Career Center

Scheduled Hours

37.5

Position Summary

A&S Computing and the Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Sciences (TRIADS) is looking for a Computational Engineer and Software Developer to contribute to the design, development, and implementation of innovative high-performance software systems to support its basic research programs. The successful candidate is communicative and passionate about research, programming, and data analysis, with demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: full-stack software development, research and scientific data management, machine learning, large-scale data analysis, /or SQL databases paired with integrated APIs. Experience in enterprise architectures, scientific data visualization, and/or web application development (e.g., Ruby on Rails apps, mobile AppsProgressive Web Applications) is a plus.

The successful candidate will work directly with faculty to support impactful, basic science research. The specific goal is to support researchers and research teams targeting the greatest challenges facing St. Louis, the nation, and the world such as global migration and environmental change, social media and misinformation, demographic change and aging, structural inequality (economic, racial, geographic, health, and education), and democratic decline.

The position is focused on software development, data and project management in support of ongoing and new projects in these areas and beyond. The Computational Engineer is also expected to act as project lead to coordinate with faculty researchers to standardize analysis pipeline management, image and meta-data management, synergize with ongoing projects, keep up-to-date with latest relevant software and hardware architectures.

Job Description

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintenance of full-stack applications and software. This includes set up and maintenance of existing software, development of new services and applications when needed, facilitating data flow from acquisition systems to databases, developing consistent APIs for data access, managing multi-threaded access from HPC and other hardware, and consulting with and training faculty. The software developed will be leveraged across multiple research groups and is expected to adhere to best design practices, version control, testing, documentation, and innovation pacing. Wherever possible, these will be open-sourced products to be made available to the wider scientific community.

• Communication and discussions with researchers, colleagues, and TRIADS faculty directors to understand the thrust of their domain research, identify algorithmic and software solutions relevant to ongoing research projects, work collaboratively to develop software solutions where appropriate, and maintain transparent lines of communication with all parties. 

• Collaborate with other Washington University departments â“ including the Humanities Digital Workshop, the library, and Computer Science - to prototype, produce, and deliver sustainable digital scholarship, searchable databases, and other related applications.

• Provide Project Management for all TRIADS projects:  Makes continuous improvement a priority, has a solid grasp of basic and advanced project management principles, along with having experience in successfully applying these principles. Understands the business need for each project and makes ongoing decisions based on what's best for the organization, even if it means challenging stakeholders on critical success factors.

• Design and development of workflow management systems, including scale-up to utilize hybrid hardware systems (HPC, Cloud, and local workstations).

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelorâ™s degree in Computational Science, Computational Mathematics, Computer Engineering/Computer Science, Computational Social Science, Computational Humanities, or a related field with experience in high-performance computing, image processing, and/or scientific visualization.

• Two years of scientific computing and/or algorithm/application development experience in a scientific research environment.

• Ability to work in an academic environment.

• Compensated internship and/or research assistantship experience in high-performance computing, image processing, scientific programming, and/or computational algorithm/methodology development during Masterâ™s degree and/or Doctorate program will be counted toward required experience.

• Proven skill programming in two or more of the following: Python, R, C/C++/C#, Matlab. Code project examples are expected to be available on GitHub or other code repositories.

• Proven skill developing software for analysis and visualization of scientific data.

• Ability to clearly document complex software and provide ongoing maintenance.

• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, communicate clearly, and willingness to lend a hand with projects.

• Excellent communication with faculty is a must. The successful candidate will have demonstrated effective oral and written communication Expected to maintain a positive working relationship with academic staff and other groups.

• Demonstrated experience in project management in a collaborative environment.

• RESTful API design & implementation and general experience with SQL technologies and the creation and management of API interfaces.

• Experience in design and implementation of the full software stack and Java enterprise systems.

• Experience in using established application server platforms, designing associated services, and APIs.

• Experience in SQL.

• Experience in programming with R and Python.

• Experience in computation computing and data visualization.

• Experience in computer code optimization and evaluation in an HPC environment.

• Experience in working with big data.

• Experience with Drupal or other CMS software.

• A good grasp of HPC and GPU technologies is a plus.

• Exposure to modern machine learning toolkits such as Scikit-learn, PyTorch, or TensorFlow is a plus.

• Experience building custom apps using high-level languages such as Ruby is a plus.

Required Qualifications

Certification or degree in computer programming from a technical school or college plus two years of relevant work experience required; additional relevant programming experience may be substituted on a year-for-year basis for required education.

Grade

G13

Salary Range

$63,900.00 - $109,100.00 / Annually

The salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Accommodation

If you are unable to use our online application system and would like an accommodation, please email CandidateQuestions@wustl.edu or call the dedicated accommodation inquiry number at 314-935-1149 and leave a voicemail with the nature of your request.

Pre-Employment Screening

All external candidates receiving an offer for employment will be required to submit to pre-employment screening for this position. The screenings will include criminal background check and, as applicable for the position, other background checks, drug screen, an employment and education or licensure/certification verification, physical examination, certain vaccinations and/or governmental registry checks. All offers are contingent upon successful completion of required screening.

Benefits Statement

Personal

• Up to 22 days of vacation, 10 recognized holidays, and sick time.

• Competitive health insurance packages with priority appointments and lower copays/coinsurance.

• Want to Live Near Your Work and/or improve your commute? Take advantage of our free Metro transit U-Pass for eligible employees. We also offer a forgivable home loan of up to $12,500 for closing costs and a down payment for homes in eligible neighborhoods.

• WashU provides eligible employees with a defined contribution (403(b)) Retirement Savings Plan, which combines employee contributions and university contributions starting at 7%.

Wellness

• Wellness challenges, annual health screenings, mental health resources, mindfulness programs and courses, employee assistance program (EAP), financial resources, access to dietitians, and more!

Family

• We offer 4 weeks of caregiver leave to bond with your new child. Family care resources are also available for your continued childcare needs. Need adult care? Weâ™ve got you covered.

• WashU covers the cost of tuition for you and your family, including dependent undergraduate-level college tuition up to 100% at WashU and 40% elsewhere after seven years with us.

For policies, detailed benefits, and eligibility, please visit: https://hr.wustl.edu/benefits/

EEO/AA Statement

Washington University in St. Louis is committed to the principles and practices of equal employment opportunity and especially encourages applications by those from underrepresented groups. It is the Universityâ™s policy to provide equal opportunity and access to persons in all job titles without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.

Diversity Statement

Washington University is dedicated to building a diverse community of individuals who are committed to contributing to an inclusive environment â“ fostering respect for all and welcoming individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Individuals with a commitment to these values are encouraged to apply.

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