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 16M scientific articles with more than 149M citations to a worldwide community of astronomers, researchers and librarians with hundreds of thousands of requests per day.
Summary
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 16M scientific articles with more than 149M citations to a worldwide community of astronomers, researchers and librarians with hundreds of thousands of requests per day.
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 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.
The ADS system uses a modern development stack: a custom build of the open-source search engine Apache Solr, a highly responsive UI engineered on top of React, a high performance distributed brokerage system, and cloud-based hosted services with Kubernetes in Amazon Web Services. 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 metadata enhancement, citation analysis, and recommendations while relying on ADS natural language processing / machine learning / deep learning plans.
Duties may include:
The ADS system uses a modern development stack: a custom build of the open-source search engine Apache Solr, a highly responsive UI engineered on top of React, a high performance distributed brokerage system, and cloud-based hosted services with Kubernetes in Amazon Web Services.
Duties may include:
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 ADS API features and services
Apply established data analysis / modeling techniques to explore metrics, and 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
In addition to the duties at the grade 11 listed above, duties at the grade 12 may include but are not limited to:
Design, develop new ADS features and search capabilities, ensuring its reliability and scalability
Design, develop new ADS API features and services
In addition to the duties at the grade 12, duties at the grade 13 may include but are not limited to:
Design, develop new production-ready ADS search features and capabilities, ensuring its reliability and scalability
Design, and develop new production-ready ADS API features and services
For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. 1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.
AND
Candidates for grade 11 must possess minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 9 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; knowledge of the Java programming language; knowledge of the Python programming language; knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 12 must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 11 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker; knowledge of the Java programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of the Python programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
Candidates for grade 13 must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade 12 in the normal line of progression for this occupation. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker at a proficient level; knowledge of the Java programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of the Python programming language at a proficient level; knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch at a proficient level; knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL; knowledge of asynchronous messaging brokers such as RabbitMQ or Kafka; working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON; ability to build secure, reusable and scalable code and libraries to support applications, services and databases.
OR Education: All academic degrees and coursework must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions. Undergraduate or Graduate Education: Degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks.
Grade 11: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.
Additional information
The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses The Smithsonian embraces diversity and equal employment opportunity.
For the latest information on the COVID-19 vaccination requirements and its impact on your application, click on Smithsonian Institution’s Frequently Asked Questions
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualification will be evaluated further against the following criteria:
Knowledge of the Linux operating system and Docker
Knowledge of the Java programming language
Knowledge of the Python programming language
Knowledge of search engines such as Solr and Elasticsearch
Knowledge of SQL databases such as PostgreSQL
Working knowledge of web standards and technologies such as HTTP, REST, and JSON
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page. Please Note:
You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button.
Faxes are received by an automated system, not a physical fax machine. Documents that are faxed as part of the application process must be sent with the system generated cover sheet by the closing date. Documents faxed without the system generated coversheet are not retrievable and cannot be considered as part of the application package.
Clicking the "DONE" tab does not submit your application. The "DONE" tab allows you to exit the system and save your information for completion at a later time. To submit your application, click the "FINISH" tab.
The complete application package, including any required documents, is due in the Smithsonian Office of Human Resources on the closing date of the announcement by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
SMITHSONIAN
60 Garden Street. MS 17
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
United States
Next steps
You will receive an e-mail to acknowledge that your application has been received. Please be aware that the confirmation e-mail could reside in your "junk" or "bulk" mail folder depending on your filters. The Smithsonian receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully, which may take a few weeks. You may also check your application status by logging into www.usajobs.gov and selecting the tab "My USAJOBS;" or by contacting the Office of Human Resources Representative listed. Additional Information:
The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses, but may pay a Recruitment Bonus.
The Smithsonian embraces diversity and equal employment opportunity.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page. Please Note:
You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button.
Faxes are received by an automated system, not a physical fax machine. Documents that are faxed as part of the application process must be sent with the system generated cover sheet by the closing date. Documents faxed without the system generated coversheet are not retrievable and cannot be considered as part of the application package.
Clicking the "DONE" tab does not submit your application. The "DONE" tab allows you to exit the system and save your information for completion at a later time. To submit your application, click the "FINISH" tab.
The complete application package, including any required documents, is due in the Smithsonian Office of Human Resources on the closing date of the announcement by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
SMITHSONIAN
60 Garden Street. MS 17
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
United States
Next steps
You will receive an e-mail to acknowledge that your application has been received. Please be aware that the confirmation e-mail could reside in your "junk" or "bulk" mail folder depending on your filters. The Smithsonian receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully, which may take a few weeks. You may also check your application status by logging into www.usajobs.gov and selecting the tab "My USAJOBS;" or by contacting the Office of Human Resources Representative listed. Additional Information:
The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses, but may pay a Recruitment Bonus.
The Smithsonian embraces diversity and equal employment opportunity.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
