Software Engineer
Bioinformatics Software Engineer
Biodiversity Institute
Position Overview
We are looking for a software engineer to contribute to describing and documenting the life of the planet. We support scientists in natural history museums around the world with software that manages and publishes information about the species and specimens curated in research collections of plants and animals. The biological specimens document new species and the distribution of life on Earth. Our open-source Specify software platform is used by 300+ collections around the globe as part of a global research cyberinfrastructure collaboration HQ’d at the University of Kansas.
Do something for the planet, enjoy a pleasant work environment and take advantage of a generous university employee benefits program. You will join a small, competent, and friendly team in a sustainable museum technology initiative operating for over 30 years and experiencing rapid worldwide growth.
The position is funded with revenue from the Specify Collections Consortium, (http://www.specifysoftware.org), a global, non-profit, museum collaboration, organized under the KU administrative umbrella. We offer a flexible, hybrid, 40-hour schedule with offices on the bucolic KU campus, in lovely Lawrence, Kansas. In a post-pandemic future, weekend availability may be required for travel for national and international meetings. Performance is evaluated annually.
Key Functions:
- Code front-end web applications using software engineering best practices, including those for software documentation to produce components that survive a high degree of test automation.
- Conduct innovative technology research, concept specification and design for individual software components.
- Use mastery of object models to implement efficient, testable, extensible code in a database environment.
- Evaluate, and propose alternative implementation strategies and component classifications for software modules.
- Work collaboratively as part of a team of software developers to specify, design and code, API interface definitions, web service wrappers, and web applications.
- We are building Specify’s web UI using Typescript, React, Handsontable, and Leaflet.
- In the backend we use: Python, Django, Celery, Redis, MySQL or MariaDB, and Docker.
- Is eager to learn and to seek opportunities for professional growth.
- Possesses up-to-date knowledge of technological developments and the willingness to learn more.
- Is proficient or capable of developing competency with both front-end and back-end coding languages: JavaScript, Python, and Java.
Job Description
70% - Design, implement, debug, and maintain user-centric software to create inviting, intuitive user interfaces and great user experiences for biodiversity researchers.
20% - Participate in the software design and requirement gathering process with project stakeholders, including team members, advisory committees, and biological collections researchers to understand software requirements, and help identify and prioritize innovations and capabilities for Specify software.
5% - Participate in daily stand up meetings, team design sessions, code reviews, and contribute to high-level architecture and design choices.
5% - Perform other incidental software engineering/data management tasks as become necessary within the broad scope of the position.
Required Qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree.
- Two years of professional experience in (i.e. not course work) intuitive, end-user application development.
- Competency and skill in best-practices for software design and object-oriented or functional programming languages as evident on application materials.
- Six months experience with programming relational database systems, must be proficient with SQL, principles of relational database design.
- Developer’s level understanding of internet standards and DevOps technologies as evident by application materials.
- Experience working both independently and collaboratively in a team-based environment as demonstrated by experience, application materials, interview and references.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills as demonstrated through application materials, interview and references.
Preferred Qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree in computer science or software engineering.
- Three to five years of experience in developing intuitive, end-user software applications.
- Software development experience with web services.
- Professional background in science data processing in museums or environmental sciences.
- High social intelligence.
Contact Information to Applicants Aimee Stewart, aimee.stewart@ku.edu
Additional Candidate Instruction Only complete application packages submitted online will be considered. A complete application includes online application form, resume, cover letter, names and contact information for three professional references.
Application review begins on February 2, 2022 and will continue until a pool of qualified applicants is received.
Advertised Salary Range $80,000 - commensurate with experience
Application Review Begins 02-Feb-2022
Anticipated Start Date 21-Feb-2022
Primary Campus University of Kansas Lawrence Campus
FTE 1.0
Reg/Temp Regular
FLSA Status Administrative
Employee Class U-Unclassified Professional Staff
Work Schedule Hybrid, 40-hours: M-F
Job Family Information Technology-KUL
Work Location Assignment Hybrid
Disclaimer
The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Director of the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses).