Software Group Lead: CASA Pipeline
Company: National Radio Astronomy
Location: Green Bank
Posted on: March 18, 2023
Job Description:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Position Description: Would you like to be part of leading and
developing mission-critical software for some of the largest
scientific endeavors on the planet? Would you like to be part of a
highly skilled international team of engineers and scientists
pushing the boundaries of humankinds knowledge of the universe?The
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is seeking a full-time
Common Astronomy Software Application (CASA) Pipeline Software
Group Lead who will be responsible for the short- and long-term
planning, management, and development activities for a radio
interferometer data reduction and analysis pipeline. The Pipeline
Group is responsible for the CASA pipelines, which provide
heuristic-based automated processing for calibration and imaging.
These software products have the primary responsibility of
supporting the data post-processing needs of NRAOs current
generation of radio astronomical telescopes, ALMA and the VLA. The
Pipeline can process both interferometric and single dish data, and
is developed by an international consortium of scientists and
developers based at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory
(NRAO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), under the guidance of
NRAO.As the leader of an international development project,
experience in achieving results indirectly, e.g., in collaborations
or through people in other organizations is a key to success in
this position.The CASA pipelines provide a layer of telescope
specific heuristics, using CASA and implemented in python,
connected to observatory systems to allow automated data
calibration and imaging.Over the next decade, our software
infrastructure will evolve to enable several orders of magnitude
greater performance scaling to support the upcoming Next Generation
VLA (ngVLA) telescope and ALMAs wideband sensitivity upgrade. The
successful candidate will have the opportunity to participate in
and guide the early stages of the software infrastructure design
and development towards these goals.The position can be based at
our headquarters in Charlottesville, VA; at the Science Operations
Center in Socorro, NM; at a satellite office in Albuquerque, NM; or
at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. A remote work
arrangement within the continental United States may be possible
for highly qualified applicants.In addition to competitive pay,
NRAO provides excellent paid time off benefits (vacation and sick
leave). Medical, dental and vision plans are effective first day of
employment. NRAOs retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to
10 percent of a qualified participants base pay. No contribution is
required of the employee; we also offer an optional supplemental,
tax-deferred plan for employee retirement contributions.Job Duties
Summary:The Pipeline Lead is responsible for the international CASA
Pipeline development team including development teams in other
regions, and is responsible for the overall personnel and technical
management of the extended team. The successful candidate will also
take responsibility for regular reporting on management status and
compliance with deadlines to senior management at NRAO and other
participating organizations, and may be asked to present that
status to other stakeholders or advisory bodies in formal or
informal reviews.
- Personnel management involves building and maintaining a
culture of trust, mutual collaboration, accountability, and
excellence within the department/division and with the
Stakeholders. This includes:
- Seeking to increase the diversity and inclusion of the group
through robust recruiting and onboarding practices.
- Reviewing timesheets and periodic performance reviews,
including interacting with the Human Resources and Business
departments of the Observatory when necessary.
- With guidance from the Observatory Human Resource Department
coordinates and advises on personnel matters, ensuring compliance
with applicable policies such as affirmative action.
- Advises staff on technical and operational matters, instructs
and orients new employees as necessary.
- Interprets, implements, develops and/or recommends changes to
rules, regulations, policies and procedures set forth by the
Observatory.
- Proactive compliance with NRAO and government safety policies
and procedures in own work area is expected.
- Programmatic management involves oversight of all aspects of
the lifecycle of software for which the group is responsible,
including:
- Gathering of requirements, planning development, assigning
tasks, tracking progress, coordinating integration, testing,
acceptance, and release while fulfilling high standards of
quality.
- Managing stakeholder relationships, establishing priorities
based on stakeholder needs, and maintaining effective
communications.
- Technical management involves interacting directly with all
group members:
- Developing the pipeline infrastructure to support retrieval of
data from the archive, generation of pipeline processing requests,
standard pipeline recipes, creation of final data products, and
final ingestion of products into the archive.
- Guiding the integration of pipeline components, tasks,
heuristics, quality assessment, and logs into the pipeline
system.
- Maintaining a consistent view and quality of implementation
across all of the software.
- Approving technical direction within the team.
- Interacting with a team of expert developers and improving on
present practices whenever and wherever appropriate, in agreement
with the CASA Group Lead where necessary.Work EnvironmentWork is
typically performed in a research and development office
environment. Occasional travel (domestic and international) may be
required.Position Requirements: Minimum EducationBachelors degree
in computer science, physics, astronomy, or related field. Advanced
degree preferred.Minimum ExperienceAt least seven years of
experience in software development, with at least three or more
years of experience leading a software group of three or more
people. Equivalent relevant experience will be considered.Preferred
EducationAn advanced degree in a closely related field.Preferred
ExperienceRelevant experience with radio astronomy data reduction
and analysis software and procedures is preferred.Knowledge of
radio interferometric theory and practice would be valuable.
Demonstrated leadership in complex environments and experience
leading larger and geographically distributed software teams is
preferred.Additional skills & Abilities:
- Strong interpersonal and group communications skills, oral and
written.
- Familiarity with a wide variety of technologies, such as C,
C++, Python, testing frameworks, threading, parallelization.
- Ability to translate science requirements into software
requirements.
- Understanding of software architecture and the implications it
has for development.
- Must possess strong leadership and delegation capabilities.
Ability to maintain and develop productive collaborations across
organizations, anticipate and mitigate political and technical
issues.
- Demonstrated strong initiative in refining and clarifying
requirements, defining and implementing QA processes, plan
definition and monitoring, defining technical direction, and
facilitating alignment.
- Ability to learn new areas and apply learning.
- Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities.
- Familiarity with project management concepts and
techniques.Competency SummaryThe Pipeline Lead is expected to have
demonstrated experience leading software development groups,
preferably within the domain of astronomy. The successful candidate
shall also have experience in leading a distributed team of
developers and be familiar with management, planning, and reporting
aspects. The candidate should be prepared to deal with already
ongoing activities, while also having the ability to formulate a
long-term direction. Candidates should have experience balancing
the maintenance, improvement, and enhancement of operational
software. Planning skills and appropriate management of a team of
expert developers and scientists are essential. Competency and
experience dealing with the development process from requirements
gathering, to development, testing and the formalism needed to
achieve an orderly process is also expected. Must be able to build
strong and productive relationships with stakeholders who have
complex and sometimes conflicting requirements, such as scientists,
development partners, and operations organizations. Strong
decision-making, consensus building, and communication skills are
essential.Additional RequirementThe Observatory has determined that
all employees who intend to be physically present in the facilities
and employees who work in safety sensitive positions are required
to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in accordance with our AUI
vaccine policy and provide proof of full vaccination prior to your
start date. A selected applicant may request consideration for an
accommodation for a disability or a sincerely held religious
belief.Application Instructions: Select the Apply button. You will
need to be prepared to upload your current resume and a cover
letter describing interest and suitability for the position.Equal
Opportunity Employer Statement: AUI is an equal opportunity
employer. Women, Minorities, Vietnam-Era Veterans, Disabled
Veterans, Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities are encouraged
to apply. To view our complete statement, please visit
http://jobs.jobvite.com/nrao/jobs. If you require reasonable
accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process due
to a disability, you may submit your request by sending an email to
resumes@nrao.edu.
The NRAO is an equal opportunity employer (M/F/D/V)
PM20
Please see job description
PI206329057
Keywords: National Radio Astronomy, Roanoke , Software Group Lead: CASA Pipeline, IT / Software / Systems , Green Bank, Virginia
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