Software Developer: Pipelines

Location: Cape Town

Job Level: Prof Qualified

Closing date: 22 November 2021

About the Position:

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 telescope 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:

The Pipelines developer provides subject matter expertise to the Science Processing team in its effort to develop astronomy packages, respective pipelines, as well as the quality tools that supplement the software. The pipelines developer, working with senior pipelines developers, is responsible for the identification, research and analysis of the problem sets, Investigation of potential solutions, implementation, testing and verification of such solutions, depending on circumstances.

 Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and improve science-focused telescope data processing software
• Participate in science support or research opportunities that have relevance to observatory or Science Processing objectives.
• Designing and developing software, operational procedures and documentation by applying organizational systems engineering principles
• Support, maintain and document relevant science pipelines software
• Participate in science projects within the SDP or SARAO with the intention to improve telescope design, utility and product quality
• Participate in skills development training organized by the organization with the purpose of acquiring new or additional skills, improving current skills, or developments towards domain expertise.

Key Requirements:

Education Required:

• BHon/MSc/PhD in astronomy, physics, mathematics, applied mathematics, computer science, or related field

Experience :

A minimum of 5 years’ experience in astronomy, astrophysics, or related, applied/interdisciplinary sciences in development, testing, deployment, commissioning, release and support of science projects. Experience may be in some of the following:

• Radio astronomy interferometry imaging
• Radio astronomy interferometry Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) analysis
• Radio astronomy data calibration
• Software development using Python or similar languages
• Experience with Linux and open source software environments
• Experience analyzing large data sets (giga-terabyte scale)

Additional notes:

Knowledge:

• Understanding of radio interferometric theory and practice
• Understanding of signal processing
• Understanding of data analysis and machine learning
• Linux operating system
• programming in Python and/or other modern languages
• Knowledge of Systems Engineering practices
• Knowledge of formal Agile development practices

Ability to:

• provide a proven track record of scientific software development in Python
• display scientific writing skills
• thrive in a diverse team and interface with local and international scientists
• Ability to effectively transfer knowledge and skills to other team members
• A clear and methodical approach to problem solving
• A high attention to detail, excellent organization skills
• Good communication skills, written and verbal
• Eagerness to learn new things or self-development towards a specialization

As a business unit of the NRF, SARAO is committed to employment equity and redress

Type of employment: Contract

SARAO reserves the right to amend and/or withdraw adverts at any time without notification.