National Radio Astronomy Observatory · 9 hours ago
Software Engineer II-III
155 Observatory Rd, Green Bank, WV 24944, USA
Full-time
Hybrid
Entry, Mid Level
$60K/yr - $120K/yr
1+ years expThe National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a prestigious research facility dedicated to the study of the universe, operating advanced radio telescopes globally. They are seeking an experienced Scientific Software Engineer to design, implement, optimize, and maintain scientific applications and data-processing software for large-scale high-performance computing systems.
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Responsibilities
Develop high-performance scientific software in C++ and Python, including numerical algorithms, data-analysis pipelines, and simulation components
Implement scalable solutions leveraging modern parallel programming techniques (MPI, OpenMP, CUDA/HIP, OpenACC)
Build Python interfaces, bindings, and workflow tooling around high-performance C++ cores
Design modular, maintainable, and testable codebases following established software engineering best practices
Profile, benchmark, and optimize HPC applications for multi-core, many-core, GPU-accelerated, and distributed-memory systems
Improve algorithmic efficiency, memory usage, I/O patterns, and data-movement behavior to achieve target throughput and scalability
Work with HPC system engineers to tune application performance for specific architectures (e.g., Slurm-managed clusters or other supercomputing platforms)
Create robust, automated workflows for large-scale simulations, experiments, or data-processing tasks
Integrate software with HPC schedulers, containerization technologies (e.g., Singularity/Apptainer), and workflow engines
Implement data ingestion, transformation, and storage strategies for multi-terabyte to petabyte-scale datasets
Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams—scientists, data analysts, HPC support staff, and software engineers—to translate research requirements into software designs
Contribute to technical roadmaps, architectural decisions, and documentation for long-term sustainability
Mentor junior developers and participate in code reviews, design reviews, and project planning
Develop and maintain automated test suites, CI/CD pipelines, and reproducible build environments (CMake, setuptools, Conan, Spack, etc.)
Ensure high reliability, traceability, and maintainability of code deployed at scale
Adhere to configuration-management processes and documentation standards
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Physics, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related field
At least one or more years of experience in the development of software applications
Strong proficiency in Python (scientific stack: NumPy, SciPy, pandas, xarray, etc.) and modern C++ (C++14/17/20)
Demonstrated experience developing scientific or numerical software for HPC systems
Experience with parallel programming paradigms (e.g., MPI, OpenMP) and performance-profiling tools
Familiarity with Linux development environments, version control (Git), software build systems, and automated testing frameworks
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and scientific stakeholders
Experience with large-scale data management strategies and parallel I/O libraries (HDF5, ADIOS, NetCDF)
Familiarity with container technologies (Singularity/Apptainer, Docker) and reproducible science practices
Experience with software engineering principles, working within an Agile framework, and experience in the complete product lifecycle
Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States
Preferred
Advanced degree in a related field (Ph.D. preferred for research-intensive domains)
Three or more years of experience in the development of software applications
Experience with GPU programming or other accelerator architectures
Prior contributions to open-source scientific computing libraries
Experience with workflow orchestration frameworks and HPC schedulers (e.g., Slurm, PBS, HTCondor)
Background in numerical methods, computational physics, signal processing, or other scientific domains relevant to the organization
Benefits
Excellent paid time off (13 holidays, annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days and 15 sick days, additional time off for doctor/dentist visits, and 8 weeks of paid parental leave)
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
Optional supplemental, tax-deferred plan for employee retirement contributions
Company
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
National Radio Astronomy Observatory has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
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