Job Description
Research Software Engineer
This position provides expertise in handling large datasets, performing data analysis, and developing user-friendly, open-source data analytics tools.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Lead the research, design, implementation, and maintenance of urban computing software tools in close collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, ensuring that these tools are robust, reusable, and accessible.
Collaborate with scientists, engineers, and other researchers to translate research requirements into technical solutions.
Contribute to the design, implementation, and integration of research prototypes into usable open-source tools that address real-world challenges in urban computing and data science.
Advise on software development best practices, methodologies, and specialized tools relevant to the field of urban computing and data analytics.
Contribute to the research lifecycle of the project, including the preparation of publications, presentations, grant proposals, and other technical documents.
Research and conceptualize innovative solutions to problems, providing expert recommendations and insights that guide the direction of research projects.
Lead the porting, refactoring, and integration of research prototypes into open-source software tools, ensuring these tools are user-friendly, well-documented, and designed for community contributions and reuse.
Develop and manage advanced data pipelines for the collection, cleaning, analysis, and integration of large-scale, heterogeneous datasets.
Manage and coordinate open-source contributions, including the review, assignment, and management of GitHub issues.
Supervise and mentor junior researchers, software engineers, and students, leading training sessions, hackathons, and office hours to facilitate knowledge transfer and ensure project sustainability.
Manage and coordinate meetings between team members and external collaborators, helping to organize and lead interdisciplinary discussions.
Represent the OSCUR project at conferences, workshops, or campus initiatives, promoting the work of the project and building partnerships to support future research and development efforts.
Stay abreast of developments in software engineering, urban computing, visual analytics and data analytics through professional development activities, workshops, and relevant literature.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or closely related field.
Experience in designing, prototyping, testing, and maintaining software products, ideally within a research context.
Experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing experiments for research objectives, as well as proven ability to document results in research publications, technical reports, or grant proposals.
Research experience and knowledge in areas such as data science, machine learning, visual analytics, or visualization, with a proven ability to integrate these skills into collaborative research projects.
Experience contributing technical expertise in specialized areas such as urban computing, data analytics, or research software engineering, with the ability to troubleshoot technical issues in these areas and work on interdisciplinary software projects.
Preferred Qualifications:
Master's or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science or a closely related field.
2 years of experience with software development, ideally within a research context.
Proven ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment with scientists, engineers, and students.
Proven ability to prioritize, organize, and complete tasks effectively.
Experience collaborating on research projects, designing experiments, translating research needs into technical solutions, and contributing to the development of research-driven software tools.
Expertise in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and C++. Web Development: Experience with front-end frameworks (React or Angular), back-end development (Flask or Node.js), and responsive design using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap.
Familiarity with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch.
