Vacant Post – Senior Scientific Software Developer



Job level: Management
Work location: Cape Town, Western Cape
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: 13 February 2024

The National Research Foundation (NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) spearheads South Africa’s activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction. SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT and KAT-7 telescopes in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

* Purpose:
Lead the architecting and development of software projects for radio astronomy data reduction and analysis. Lead research into algorithms and high-performance computing techniques for data reduction pipelines. Lead the applications of pipelines to data from MeerKAT and other observatories. Support software development and MeerKAT science operations.

Key responsibilities:

* Lead the architecting and development of software projects for radio interferometric data processing.
* Lead the contributions of code to the data processing libraries and software products.
* Manage development practices and software releases of libraries and software products.
* Coordinate the contributions of junior developers and outside collaborators to libraries and software products.
* Lead research into algorithms, frameworks, and HPC techniques for radio interferometric data processing, and application to observatory data.
* Stay current with state of the art developments in the field. Develop and lead national and international collaborations.
* Publish results of research in peer-reviewed journals.

Key requirements:
Qualification:

* PhD computer science, astronomy, astrophysics, mathematics, or related field.

Experience:

* 3 years post PhD work experience in a research environment
* 6 years’ experience software development for scientific computing (3 for PhDs in computer science)

Knowledge:

* Understanding of radio interferometric imaging theory
* Practical experience in radio interferometry data reduction
* Programming experience with GPUs and/or multithreaded/parallel environments
* Publication track record
* Experience programing C, C++ and or Python.
* Experience with python scientific computing stacks (Numba and Dask)
* Experience with developmental workflows and collaborative tools (Github)
* Substantial expertise with the Linux operating system, HPC clusters and container technology
* Expertise with formal software development methodology

Information:

The website www.nrf.ac.za provides more details on the NRF initiatives and activities.

Applications:

Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to https://ess.nrf.ac.za/Account/Recruitment and apply online. Applications should be accompanied by a letter of motivation indicating the applicant’s suitability for the position. The names and contact details of at least three referees should be provided.

Closing Date: 13 February 2024

The NRF offers a challenging career and competitive remuneration package which is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The NRF is committed to employment equity and redress and the appointment to the position will be made in line with the NRF Employment Equity Plan.

The NRF reserves the right not to make an appointment.

Correspondence will be sent to short-listed candidates only.