Job Details

Software Development Engineer I through III

Position Number: 6694492
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Position Type: Computing - Programming/Analyst

Software Development Engineer I through III

Job Summary

We are looking for highly talented developers with experience and interest in state-of-the-art technologies, high performance computing, memory management, and dev-ops. You will enjoy being part of a world-renowned research institute and work closely with PhD students, Postdocs, software engineers and faculty members on developing cutting-edge AI ready tools for data management.

We're working on extending and maintaining the National Data Platform (https://nationaldataplatform.org/) to include data usage search features pioneered by the democratizing data project (https://democratizingdata.ai/). Contextual information on each dataset in the catalog is compiled from publication records citing and presented to users using a combination of graphics, textual, and tabular data.

We're seeking a Research Software Engineer (RSE) who can contribute directly to implementation of data processing workflows and database engineering and support the integration, development, deployment, maintenance efforts including UI/UX, containerization, automation, and system-level optimizations.

Please contact Jess Tate (jess@sci.utah.edu) for further information.

The SCI Institute

The SCI Institute is a world-class research institute located within the new Warnock Engineering Building on the University of Utah campus. We are a highly dynamic, driven group of over 170 faculty, staff, and students. The overarching goals of the SCI Institute's scientific computing research are to create new techniques, tools, and systems, by which scientists may solve problems affecting various aspects of human life. We believe that to advance the state-of-the-art and create meaningful computational solutions for such complex systems, one needs to advance research in a number of areas within scientific computing, including: visualization, simulation, and modeling. The SCI Institute presents a highly challenging, collaborative work environment that can be deeply rewarding for the right individual. Further information is available at http://www.sci.utah.edu/.

Opportunities for Professional Development

Through the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIP) Cooperative (Co-Op) at the SCI Institute, the successful candidate will access a community of research computing and data experts working together to support and sustain SCI's world-class research efforts. The SCI's CIPs perform a wide range of advanced services, positively impacting research outcomes and researcher productivity and fostering the growing SCI research enterprise. The Co-Op provides faculty and CIP with a stable work environment with opportunities for mentoring and growth whereby development, communication, training, and planning efforts can be coordinated seamlessly across the various research projects at SCI. SCI's CIPs provide high-quality and reliable software supporting SCI research projects. The Co-Op provides a stable lifecycle for software and data projects, maintains an efficient development process, and creates a community whereby CIP and research projects will continue to thrive.

Work Environment

You will be contributing to cutting-edge computational methods for AI ready data management and data discovery
We offer flexible working hours.
We offer professional career development opportunities.
The University of Utah offers a very competitive benefits package.

Benefits

Health, dental, and wellness coverage https://www.hr.utah.edu/benefits/health\wellness.php
Automatic and immediately vested 14.2% employer contribution (https://www.hr.utah.edu/benefits/retire\401aPlan.php) to personal retirement account (401a)
Free public transportation pass (https://commuterservices.utah.edu/uta/) (Utah Transit Authority)
Paid leave time (https://www.hr.utah.edu/benefits/paidLeave.php)
Tuition reduction for employee and family members (https://www.hr.utah.edu/benefits/tuition.php)
And more: https://www.hr.utah.edu/benefits

Responsibilities
Responsibilities:

Work with faculty and students in designing and developing computational tools in support of research projects.
Aid in the specification of software requirements in coordination with faculty or team leads.
Develop user interfaces, APIs with web front-end technologies like HTML5, SCSS, Vue, React, Typescript, D3.js, node.js, chart.js
Back end server component development with technologies such as Flask, Django, CKAN, ArangoDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
Create and maintain build, testing, and deployment systems with Git, GitHub, Slack, Docker, AWS, Circle-CI, webpack, npm and many others.
Develop high quality and well documented code.
Build CI/CD workflows to validate changes across multiple targets
Profile and optimize performance for data throughput and latency
Interface with collaboration partners and participate actively in a collaborative work environment to turn requirements into optimal solutions on a large scale.
Contribute actively to team discussions on architectural design and solutions by continuously looking for improvements.
Research and stay current with project-related scientific literature.
Identify and implement creative solutions to overcome problems.
Mentor postdocs, students, and junior software developers for best software practices.
Support the end-user community by responding to user questions posted on the discussion list, fixing bugs, and incorporating feature requests.
Help with the project website and discussion boards for user support, developer support, and announcements.
Contribute to teaching activities by preparing and presenting educational seminars

Minimum Qualifications
Required Skills:

Solid background and working knowledge of computer science fundamentals including algorithms, data structures, and object-oriented programming.
Experience with HTML and web technologies.
Good knowledge of server technology and databases.
Working with large codebases
Containerization (Docker) and building software for web deployment
Strong understanding of Linux toolchains and debugging tools
Debugging and critical thinking skills including identifying bottlenecks, and bugs and devising solutions to these problems.
Experience with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or similar CI/CD systems

Preferred, but not required, skills and experience:

Experience contributing to scientific computing frameworks
Knowledge of RDMA, libfabric, or similar low-level communication APIs
MCP and NLP integration
UI/UX design
Scientific visualization
Cybersecurity and AAI (OAuth2, Keycloak, etc.)
Cloud deployment and Kubernetes

Non-Technical Skills

Able to work in a collaborative software development environment as well as working independently with minimal supervision and direction.
Able to learn new tools and technologies.
Being self-motivated and having good organizational, communication, and teamwork skills is essential.
Willingness and ability to collaborate in a highly diverse, multi-disciplinary environment.
Excellent oral and written communication skills necessary to effectively work in a multidisciplinary team environment.
Communication and presentation skills to engage technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong interpersonal abilities and teamwork skills.
Highly motivated to support research projects.
Ability to manage time across simultaneous tasks.

Note: This job description is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to the job.
Minimum Qualifications

Requires a bachelor's degree in a related area or equivalent experience. Applicants must demonstrate the potential ability to perform the essential functions of the job as outlined in the position description.

Preferences

Special Instructions

Requisition Number: PRN43469B
Full Time or Part Time? Full Time
Work Schedule Summary:
Department: 00810 - Scient Comp & Imag Instit-Oper
Location: Campus
Pay Rate Range: 50,000 to 95,000
Close Date: 1/31/2026
Open Until Filled:

To apply, visit https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/191385