability to prioritize and manage workload to meet critical project milestones and deadlines.
  
• Attention to detail.
  
• Confidentiality related to sensitive University matters such as, strategic initiatives, trade secrets, quiet periods, and scientific discoveries yet to be put in the public domain.
  

Working Conditions

• Option available for remote work with occasional required attendance at in-person meetings.
  
• Ability to work on a flexible schedule, which will include occasional late night and/or weekend hours.
  

Application Documents

• Resume(required)
  
• Cover Letter (preferred)
  

When applying, the document(s) MUSTbe uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Frequency

Monthly

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Posting Statement

Employees must comply with the University's COVID-19 vaccination requirements. More information about the requirements can be found on the University of Chicago Vaccination GoForward.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Staff Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

We seek a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages a diversity of perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at:http://securityreport.uchicago.edu.Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

This job has expired.