About the Role
As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.
POSITION PURPOSE
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.
IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.
IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a full-time Software Engineer on our Simulation Studies team. We are looking for a motivated individual to join a team of engineers in building a modern, reproducible, data-driven research infrastructure. The ideal incumbent will be comfortable developing, implementing, and supporting analytical software tools that can easily be utilized by other staff with less coding experience. The position requires problem-solving and consulting with users to resolve tool-specific bugs, diagnose code problems, and devise solutions for new requirements. This position is contingent upon project funding availability.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Software Development
• Create and implement software solutions to turn experimental research methods into a production-ready code base.
• Redesign and refactor existing code to improve efficiency, operability, and performance while maintaining high-quality results.
• Optimize code efficiency and parallelize across a massive computing cluster to enable researchers to quickly produce results.
• Enforce and assure the quality of IHME software products through continuous integration, automated unit testing, code versioning, and code coverage tools.
Planning
• May mentor other staff.
• Explore new technologies and make recommendations as to their adoption.
• Provide input to timelines to deliver both iterative milestones and completed products.
Research Command
• Become familiar with the main operational underpinnings and goals of the project and how those directly relate to key production tools, analytic machinery, data, and diagnostics.
• Become familiar with the different components of the analytic process and their purpose.
General
• Communicate clearly and effectively while contributing as a productive member of the technology team and the Institute as a whole.
Other duties as assigned.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field plus three years’ related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• Demonstrated expertise in developing code in Python, Java, R, and/or other coding language. [Python most preferred including pandas, NumPy, and xarray]
• Experience deploying software to Linux servers.
• Strong sense of focus and attention to detail.
• Ability to plan and organize technical projects.
• Works well with others to solve problems, define priorities, and achieve common goals.
• Demonstrated organizational skills, self-motivation, flexibility, strong communication skills, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, energetic, highly creative, entrepreneurial environment.
• A commitment to working to alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: https://www.healthdata.org/about/mission-vision/DEI.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Experience with application containerization using tools such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Rancher.
• Good applied statistics skills, such as distributions, statistical testing, and regression.
• Statistics and/or public health interest.
• Experience with relational databases e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL.
• Automation experience.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
• Weekend and evening work sometimes required.
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the US. The UW is not able to sponsor visas for staff positions.
• The University of Washington requires students and personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. To learn more about the requirements, please review the following: https://www.ehs.washington.edu/covid-19-prevention-and-response/uw-covid-19-vaccination-policy?_ga=2.31959098.540467107.1629831944-1755727657.1623616042.
• Office is located in Seattle, Washington. This position is eligible to work fully remote in the US.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (TTY) or dso@uw.edu.
Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral. The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.
The University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.
To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu.
COVID-19 VACCINATION REQUIREMENT
Employees of the University of Washington are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. Being fully vaccinated means that an individual is at least two weeks past their final dose of an authorized COVID-19 vaccine regimen. As a condition of employment, newly hired employees will be required to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination. View the Final candidate guide to COVID-19 vaccination requirement webpage for information about the medical or religious exemption process for final candidates.