Vacant Post – Ska Mid – Senior Execution Framework Engineer Skao/Sarao

Contract type:
Permanent

Job Level:
Management

Work Location:
Cape Town, Western Cape

Closing Date: 17 June 2024 The National Research Foundation (NRF) ) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) ) spearheads South Africa's activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction.

SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) ) is a next-generation global radio-astronomy facility that will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics.

It is one observatory with two telescopes – SKA-Mid in South Africa and SKA-Low in Western Australia.

South Africa is a co-host member of the SKAO, an intergovernmental organisation headquartered at Jodrell Bank (near Manchester in the United Kingdom) responsible for SKAO construction and operations globally.

The Senior Execution Framework Engineer design, prototype, implement and integrate systems that bring state-of-the-art algorithms to real-world scientific processing pipelines for the SKA-Mid telescope.

Telescope – "processing functions" / "execution engine"interfaces are key architectural features that are meant to not only enable scalability, but also act as common ground for integration of new and existing processing code.

Our ambition is to also look past the current SKA project phase and raise the bar of radio astronomy processing software to the benefit of future SKA extensions, SKA regional centres, precursor telescopes as well as the entire radio astronomy community.

The Execution Framework engineer should be keen on approaching these challenges using rigorous software engineering practices, ensuring that we are prepared for the many known and unknown challenges facing this next-generation observatory.

The Senior developer must have experience with distributed data-intensive processing and algorithm development, ideally both from a design and application perspective, expertise in hybrid software development in Python and C/C++ programming languages and be able to work constructively with agile teams around the world towards a shared vision for SKA processing.

Senior engineers will be expected to guide and work with more junior team members to accomplish their tasks. Senior engineers are expected to be accountable for their deliverables.

As part of the SKA-Mid Operations team, they are expected to provide a senior level of Data Processing support, able to investigate, diagnose and resolve complex issues with minimum guidance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Implement and verify SKA-Mid Data processing system and Astronomy software packages.
• Contribute to systems engineering and Operations documentation refinement
• Support users, operators, as well as the implementation of releases, system changes and fixes.
• Be an integral member of the SKA-Mid Computing and Software team, as a senior technical specialist that supports the establishment of SKA-Mid data processing operations.
• Participate in project management and activity management activities.
• Attend relevant training/courses to gain experience and improved knowledge.
• Research new technologies, methods, or approaches, with the purpose of utilizing them within the organization.
• Participate in innovation and technology development initiatives.
• Mentor and educate more junior engineers as and when required.

Key Requirements:

Qualification:

• Degree/ Masters/ PHD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Astronomy or Astronomy techniques, Physics, or related fields

Experience:

• Degree coupled 9 years' relevant working experience, or Master's Degree coupled with 7 years' relevant working experience or PHD coupled with 5 years' relevant working experience in software engineering, high performance algorithms development
• Experience with distributed data-intensive processing and algorithm development, ideally both from a design and application perspective.
• Expertise in hybrid software development in Python and C/C++ programming languages.

Knowledge:

• Experience with profiling and optimisation techniques, especially how to build high performance pipelines overlapping I/O and processing.
• Experience with physical data modelling, both for efficient in-memory & network data exchange as well as storage (e.g. Apache Arrow, HDF5 or equivalent)
• Understanding of data processing algorithms, such as Fourier transformations, gridding and (de)convolution methods. Knowledge of radio astronomy data processing pipelines and their scaling properties would be advantageous.
• Common radio astronomy instrumentation: spectrometers, correlators, beamformers and pulsar timing machines and transient search machines.
• Systems Engineering processes.

Additional Notes:

SKILLS/ COMPETENCIES/ KNOWLEDGE:

Essential:

• Design, implementation and verification of high-speed digital computer and electronics hardware and systems.
• System Engineering life cycle processes, including documentation, requirement analysis, architecture design, implementation, integration, and acquisition.
• Parallel implementations of Data Processing components, pipelines, and astronomy algorithms
• Comprehension of MPI, DASK and other High Performance Computing frameworks and interfaces
• Linux operating system and standard tools.

Desirable:

• Common radio astronomy instrumentation: spectrometers, correlators, beamformers and pulsar timing machines and transient search machines
• Knowledge of Radio Astronomy techniques, and observatory practices
• Ability to communicate effectively to a wide audience and a wide range of stakeholders, gathering information and distilling information and tailoring it appropriately for the target audience.
• Ability to develop and convey a technical solution as part of a team.
• Ability to reliably estimate and plan work as part of a team.
• Agile approaches to systems development
• Engineering systems architecture concepts
• An understanding of DevOps processes
• Services, Operations and Support management
• Risk management.

Skills:

• Modern software collaboration tools such as GitHub, Containers, Google Drive, JIRA etc.
• Understanding and experience in implementation of project management and system engineering principles.
• Experience with test-driven development and integration testing techniques, methodologies, and frameworks; and supporting systems like revision control and build systems.
• Experience with quality assurance processes and software development processes and willingness to participate in improving software development processes and software quality procedures.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Cooperates with others to achieve organisational objectives and may share team resources in order to do this. Collaborates with other teams as well as industry colleagues.
• Judgement and

Problem Solving:
Anticipates and manages problems in ambiguous situations. Develops and selects an appropriate course of action and provides for contingencies.

Evaluates, interprets and integrates complex bodies of information and draws logical conclusions, synthesises proposals and defends options with reasoned arguments.

• Adaptability: Demonstrates flexibility in thinking and adapts to and manages the increasing rate of organisational change by adjusting strategies, goals and priorities.
• Willingness to participate in formal and informal learning and mentorship programs.

Organisational Values:

The SKA-Mid Senior Execution Framework Engineer will be expected to demonstrate the SARAO and SKAO's values, and to work actively to instil those behaviours in all SKA-Mid staff in South Africa.

SKAO's values are:

• Diversity and Inclusion
• Excellence
• Collaboration
• Creativity and Innovation
• Sustainability

SARAO's values are:

• Passion for Excellence
• World-class service
• People-centered
• Respect
• Integrity and Ethics
• Accountability

Both SARAO and SKAO value and respect difference and are committed to building an inclusive culture by creating an environment where you can balance a successful career with your commitments and interests outside of work.

We believe that you will do your best at work if you have a work / life balance.

Some roles lend themselves to flexible options more than others, so if this is important to you, please raise this during your interview, as we are open to discussing flexible working opportunities during the hiring process.

Information:
The website provides more details on the NRF initiatives and activities.

Applications:
Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to and apply online. Applications should be accompanied by a letter of motivation indicating the applicant's suitability for the position. The names and contact details of at least three referees should be provided.

Closing Date: 17 June 2024 The NRF offers a challenging career and competitive remuneration package which is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The NRF is committed to employment equity and redress and the appointment to the position will be made in line with the NRF Employment Equity Plan.

The NRF reserves the right not to make an appointment.
Correspondence will be sent to short-listed candidates only

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