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This is the position of Information Technology Specialist (Back Office Developer) 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 17M scientific articles with more than 159M citations to a worldwide community of astronomers, researchers and librarians with hundreds of thousands of requests per day.
Learn more about this agency12/20/2022 to 09/14/2023
$77,738 - $144,034 per year
IS 11 - 13
3 vacancies in the following location:
No
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
No
Permanent - Full Time.
Full-time - Trust Fund.
Competitive
13
No
No
23-34
695847400
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 enhance the ADS back-office architecture, improving the data processing pipelines and the public cloud-based API, as well as developing new functionalities to give support to the search engine and ADS natural language processing / machine learning / deep learning plans.
Duties may include:
In addition to the duties at the grade 11 listed above, duties at the grade 12 may include but are not limited to:
In addition to the duties at the grade 12, duties at the grade 13 may include but are not limited to:
For qualification standards please check: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/Standards/IORs/gs2200/2210-altA.asp
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 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 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 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.
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
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:
Detailed Resume
School Transcript, if using education to qualify for the position
Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study if applicable
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
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 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 Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/695847400. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
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The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is part of the largest and most diverse astrophysical institution in the world, where the staff carries out a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics and earth and space sciences. If you would like to join this exciting organization, apply today!
