This is an opportunity with the Data Systems division of the Chandra X-ray Center, which is part of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge MA. One of NASA’s Great Observatories, the Chandra X-ray telescope has been observing for over 20 years and continues to have a positive impact on the scientific understanding of the universe. We seek an Archive Developer for the archive group to contribute to the continued success of the mission.

This position is open to all qualified 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 9, 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.

Join the Chandra X-ray Center and become part of the team working to extend and maintain the Chandra Data archive functionality and to support its operations.  The archive contains terabytes of data from the Chandra mission, ensures their integrity, security, and uninterrupted access, and provides interfaces for archiving and retrieval to Science Center Operations and Chandra Science users.  The candidate may possess knowledge of the Linux operating system, C++, Python, and Java programming, and exposure to relational databases using SQL/rDBMS; exposure to modern code versioning tools and continuous integration and testing environments.  Please view the qualifications section of the posting for specific job requirements.

Specific Duties include:

• Communicating with scientists and operations teams for software requirements
• Developing and maintaining software through all phases of the software development lifecycle
• Documenting software for CXC operations staff and scientific users worldwide
• Release deployment, server and data migrations, and data archive monitoring
• Problem analysis and evaluation in support of archive operations and scientific user input
• Work as part of a team

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications. Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described in the qualifications section of the posting.

The applications that meet the basic qualification will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Knowledge of system software development lifecycles, including requirements generation, design, code, verification and test, systems integration, and maintenance. Includes skill in advanced debugging techniques, code checkers and configuration management tools
• Knowledge and the ability to utilize C++, Java, scripting languages (e.g., Python, Perl), and Unix based operating systems
• Knowledge of databases, SQL, and data access via standard protocols
• Knowledge and the ability to utilize modern programming practices and standards, e.g., object oriented design and programming, UML diagramming, Design patterns
• Knowledge of web enabled technologies, image handling, graphics, and user interfaces
• Knowledge of mathematics, less than that required for a professional mathematician, but sufficient to communicate with scientists and engineers concerning the nature of the calculations being performed and algorithms being developed

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