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Position Description:
Position Summary
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a prestigious research and development organization that plays a vital role in the study of the universe. Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) is a nonprofit organization that manages and operates the NRAO under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Observatory is a hub for technological and scientific collaboration, operating state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. The Observatory has been instrumental in the study of black holes, galaxies, and the early universe.
The NRAO develops and maintains software used by the astronomy community for proposing, planning, scheduling, and analyzing observations made with these telescopes. We are seeking a mid-level Software Engineer with strong front-end web development skills to join the Archive Team, part of the Science User Applications Group (SUA). The Archive Team develops and maintains the NRAO Science Archive, one of the Observatory’s most visible user-facing applications. You will help shape the interfaces that astronomers around the world use every day.
You will have the opportunity to contribute to the next generation of tools critical to the Observatory, for both current telescopes and the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA).
This position will be based in Albuquerque, NM; Socorro, NM; Charlottesville, VA; or Green Bank, WV. For well-qualified candidates, a remote work arrangement may be considered.
What You Will be Doing:
Your initial focus will be on the NRAO Science Archive web application. There are many opportunities for improvement, including:
- Modernizing and streamlining the user interface for a better user experience
- Building new front-end features and components that help scientists find and work with radio astronomy data
- Improving front-end performance, accessibility, and test coverage
- Collaborating with backend developers to design and consume APIs and to improve overall system performance
You will design and deliver key components of the system, working closely with teammates and with scientific users to understand their needs. Team members also maintain and upgrade existing software and develop new tools that support the Observatory’s evolving observing methods, helping keep the Observatory at the forefront of science and technology.
Work Environment
You will join a team of professionals engaged in research and development in science, engineering, software development, and education. Work is typically performed in a research or development environment.
Who You Are:
You have:
- A bachelor's degree in computer science or related field; highly relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a bachelor's degree. An advanced degree is not required but is welcome.
- A minimum of one year experience in the development of software applications.
- At least three years of professional experience developing web applications is preferred, with a significant portion focused on the front end.
- Familiarity with standard software engineering concepts, practices and procedures through academic training or internship experience(s).
Competencies
- Professional experience building front-end web applications with Angular and TypeScript
- Solid command of HTML, CSS/Sass, and JavaScript, and experience with Bootstrap or similar frameworks
- Experience with build and bundling tools such as webpack
- Experience consuming and designing RESTful APIs and an understanding of HTTP
- Experience with version control, front-end testing methodologies (unit and end-to-end), and CI/CD
- Experience debugging and profiling web applications, including browser performance
- Understanding of object-oriented design and the ability to build maintainable, well-structured software
- Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new languages and frameworks
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills – both verbally and in writing
- The ability and interest to work as part of a team in a Scrum environment.
While not required, you may have:
- Experience with Python or Java and with backend development, sufficient to work effectively across the stack
- Familiarity with relational databases and object-relational mapping (for example, SQLAlchemy)
- Familiarity with messaging systems such as RabbitMQ
- Familiarity with containerization technologies such as Docker, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, or Kubernetes
- Experience with accessibility standards and responsive design
- Familiarity with basic astronomical principles and data reduction
Additional Requirement
Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States. The Observatory presently cannot sponsor new H-1B Visas for this position.
Total Rewards:
Compensation
The starting salary of this position is between $96,588 and $120,000. Factors which may affect starting pay may include; education, experience, skills, competencies, other qualifications of the successful candidate, as well as internal equity and labor market conditions.
Benefits:
Associated Universities, Inc (AUI) offers a comprehensive benefits package addressing the needs of employees and their families with most benefits beginning on the first day of employment, subject to eligibility requirements. AUI provides:
- 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.
- AUI’s retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of a qualified participant’s base pay with no required employee contribution.
- Click Total Rewards for more information.
Application Instructions:
For consideration, select the “Apply” button above. Please be prepared upload a cover letter describing your interest in this position along with a current resume.
We reserve the right to close this posting prior to the listed expiration date above based on the volume and/or quality of the applicant pool.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement:
AUI is an equal opportunity employer. To view our complete statement, please visit https://public.nrao.edu/careers/. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, you may submit your request by sending an email to [email protected]. PM20
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, or highly relevant experience in lieu of a bachelor's degree
- At least one year of experience developing software applications
- At least three years of professional experience developing web applications, with significant front-end experience
- Professional experience building front-end web applications with Angular and TypeScript
- Experience with HTML, CSS/Sass, JavaScript, and Bootstrap or similar frameworks
- Experience with build and bundling tools such as webpack
- Experience consuming and designing RESTful APIs and understanding HTTP
- Experience with version control, front-end unit and end-to-end testing, and CI/CD
- Experience debugging and profiling web applications, including browser performance
- Understanding of object-oriented design and ability to build maintainable, well-structured software
- Ability and interest to work as part of a team in a Scrum environment
- Experience with Python or Java and backend development
- Familiarity with relational databases and object-relational mapping, such as SQLAlchemy
- Familiarity with messaging systems such as RabbitMQ
- Familiarity with Docker, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, or Kubernetes
- Experience with accessibility standards and responsive design
- Familiarity with basic astronomical principles and data reduction
- Authorization to work in the United States
What We Do
Developed over the past seven years in collaboration with 60,000 human agents, Apollo is a breakthrough language model for objective-oriented conversational agents. Apollo replaces the transformer architecture of traditional LLMs with a neuro-symbolic architecture that couples the conversational skills of generative AI with the predictability and actionability of rule-based AI, making it better suited for agents. Companies of any kind can fine-tune the Apollo base model on a specific task and deploy conversational agents that work on their behalf. These fine-tuned agents can continuously improve from human feedback, which is integrated into their updated versions. They further feature fine-grained control, the capacity to adhere to the deploying company’s policies and a white-box view of their operations. With native tool use, defined scope and guardrails and superior steerability, Apollo Agents outclass LLM Agents across all conversational use-cases. Apollo does not train on company data, instead, it can be pre-integrated with any number of internal systems, and seamlessly call the relevant API endpoint whenever necessary. Like transformer-based LLMs, Apollo has a “system prompt”, broken down to structured, conditional policies. Workflows and tools are native to Apollo and do not rely on function calling or chaining. This enables 100% success rate in executing complex API calls and the ability to return grounded answers in each interaction from any number of endpoints or sources. Unlike transformer-based LLMs, Apollo is fine-tuned at the interaction level. In the Simulator, companies can generate automated conversations simulating the agent in production in front of users. They then proceed to fine-tuning the agent by correcting its output in each unsatisfactory interaction. This process can be repeated continuously to improve the performance and alignment of the agent. Unlocked with Apollo are some exciting new agentic use-cases, including the ability for companies to responsibly communicate with their customers using conversational AI, and to sell their products and services without the need for human involvement, the example featured in the Live Demo Agent.
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