IT Specialist (Back Office Developer) (IS-2210-11/12/13) - Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Cambridge, MA
About the Job
Description
OPENING DATE: July 17, 2024
CLOSING DATE: September 30, 2024
TYPE OF POSITION: Trust Indefinite (Non-Federal)
DIVISION: High Energy Astrophysics
LOCATION: Cambridge, MA
AREA OF CONSIDERATION: This position is open to all eligible candidates. First consideration may be made 14 days after the opening date. This is a career ladder opportunity with promotion potential to grade 13. Selection for this position to be made at the grade 11, 12 or 13 level. Candidates may be non-competitively promoted to the next grade level, up to grade 13, upon the recommendation of the supervisor based on classification requirements, satisfactory performance and qualifications of the employee.
CLOSING DATE: September 30, 2024
TYPE OF POSITION: Trust Indefinite (Non-Federal)
DIVISION: High Energy Astrophysics
LOCATION: Cambridge, MA
AREA OF CONSIDERATION: This position is open to all eligible candidates. First consideration may be made 14 days after the opening date. This is a career ladder opportunity with promotion potential to grade 13. Selection for this position to be made at the grade 11, 12 or 13 level. Candidates may be non-competitively promoted to the next grade level, up to grade 13, upon the recommendation of the supervisor based on classification requirements, satisfactory performance and qualifications of the employee.
What are Trust Fund Positions?
Trust Fund positions are unique to the Smithsonian. They are paid for from a variety of sources, including the Smithsonian endowment, revenue from our business activities, donations, grants and contracts. Trust employees are not part of the civil service, nor does trust fund employment lead to Federal status. The salary ranges for trust positions are generally the same as for federal positions and in many cases trust and federal employees work side by side. Trust employees have their own benefit program and may include Health, Dental & Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Transit/Commuter Benefits, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, Annual and Sick Leave, Family Friendly Leave, 403b Retirement Plan, Discounts for Smithsonian Memberships, Museum Stores and Restaurants, Credit Union, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (Childcare), Flexible Spending Account (Health & Dependent Care).
Conditions of Employment
- Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation, as required.
- Complete a Probationary Period if applicable.
- Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer.
- The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States. Proof of eligibility to work in U.S. is not required to apply.
- Applicants must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is at the forefront, internationally, of the scientific exploration of the universe. SAO combines its resources with those of the Harvard College Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA is the best-known astrophysics center in the world. Its programs range from ground-based astronomy and astrophysics research to space-based research, the engineering and development of major scientific instrumentation for space launch and use in large ground-based facilities, and research designed to improve science education. The research objectives of SAO are carried out primarily with the support of Government and Smithsonian Institution funds, with additional philanthropic support. Government funds are in the form of Federal appropriations or the form of contracts and grants from other agencies. In contrast, Institution funds are available to SAO through grants from the Institution's Restricted Funds, Special Purpose Funds, Bureau Activities, Business Activities, and non-Federal contracts and grants.
This is the position of Information Technology Specialist (Search and Back-office development) in the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) Project, High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The ADS serves a corpus of more than 21M scientific articles with more than 200M citations to a worldwide community of astronomers, researchers and librarians with hundreds of thousands of requests per day. The ADS is in the preliminary stages of an ambitious expansion plan to better support the wider NASA research community.
SUMMARY
The primary responsibility of the employee is to maintain and enhance the capabilities of the ADS search engine, maintain its public API, enhance its text processing pipelines, and develop new functionality and services to support text mining and metadata enrichment efforts.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is at the forefront, internationally, of the scientific exploration of the universe. SAO combines its resources with those of the Harvard College Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA is the best-known astrophysics center in the world. Its programs range from ground-based astronomy and astrophysics research to space-based research, the engineering and development of major scientific instrumentation for space launch and use in large ground-based facilities, and research designed to improve science education. The research objectives of SAO are carried out primarily with the support of Government and Smithsonian Institution funds, with additional philanthropic support. Government funds are in the form of Federal appropriations or the form of contracts and grants from other agencies. In contrast, Institution funds are available to SAO through grants from the Institution's Restricted Funds, Special Purpose Funds, Bureau Activities, Business Activities, and non-Federal contracts and grants.
This is the position of Information Technology Specialist (Search and Back-office development) in the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) Project, High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The ADS serves a corpus of more than 21M scientific articles with more than 200M citations to a worldwide community of astronomers, researchers and librarians with hundreds of thousands of requests per day. The ADS is in the preliminary stages of an ambitious expansion plan to better support the wider NASA research community.
SUMMARY
The primary responsibility of the employee is to maintain and enhance the capabilities of the ADS search engine, maintain its public API, enhance its text processing pipelines, and develop new functionality and services to support text mining and metadata enrichment efforts.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Function as a part of a team to develop new ADS search features and capabilities, ensuring its reliability and scalability
- Function as a part of a team to develop new pipelines and services to support text mining and metadata enrichment efforts
- Apply established data analysis / modeling techniques to identify improvement opportunities for proactive detection of data problems
- Collaborate with other team members and stakeholders in the design and development of new capabilities and the maintenance of existing functionality
- Perform other duties as may be required
In addition to the duties above, duties at the grade 12 may include but are not limited to:
- Design, develop new ADS search features and capabilities, ensuring its reliability and scalability
- Design, develop new pipelines and services to support text mining and metadata enrichment efforts
- Apply established data analysis / modeling techniques to identify improvement opportunities for better data classification, recommendation systems, and proactive detection of data problems
In addition to the duties above duties at the grade 13 may include but are not limited to:
- Design, develop new production-ready pipelines and services to support text mining and metadata enrichment efforts
- Apply established advanced data analysis / modeling techniques to identify improvement opportunities for better data classification, recommendation systems, and proactive detection of data problems
- Design, develop new production-ready ADS search features and capabilities, ensuring its reliability and scalability
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
Basic Requirements:
For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.
For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.
- Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
- Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
- Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
- Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.
AND
Candidates for grade 11 must possess minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 9 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of the Java programming language; knowledge of the Python programming language; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; and ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 12 must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 11 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of the Java programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of the Python programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; and ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 11 must possess minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 9 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of the Java programming language; knowledge of the Python programming language; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; and ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 12 must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 11 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of the Java programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of the Python programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; and ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 13 must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 12 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch at a proficient level; knowledge of the Java programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of the Python programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker at a proficient level; ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases; and knowledge of asynchronous messaging brokers such as RabbitMQ or Kafka.
OR
Education
All academic degrees and coursework must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions. Undergraduate or Graduate Education: Degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks.
Grade 11: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree
OR
3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities required:
- Knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch
- Knowledge of the Java programming language
- Knowledge of the Python programming language
- Knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL
- Working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON
- Knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker
- Ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases
Applicants, who wish to qualify based on education completed outside the United States, must be deemed equivalent to higher education programs of U.S. Institutions by an organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. This documentation is the responsibility of the applicant and should be included as part of your application package.
Any false statement in your application may result in your application being rejected and may also result in termination after employment begins.
The Smithsonian Institution values and seeks a diverse workforce. Join us in "Inspiring Generations through Knowledge and Discovery."
Resume/CV should include a description of your paid and non-paid work experience that is related to this job; starting and ending dates of job (month and year); and average number of hours worked per week. College Transcript should be provided if using education for qualification.
What To Expect Next: Once the vacancy announcement closes, a review of your resume will be compared against the qualification and experience requirements related to this job. After review of applicant resumes is complete, qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Smithsonian Institution provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation should contact hr@cfa.harvard.edu. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, please review the Smithsonian’s Accommodation Procedures.
The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that a workforce comprising a variety of educational, cultural, and experiential backgrounds support and enhance our daily work life and contribute to the richness of our exhibitions and programs. See Smithsonian EEO program information: www.si.edu/oeema.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in our workplace. Please visit the SAO website at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/
Source : Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
