Lead Software Engineer - Research​/Education

Position: Lead Software Engineer - Research/Higher Education

• Resume should clearly outline leadership and mentoring experience.
• This role will involve leading a team while also remaining hands‑on with projects.
• You should have full project lifecycle experience, not just ownership of one portion or phase of a project.

About the Department

The Center for Translational Data Science at the University of Chicago is a research center pioneering the discipline of translational data science to advance biology, medicine, and environmental research. We architect ecosystems of large‑scale commons of research data, computing resources, applications, tools, and services for the broader research community to use data at scale to pursue scientific inquiry and accelerate discovery.

These growing data commons offer petabytes of rich research data to scientists across the world.

Job Summary

The job leads and provides expertise to the development of programs for activities relating to software support and/or development. Analyzes, designs, develops, debugs, and modifies computer code for end user applications, beta general releases, and production support. Manages development and implementation of applications, web pages, and user‑interfaces using a variety of software applications, techniques, and tools. Solves complex problems in administration, maintenance, integration, and troubleshooting of code and application ecosystem currently in production.

The Lead Software Engineer is responsible for a scope of significant size or functional area critical to the team’s success, using in‑depth knowledge in all technical areas of major projects and core product and responsible for design and implementation of top priority technical tasks, timely and quality delivery, leading and mentoring other engineers, and helping the organization drive toward its strategic goals, negotiating complex solutions along the way.

All Software Engineers perform web application development activities of open‑source software platforms, including analyzing business and technical requirements, designing/developing/testing software, reviewing and testing code, supporting and maintaining applications, and providing appropriate written documentation of project development and programming code. All engineers are expected to be flexible for full‑stack development and some may have a specialty in back‑end or front‑end technologies.

This at‑will position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract. Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for design and implementation of top priority technical tasks and timely delivery of such tasks, meeting and defining the required level of quality.
• Responsible for managing activities of a complex and challenging nature, including design and implementation of large systems and/or core components, with decisions having a large impact on the team or cross multiple teams.
• Negotiate complex decisions, present options and persuasively advocate for optimal technical solutions, internally and externally.
• Responsible for responding, triaging, and resolving production system issues in a timely fashion, across multiple projects when required.
• Help translate high level requirements into well‑architected and well‑tested design and implementation.
• Lead team(s) of software engineers and provide technical guidance and leadership for the team to follow best practices and deliver quality software, middleware, and processes timely.
• Collaborate with, support, and help the team members to grow and realize their full potential, and make the right decisions collectively.
• Proactively and effectively addresses management challenges.
• Actively participate in and define the hiring process and provide fair and productive interview feedback.
• Leads in the development of new systems, features, and tools. Solves complex problems and identifies opportunities for technical improvement and performance optimization. Reviews and tests code to ensure appropriate standards are met.
• Utilizes in‑depth technical knowledge of existing and emerging…