Research Software Engineer at UIC

Position summary:

The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago is seeking a research software engineer with expertise in handling large datasets, performing data analysis, and developing user-friendly, open-source data analytics tools. This role offers the opportunity to collaborate with researchers and developers across the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Washington, and New York University to create open-source tools that address pressing urban challenges. The research software engineer will contribute to the NSF-funded OSCUR project (https://oscur.org), which seeks to address two key challenges in urban computing: (1) the lack of documented, robust, well-engineered tools and open computing platforms and (2) the dispersed community of cross-disciplinary researchers and developers, which limits knowledge sharing and collective solutions. A core component of the project is the development of a cyberinfrastructure that integrates methods and tools for the exploration of urban data that are scalable, reusable, interoperable, and solutions to common challenges, including data discovery, cleaning, analytics, modeling, visualization, and reproducibility.

This is a multi-year opportunity, but the position will be renewed every year following an annual performance review and availability of funding. The candidate will contribute to long-term research goals that advance innovative urban computing solutions. The candidate will have the chance to work within an interdisciplinary team that includes computer scientists, civil engineers, and policy experts, researching, designing, and developing specialized software with an emphasis on advanced data discovery, data provenance, visualization, visual analytics, and machine learning technologies across a broad range of application areas.

The candidate will take a leadership role in the research and development of novel urban computing tools. Responsibilities include supervising graduate and undergraduate students in research and implementation activities, preparing research publications, presentations, and grant proposals, and actively participating in research conferences.

Key responsibilities:

Research software development & specialized expertise: Lead the research, design, implementation, and maintenance of urban computing software tools in close collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, ensuring that these tools are robust, reusable, and accessible. Contribute to research-driven design and development to produce well-documented, open-source software. Provide expertise in developing scalable, reusable, and interoperable urban computing tools, with an emphasis on advanced data discovery, data provenance, visualization, visual analytics, and machine learning technologies. Perform highly specialized work assignments in urban computing and data science, contributing to complex software projects within the NSF-funded OSCUR project.
Research collaboration: Collaborate with scientists, engineers, and other researchers to translate research requirements into technical solutions. Contribute to the design, implementation, and integration of research prototypes into usable open-source tools that address real-world challenges in urban computing and data science. Advise on software development best practices, methodologies, and specialized tools relevant to the field of urban computing and data analytics.
Research participation: Contribute to the research lifecycle of the project, including the preparation of publications, presentations, grant proposals, and other technical documents. Research and conceptualize innovative solutions to problems, providing expert recommendations and insights that guide the direction of research projects.
Prototyping: Lead the porting, refactoring, and integration of research prototypes into open-source software tools. Ensure these tools are user-friendly, well-documented, and designed for community contributions and reuse.
Data integration & management: Develop and manage advanced data pipelines for the collection, cleaning, analysis, and integration of large-scale, heterogeneous datasets. Design scalable systems for handling multimodal data, ensuring reliability, accessibility, and usability. Stay updated on relevant technical specifications and advancements in data handling and integration.
Open-source contributions: Manage and coordinate open-source contributions, including the review, assignment, and management of GitHub issues. Facilitate collaboration between internal and external contributors, ensuring alignment with project goals and interdisciplinary expectations. Liaise with other skilled specialists nationwide, fostering knowledge sharing and community involvement in urban computing challenges.
Mentorship & leadership: Supervise and mentor junior researchers, software engineers, and students. Lead training sessions, hackathons, and office hours to facilitate knowledge transfer and ensure project sustainability.
Team management: Manage and coordinate meetings between team members and external collaborators, helping to organize and lead interdisciplinary discussions. Manage and coordinate relationships with peers and other university personnel to achieve project objectives. Support the creation of user manuals, training materials, and other resources to facilitate knowledge sharing and community adoption of developed tools.
Knowledge sharing: Represent the OSCUR project at conferences, workshops, or campus initiatives, promoting the work of the project and building partnerships to support future research and development efforts.
Professional development: Stay abreast of developments in software engineering, urban computing, visual analytics and data analytics through professional development activities, workshops, and relevant literature.

Minimum qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or closely related field.
Experience in designing, prototyping, testing, and maintaining software products, ideally within a research context.
Experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing experiments for research objectives, as well as proven ability to document results in research publications, technical reports, or grant proposals.
Research experience and knowledge in areas such as data science, machine learning, visual analytics, or visualization, with a proven ability to integrate these skills into collaborative research projects.
Experience with design studies in research contexts, including user-centered methodologies to understanding domain experts’ needs and designing computational tools tailored to address specific research objectives.
Experience contributing technical expertise in specialized areas such as urban computing, data analytics, or research software engineering, with the ability to troubleshoot technical issues in these areas and work on interdisciplinary software projects.
Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams.

Desired qualifications:

Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science or a closely related field.
2 years of experience with software development, ideally within a research context.
Proven ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment with scientists, engineers, and students.
Proven ability to prioritize, organize, and complete tasks effectively.

Desired experiences:

Research Contributions: Experience collaborating on research projects, designing experiments, translating research needs into technical solutions, and contributing to the development of research-driven software tools. Involvement in co-authoring papers or technical reports is a plus.
Programming: Expertise in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and C++.
Web Development: Experience with front-end frameworks (React or Angular), back-end development (Flask or Node.js), and responsive design using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. Experience contributing to research web applications is highly desirable.
Data Analytics: Proficiency in using advanced libraries such as OSMnx, Pandas, Geopandas, Pyrosm, and sklearn. Familiarity with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch is highly desirable. Experience applying these tools to large-scale, research-oriented datasets and developing analytics solutions for research questions.
Visualization & Visual Analytics: Experience with data visualization libraries (Geopandas, Vega-Lite, Matplotlib, D3, UTK).
Data Handling & Deployment: Experience working with multimodal data (e.g., time series, 3D geometries), and deploying research software through container orchestration tools (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker) and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
Deployment: Experience with PIP or conda deployment is a plus.
Software Testing: Proficiency in integration and testing tools and frameworks such as Jenkins, Pytest, or Postman. Ability to design tests for performance and scalability, especially for large urban datasets.
Open-Source Contributions: Experience in managing open-source projects and conducting software testing.

Position information:

Hiring Department: Computer Science
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Posting Close Date: 4/4/2025
Salary: $60,000.00 – $70,000.00
The pay offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors including (but not limited to) the experience and qualifications of the selected candidate including equivalent years in rank, training, and field or discipline; internal equity; and external market pay for comparable jobs.
For fullest consideration, please apply by March 31, 2025. Applications will be accepted until Posting Closing Date April 4, 2025.

To apply:

Submit a two-page document highlighting your previous accomplishments and a statement on how your experience aligns with the project requirements and goals, key responsibilities, and desired experience.
Submit Curriculum Vitae including previous projects, software repositories, publications.
Application link: https://uic.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/14051?c=uic

For questions about the position, please contact Prof. Fabio Miranda (fabiom at uic.edu) and Prof. Sybil Derrible.

About the Department of Computer Science at UIC:

The Department of Computer Science at UIC has 44 tenure-system faculty, 4 research faculty, and 24 clinical/teaching faculty. The department is committed to building a diverse faculty preeminent in its missions of research, teaching, and service to the community. Candidates who have experience engaging with a diverse range of faculty, staff, and students, and contributing to a climate of inclusivity are encouraged to discuss their perspectives on these subjects in their application materials.

Construction of a new building housing the UIC Computer Science department is under way; the building is expected to open in 2024. The building will include 80 faculty offices, graduate student offices, 16,000 square feet of classroom space, and many collaborative learning and teaching spaces.

About the Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering at UIC:

The 28 members of the core faculty in civil, materials, and environmental engineering are dedicated to serving the needs of their students, the field, and society. Scholars who are drawn to UIC are individuals with whom the public-service research mission resonates strongly. They devise ways to improve the built world through their research, and each year they improve the lives of hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.

The CME faculty includes fellows of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute International, Structural Engineering Institute, ASM International, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Three present faculty members have won National Science Foundation CAREER awards, two have been honored as the university’s Inventor or Researcher of the Year, and many have received UIC awards for excellence in teaching, research, and academic advising. Our faculty have held editorial roles across dozens of journals in the field, including the Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering and Journal of Engineering Mechanics, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Journal of Transportation Letters: International Journal of Transportation Research, Land Contamination & Reclamation Journal, and PLoS One.

About the University of Illinois Chicago:

UIC is among the nation’s preeminent urban public research universities, a Carnegie RU/VH research institution, and the largest university in Chicago. UIC serves over 34,000 students, comprising one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation and is designated as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPSI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Through its 16 colleges, UIC produces nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary academic programs in concert with civic, corporate and community partners worldwide, including a full complement of health sciences colleges. By emphasizing cutting-edge and transformational research along with a commitment to the success of all students, UIC embodies the dynamic, vibrant and engaged urban university. Recent “Best Colleges” rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, found UIC climbed up in its rankings among top public schools in the nation and among all national universities. UIC has nearly 260,000 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in the city of Chicago.

UIC is a major public research university (Carnegie R1) with about 2,600 faculty and 33,500 students. UIC is committed to increasing access to education, employment, programs, and services for all. UIC is committed to supporting the success of dual-career couples.

Chicago epitomizes the modern, livable, vibrant, and diverse city. World-class amenities like the lakefront, arts and culture venues, festivals, and two international airports make Chicago a singularly enjoyable place to live. Yet the cost of living, whether in an 88th floor condominium downtown or on a tree-lined street in one of the nation’s finest school districts, is remarkably affordable.