Research Software Engineer

Company: University of Utah
Location: Salt Lake City
Posted on: January 25, 2023

Job Description:

**Details****Open Date** 06/09/2022**Requisition Number** PRN30918B**Job Title** Software Developer**Working Title** Research Software Engineer**Job Grade** F**FLSA Code** Computer Employee**Patient Sensitive Job Code?** No**Standard Hours per Week** 40**Full Time or Part Time?** Full Time**Shift** Day**Work Schedule Summary****VP Area** President**Department** 00810 \- Scient Comp & Imag Instit\-Oper**Location** Campus**City** Salt Lake City, UT**Type of Recruitment** External Posting**Pay Rate Range** 70000 to 90400 based on qualifications and experience\.**Close Date****Open Until Filled** Yes**Job Summary****Job Summary**The Scientific Computing and Imaging \( SCI \) Institute at the University of Utah invites applications for one full\-time \(1\.0 FTE \) research software engineer to design, develop, and deploy software to support scientific and application\-driven research\. The SCI Institute looks for highly talented, motivated, disciplined research software engineers with professional experience and interest in state\-of\-the\-art image analysis and machine learning technologies\. The successful candidate will enjoy being part of a world\-renowned research institute and working closely with graduate students, post\-doctoral researchers, software developers/engineers, research scientists, and faculty members to develop cutting\-edge computational and mathematical tools\.This position is a perfect fit for individuals with a background in research\. Still, they love to write code, thrive in an environment of cutting\-edge science in academia, and apply their programming expertise to compelling research problems\. The successful candidate will contribute to the Institute's world\-class research and software development in biomedical image analysis\. They will work as part of collaborative, multidisciplinary teams that entail SCI Institute researchers and external collaborators in multiple application domains\. They will contribute to all aspects of computational methods development from research, design, implementation, testing, deployment, support, and maintenance within various areas, including image analysis, machine learning, visualization, and statistical analysis\.Please contact Prof\. Shireen Elhabian \( shireen@sci\.utah\.edu \) for further information\.**Start Date and Term:** Start date is immediate, preferably before August 1st, 2022\. The initial appointment will be for a 2\-year period, with the possibility of an extension based upon performance and availability of funding\.**The SCI Institute**The Scientific Computing and Imaging \( SCI \) Institute at the University of Utah is an internationally recognized leader in visualization, scientific computing, and image analysis applied to a broad range of domains\. The SCI Institute brings together faculty in bioengineering, computer science, mathematics, and electrical engineering, in the application of advanced computing technologies to challenges in a variety of domains, including biology and medicine\. The SCI Institute includes 19 faculty members and over 200 other scientists, administrative support staff, and graduate and undergraduate students\.The overarching goals of the SCI Institute's scientific computing research are to create new techniques, tools, and systems, by which scientists may solve problems affecting various aspects of human life\. We believe that to advance the state\-of\-the\-art and create meaningful computational solutions for such complex systems, one needs to advance research in a number of areas within scientific computing, including image analysis, visualization, simulation, and modeling\. The SCI Institute presents a highly challenging, collaborative work environment that can be deeply rewarding for the right individual\. A particular hallmark of SCI Institute research is the development of innovative and robust software packages that are broadly available to the scientific community under open\-source licensing and are supported by web pages and user groups\.At the SCI Institute, we offer flexible working hours, the potential for career development and personal growth, diversity of work, interaction with students, and involvement in research \(a sense of greater meaning and purpose\)\. We also foster and support the sense of community among principal investigators, software engineers, and researchers in a collaborative environment\. Furthermore, the University of Utah offers a competitive benefits package\.Further information is available at http://www\.sci\.utah\.edu/ \.**Opportunities for Professional Development**Through the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals \( CIP \) Cooperative \(Co\-Op\) at the SCI Institute, the successful candidate will access a community of research computing and data experts working together to support and sustain SCI's world\-class research efforts\. The SCI's CIPs perform a wide range of advanced services, positively impacting research outcomes and researcher productivity and fostering the growing SCI research enterprise\. The Co\-Op provides faculty and CIP with a stable work environment with opportunities for mentoring and growth whereby development, communication, training, and planning efforts can be coordinated seamlessly across the various research projects at SCI \. SCI's CIPs provide high\-quality and reliable software supporting SCI research projects\. The Co\-Op provides a stable lifecycle for software and data projects, maintains an efficient development process, and creates a community whereby CIP and research projects will continue to thrive\.**Work Environment**\- You will be contributing to cutting\-edge computational methods for image analysis\.\- We offer flexible working hours\.\- We offer professional career development opportunities\.\- The University of Utah offers a very competitive benefits package\.**Benefits**\- Health, dental, and wellness coveragehttps://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/health\\\_wellness\.php \(https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/health/\\\_wellness\.php\)\- Automatic and immediately vested 14\.2% employer contribution \(https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/retire\\\_401aPlan\.php \(https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/retire/\\\_401aPlan\.php\) \) to personal retirement account \(401a\)\- Free public transportation pass \( https://commuterservices\.utah\.edu/uta/ \) \(Utah Transit Authority\)\- Paid leave time \( https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/paidLeave\.php \)\- Tuition reduction for employee and family members \( https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits/tuition\.php \)\- and more: https://www\.hr\.utah\.edu/benefits**Location**The SCI Institute is a world\-class research institute located within the Warnock Engineering Building on the University of Utah campus, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the hub of many emerging tech start\-ups\. Surrounded by stunning mountain views and fantastic hiking and camping destinations just 20 minutes outside the city, Salt Lake is an excellent place for networking in tech and outdoor activities\.**Equal Employment Opportunity**The University of Utah, an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, encourages applications from women and minorities, and provides reasonable accommodation to the known disabilities of applicants and employees\.**Responsibilities****Responsibilities**\- Independently translate research output into software products\.\- Work with faculty and students in designing and developing computational tools in support of research projects\.\- Aid in the specification of software requirements in coordination with faculty or team leads\.\- Independently develop user interfaces, APIs, microservices, and components with state\-of\-the\-art front\-end and back\-end technologies and libraries\.\- Develop, build, test, and deploy high\-quality and documented code within collaborative code bases in coordination with faculty or team leads\.\- Create and maintain automated building, testing, and deployment systems for software packages supporting ongoing research projects using Git, GitHub, and GitHub Actions\.\- Be responsible for software packaging\.\- Interface with collaboration partners and participate actively in a collaborative work environment to turn requirements into optimal solutions on a large scale\.\- Contribute actively to team discussions on architectural design and solutions by continuously looking for improvements\.\- Research and stay current with project\-related scientific literature\.\- Help with research, design, formulation, implementation, and application of new methods in advanced machine learning, data science, and image analysis to accomplish scientific objectives\.\- Identify and implement creative solutions to overcome problems\.\- Produce containerized packages that can be hosted on a PaaS service such as Docker\.\- Mentor postdocs, students, and junior software developers for best software practices\.\- Support the end\-user community by responding to user questions posted on the discussion list, fixing bugs, and incorporating feature requests\.\- Help with the project website and discussion boards for user support, developer support, and announcements\.\- Contribute to teaching activities by preparing and presenting educational seminars**Qualifications**\- M\.Sc\. or Ph\.D\. in computer science or a closely related field awarded at the hire date\. B\.Sc\. holders with some research experience and extensive working experience in software development and engineering could be considered\.\- Individuals comfortable with research and development in one or more of the following areas are highly preferred: image analysis, computer vision, data science \(e\.g\., machine/deep learning, probabilistic modeling\), uncertainty quantification, scientific visualization, applied mathematics, or computational sciences\.\- Ability and desire to learn cross\-disciplinary knowledge to develop impactful applications of image analysis and machine learning\.\- Knowledge of best practices of "Software Development Life Cycle" \( SDLC \)**Technical Skills**\- 2\+ years of experience with C\+\+ programming including designing, building, deploying, and maintaining efficient, reusable, and reliable C\+\+ code\.\- 2\+ years of experience with scripting programming languages \(e\.g\., Python, Matlab, R\)\.\- Solid background and working knowledge of computer science fundamentals including algorithms, data structures, and object\-oriented programming\.\- Debugging and critical thinking skills including identifying bottlenecks, and bugs and devise solutions to these problems\.\- Competence in git and GitHub is a must\.\- Debugging skills including identifying bottlenecks, and bugs and devise solutions to problems\.\- Experience with developing standalone/desktop graphical user interfaces\.**Desirable Skills**\- Experience with large software development projects\.\- Good understanding of GitHub Actions, or a willingness to learn\.\- Experience with Google Test \(for developing unit tests\), or a willingness to learn\.\- Hands on experience in developing and applying advanced machine learning methods and computational algorithms using modern software libraries, including PyTorch and TensorFlow, or a willingness to learn\.\- Experience with developing cross\-platform software packages, or a willingness to learn\.**Helpful Skills**\- Knowledge of best practices of "Continuous Integration and Deployment" \(CI/CD\)\- Hands on experience with the Insight Toolkit \( ITK \), the Visualization Toolkit \( VTK \), and QT\.\- Experience with high\-performance computing, GPU / parallel programming, and cloud computing\.\- Good knowledge of server technology and databases\.**Non\-Technical Skills**\- Able to work in a collaborative software development environment as well as working independently with minimal supervision and direction\.\- Able to learn new tools and technologies\.\- Being self\-motivated and having good organizational, communication, and teamwork skills is essential\.\- Willingness and ability to collaborate in a highly diverse, multi\-disciplinary environment\.\- Excellent oral and written communication skills necessary to effectively work in a multidisciplinary team environment\.\- Communication and presentation skills to engage technical and non\-technical audiences\.\- Strong interpersonal abilities and teamwork skills\.\- Highly motivated to support research projects\.\- Ability to manage time across simultaneous tasks\.**Note:** This job description is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to the job\.**Minimum Qualifications**Requires a bachelor's degree in a related area or equivalency and 3\-5 years of experience in the field or in a related area\.Applicants must demonstrate the potential ability to perform the essential functions of the job as outlined in the position description\.**Preferences****Type** Benefited Staff**Special Instructions Summary****Application Documents**\- Resume/CV\- Names and contact information of three references\.**Contact Information**Please also send your application documents to Prof\. Shireen Elhabian \( shireen@sci\.utah\.edu \)\. If we accept your application, we will be in touch to schedule an interview\. We look forward to hearing from you\.**Additional Information**_The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students from diverse backgrounds and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education for historically underrepresented students\.__Individuals from historically underrepresented groups, such as minorities, women, qualified persons with disabilities and protected veterans are encouraged to apply\. Veterans' preference is extended to qualified applicants, upon request and consistent with University policy and Utah state law\. Upon request, reasonable accommodations in the application process will be provided to individuals with disabilities\.__The University of Utah is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and does not discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy\-related conditions, genetic information, or protected veteran's status\. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and 34 CFR part 106\. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission and employment\. Inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, to the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, or both\.__To request a reasonable accommodation for a disability or if you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, you may contact the Director/Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action:__Director/ Title IX Coordinator__Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action \( OEO /AA\)__135 Park Building__Salt Lake City, UT 84112__801\-581\-8365__oeo@utah\.edu__Online reports may be submitted at oeo\.utah\.edu_**_For more information: https://www\.utah\.edu/nondiscrimination/_****_To inquire about this posting, email:employment@utah\.edu \(%20employment@utah\.edu\) or call 801\-581\-2300\._**_The University is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems \("URS"\)\. Eligible new hires with prior URS service, may elect to enroll in URS if they make the election before they become eligible for retirement \(usually the first day of work\)\. Contact Human Resources at \(801\) 581\-7447 for information\. Individuals who previously retired and are receiving monthly retirement benefits from URS are subject to URS' post\-retirement rules and restrictions\. Please contact Utah Retirement Systems at \(801\) 366\-7770 or \(800\) 695\-4877 or University Human Resource Management at \(801\) 581\-7447 if you have questions regarding the post\-retirement rules\.__This position may require the successful completion of a criminal background check and/or drug screen\._

Keywords: University of Utah, Salt Lake City , Research Software Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , Salt Lake City, Utah