EcoHealth Alliance seeks a research software engineer to build and maintain technical infrastructure to support scientific research across our field, lab, and computational teams. We are seeking someone with the ability to learn and use a variety of system administration and development operations tools, and to work with a diverse, multi-disciplinary team that includes scientists from across the globe. This is a key position at a rapidly growing NGO with diverse funded scientific research programs around the world focused on conservation and zoonotic disease emergence. We are a nimble organization eager to test new workflows and technologies and contribute to and participate in open-source development. You will be embedded within the computational research team and work in coordination with a data librarian (who provides training) and an IT services firm (that provide networking and office computing support) to support scientists' needs. The ability to communicate and work well with colleagues with a mix of backgrounds is key.
We maintain both cloud- and local-hardware based services for our research teams including Open Data Kit and RStudio. Research teams use R and Python, Git and GitHub Actions, AirTable, Dolt, and reproducibility tools such as targets, renv, and snakemake. We use the following back-end technologies to support these in an automated and secure way: Linux servers, Docker (including Rocker), Ansible, GitHub Actions, Pomerium, and Amazon Web Services including EC2, S3, Route53, CloudWatch, and Cognito. A successful candidate will have experience with some of these technologies and/or equivalents, and a demonstrated ability to learn and adopt new tools to develop reproducible and secure solutions in a team environment.
This position is based in New York City with a remote (including international) option. The candidate must be available to collaborate with team members via email, chat, and video calls during US EST business hours (9AM-5PM). Visa sponsorship and moving expenses are available for candidates opting to relocate to New York and work primarily in-office.
Description and Responsibilities
Reporting to the Principal Scientist for Computational Research, the Software Research Engineer will:
- Design and operate data collection, warehousing, and publishing systems to support field, lab, and data scientists at EcoHealth Alliance and collaborating institutions
- Maintain and administer high-performance computing servers and containerized analysis environments
- Work collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams with a mixture of workflows and needs
- Automate and document computing infrastructure deployment
- Create a road map for maintenance, testing, documentation, and continual improvement of systems
- Recommend software, hardware, and service providers for projects considering cost, usability, security, and maintainability
- Contribute to open-source software projects
- Maintain current knowledge of emerging tools, technologies and services
- Participate in the design of new projects and developing funding applications
- Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- At least 4 years' work experience or postgraduate training in scientific computing, systems administration, and/or development operations
- Working knowledge of R or Python
- Experience with Linux systems administration
- Experience and knowledge of some of the front- and back-end services and technologies described above, particularly Ansible and AWS.
- Attention to detail, documentation, and security
- Demonstrated ability and willingness to learn new frameworks, technologies, and concepts
- Strong communication and teamwork skills
- Strong organizational and project management skills
Additional Desired Qualifications
- Experience working in scientific or academic organizations
- Background in statistics, data science, or related quantitative fields
- Knowledge of reproducible research practices, data archiving, and metadata standards
Compensation will be $90,000 - $110,000 USD annually, commensurate with skills and experience.
At EcoHealth Alliance, our vision is a workplace with a diverse and talented staff where people want to come, to stay, do their best work, and grow. We recruit, employ, train, compensate and promote our staff without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or socioeconomic status. EcoHealth Alliance offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefit package including health, dental, and vision coverage, and a 403(b) pension plan. EcoHealth Alliance is proud and deeply committed to being an equal opportunity employer.
How to Apply:
Please apply via the form at https://www.ecohealthalliance.org/research-software-engineer-2022. You will be asked to upload a cover letter and a resume or CV as a single PDF document with a filename of the format "FirstName_LastName.pdf". Both the letter and resume should be no more than two pages in length, for a total of four pages. Applications will receive an automated message of receipt. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.
Please include in your application detail on your experience with and ability to support our technology stack or similar tooling. Applicants are encouraged to include links to code repositories, online portfolios, and other demonstrations of experience in their cover letter or CV, but public or open-source work is not required.