Research Developer/Data Analyst

Overview

The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in La Jolla, CA has an immediate career opening for a Research Developer/Data Analyst. This opening is located at IDA’s Center for Communications Research in La Jolla, California (CCR-L). IDA offers a competitive salary, an excellent benefits package and a superior professional working environment. To the right individual, IDA offers the opportunity to have a major impact on key national programs while working on fascinating technical issues.

We are seeking a Research Developer/Data Analyst, who will provide automation support for research efforts and related data analysis. The incumbent, working either individually or as a team leader, will collect software requirements, design applications, and implement them as part of the Center’s research mission. This position is also responsible for installing and maintaining open-source software for research purposes. Required data analysis may include data mining, warehousing, processing, and visualization. The position will require that the individual be an advocate for good data science practices, which will require the person to identify trends and opportunities in the fields of programming and data science. The incumbent may contribute directly to research efforts.

Responsibilities:

1. Provides consultation to research staff members on how to leverage high performance computing resources such as parallel clusters and high throughput storage systems.
2. Advocates and trains research staff members on good programming practices such as debugging, optimization, and version management.
3. Leads select projects through the software development life cycle for both research and IT initiatives.
4. Develops software for research problems in accordance with good programming practices, while performing comprehensive unit and system testing.
5. Ensures software compliance with security and configuration management policies and procedures. Maintains technical documentation for all software installed.
6. Installs and maintains open source software for research needs. Troubleshoots and modifies installation procedures as necessary for the Center’s networks. Develops API and custom extensions when needed.
7. Analyzes data flows and applications in the research sphere to identify areas where the Center’s HPC resources can be brought to bear.
8. Coordinates and consults with the Data Curator to maintain the quality of research datasets. Processes, cleans and transforms data in accordance with research needs.
9. Contributes to research efforts by applying computer and data science techniques to problems of interest.
10. Obtains and maintains certification satisfying DoD 8570.1-M, IAT-2.
11. Performs other duties as assigned.

1. Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics or related technical field coupled with six years minimum experience in Information Technology, which includes at least two years in scripting, programming and software maintenance or Masters of Science degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Information Systems or related technical field coupled with four years minimum experience in Information Technology, which includes at least two years in scripting, programming and software maintenance.
2. Strong communications and presentation skills.
3. Willingness to learn about standard industry practices and become an expert in tools related to the Center’s research mission.
4. Experience installing open source software from source code in a Unix environment is required.
5. Experience with programming languages such as C/C++, Python is required.
6. Experience with development tools such as GIT, Cmake, SCons, and GNU Autotools is required.
7. Experience with SQL and databases is a plus.
8. Experience with programming languages Perl, R, Fortran, and CUDA is a plus.
9. Experience with Python data science and machine learning frameworks such as Keras, Numpy, Pandas, ScikitLearn, and Tensorflow is a plus.
10. Experience with debugging and profiling tools such as Valgrind, GDB and Python's cProfile. Parallel and GPU tools a plus.
11. Experience with processing, cleaning and analyzing data is a plus.
12. Ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret security clearance with lifestyle polygraph is required.

U.S. Citizenship is required.
Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance is required.

IDA is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a fair recruiting process and working environment free from discrimination. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

IDA is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an email to and let us know the nature of your request and contact information.