Posting 24-49

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.

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.

MAJOR DUTIES:

• 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  

• 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 

• 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

• 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.

• 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

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:  Please use the following link to visit Smithsonian's Career Page:  Smithsonian Institution Job Opportunities Site

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. 

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 Astrophysical Observatory is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in our workplace.

Visit the SAO website at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/

The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that a workforce comprising a variety of educational, cultural, and experiential backgrounds supports and enhances our daily work life and contributes to the richness of our exhibitions and programs. For more information on the Smithsonian EEO program please see www.si.edu/oeema.