Berkeley Lab · 1 day ago
Data Access Engineer
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is hiring a Data Access Engineer within the Materials Sciences division. This role focuses on developing, maintaining, and consolidating the Materials Project APIs and associated Python client libraries, bridging back-end data storage and front-end user applications to ensure large-scale data resources remain accessible and performant.
Research
Responsibilities
Maintain and update Python APIs and Pydantic validation models; perform routine MongoDB schema and query updates under general instruction
Maintain Python client libraries (mp-api, mpcontribs-client); troubleshoot automated CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions) and monitor releases on PyPI
Update technical documentation (MkDocs) and provide first-line technical support for programmatic data access issues
Monitor API health and latency via Datadog; report and track system anomalies
Participate in weekly engineering sprints and contribute to shared code reviews
Architect the consolidation of disparate services; design backend logic to serve hybrid data from MongoDB and AWS S3; independently optimize complex, high-volume queries for performance and scalability
Design programmatic interfaces for the Python SDKs; lead versioning and distribution strategies; implement advanced client-side logic for authentication and caching
Author comprehensive developer tutorials and synthesize community feedback into formal technical specifications for new API features
Design custom observability metrics; lead root-cause analysis for service interruptions and remediate architectural bottlenecks
Determine methods for new assignments and coordinate technical activities for special projects
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in relevant field and a minimum of 2 years of related experience; or equivalent work experience
Demonstrated work experience in a scientific environment
Strong proficiency in object-oriented programming with Python
Demonstrated experience building or consuming RESTful APIs
Proficiency with Git and collaborative development on GitHub
Familiarity with NoSQL databases, specifically MongoDB
Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly through written documentation and oral presentations
Bachelor's degree with 5 years of related experience; or Master's degree with 3 years of related experience; or equivalent work experience
Advanced experience in the Level 1 knowledge, skills and abilities requirements to work independently and solve problems of diverse scope
Preferred
Advanced degree with one year of experience
Demonstrated work experience in computational science/research
Experience with modern Python web frameworks (FastAPI, Starlette, or Pydantic)
Experience with AWS cloud services, specifically S3 and Boto3
Knowledge of Python packaging and distribution (PyPI)
Background or passionate interest in computational materials science or high-performance computing
Company
Berkeley Lab
Berkeley Lab is a national laboratory that creates advanced new tools for scientific discovery.
H1B Sponsorship
Berkeley Lab has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
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Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (154)
2024 (159)
2023 (163)
2022 (154)
2021 (165)
2020 (107)
Funding
Current Stage
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